Codemaxx vs. Hacker Typer
By Larpmaxx teamUpdated
Hacker Typer shows pre-written code a few characters at a time as you press keys, while Codemaxx runs a wall of terminals that look like AI coding agents working on their own, with no typing needed.
Both exist to make a screen look like serious programming is happening. They get there in opposite ways: one turns your keystrokes into code, the other needs no keystrokes at all.
At a glance
| Hacker Typer | Codemaxx | |
|---|---|---|
| What appears | Code from one source file, green on black by default | Terminals that look like AI coding agents at work |
| What drives it | Your key presses: each one reveals the next few characters | Nothing: the terminals work on their own |
| How many at once | One screen of text | 1 to 24 terminals, tiled to fit |
| What it looks like | The movie hacker: a fast scroll of source code | A developer running AI agents: tool calls, diffs, test runs, commits |
| Customising | Text colour, speed, font size, font, and your own text file | Count, layout, speed, codebase, theme, and what each terminal shows |
| Account | None needed | A Larpmaxx account |
How Hacker Typer works
Hacker Typer has been around since 2011, made by Simone Masiero, who publishes it as an open-source project on GitHub. Its own help text sums it up: start typing on your keyboard and your hacker code will immediately appear. Whatever keys you press, each one adds the next few characters of a long source file to the screen, so mashing the keyboard looks like typing very fast.
It has two well-known jokes built in: press Alt three times and an “Access Granted” box appears; press Shift three times for “Access Denied”. Esc closes either. A settings panel changes the text colour, the speed, the font and its size, and lets you load your own file to type out instead of the default.
GeekTyper is a close relative, credited to the same original script, which wraps the idea in themed screens styled after films, games and operating systems.
How Codemaxx works
Codemaxx shows terminals that look like the AI coding agents developers use today, each one working through a task by itself. A terminal takes a prompt, reads and searches files, edits them with coloured diffs, runs tests and sometimes fixes the one that failed, then commits and starts its next task. Each works on its own made-up project in one of 5 codebases, so a wall of them never shows the same thing twice.
You do not have to touch it. If you want to, click a terminal and type a prompt, and it takes that as its next task.
Key differences
Typing versus watching
Hacker Typer only moves while you type, which is the point of it: it is a performance for whoever is watching you. Codemaxx keeps moving with your hands off the keyboard, which suits a screen that has to look busy for a long time, a second monitor, or a shot where you are not in it.
The era it imitates
Hacker Typer imitates the film idea of hacking, one person typing code at speed. Codemaxx imitates programming as it often looks now, a person directing AI agents that write, test and commit the code, closer to what people call vibe coding.
One screen versus a wall
Hacker Typer is one stream of text. Codemaxx fills the screen with as many terminals as you choose and arranges them itself, as split panes or as separate windows.
Which one to use
For a quick joke, or a moment where you want to be seen typing furiously, Hacker Typer is instant and needs nothing. For a screen that has to look like a modern engineering setup and keep looking that way on its own, Codemaxx is built for that. Both are props; the same idea runs through everything on Larpmaxx, which calls it larpmaxxing.