workbench/pixelgrudge
PixelGrudge
A 1,000 × 1,000 pixel wall where any pixel can be taken by paying $1 more than its owner did.
Overview
PixelGrudge is a public wall of one million pixels. Any pixel can be bought, and any pixel can be taken back by someone willing to pay $1 more than the last owner. The whole wall updates live for everyone watching.
Challenge
A shared canvas that takes real money has to agree on one truth at the same instant for every visitor: who owns each pixel, what it cost, and whether a payment actually cleared. It also has to stay fast on first load and resist bots and abuse.
Solution
A single Cloudflare Durable Object holds the wall as the one source of truth. Stripe Checkout handles payment, and the wall changes only after Stripe confirms it. Snapshots in R2 make page loads quick, a live feed fills in the rest, Turnstile guards checkout, and links stay hidden until they are reviewed.
Current status
Live at pixelgrudge.com, with paid sales open since October 16, 2026.
Vision
A small, honest proof of the infrastructure I build for clients: real payments, live shared state, and moderation, on a stack the owner controls.