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Quick Start Guide

Get up and running with Nostalgia Lab in five minutes or less. Choose the path below that matches what you want to accomplish.

5-Minute Quick Start

  1. Open Chrome, Edge, Brave, or Opera (Firefox and Safari are not supported for Play)
  2. Go to play.nostalgialab.org and sign in (free account via Google, Microsoft, or Discord)
  3. Click "Choose Game Library Folder" and select your local ROM folder
  4. Pick a system and launch a game
  1. Go to search.nostalgialab.org
  2. Type anything in the search bar -- no login required
  3. Try: Best SNES RPGs of all time or Classic NES platformers
  1. Log in at search.nostalgialab.org
  2. Click the Key icon in the top bar and click "Generate Key"
  3. Copy your key (format: nlk_..., shown only once)
  4. POST https://api.nostalgialab.org/ with Authorization: Bearer nlk_...

Requirements

Requirement Details
Browser (Play) Chromium-based only: Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera. Firefox and Safari are not supported.
Browser (Search, Downloads) Any modern browser
Account Free, via Google, Microsoft, or Discord OAuth
ROM Files (Play) You must provide your own ROM files in a local directory
API Access API key required (generated after login)

File System Access

Play requires the File System Access API, which is only available in Chromium-based browsers. Firefox and Safari users can still use Search, the API, and NostalgiaDB Downloads.

Onboarding Troubleshooting

Problem Cause Solution
Cannot play games (Play button disabled or "Unsupported Browser" warning) Firefox and Safari do not support the required File System Access API. Reopen Nostalgia Lab in a Chromium-based browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, or Opera).
Database downloads fail or throw authorization errors You are not logged in or your session has expired. Log in with a free account (Google, Discord, or Microsoft) first. Presigned download links are only valid for 15 minutes.
GraphQL API returns 403 Forbidden The required Authorization: Bearer nlk_... header is missing, malformed, or has an expired key. Generate an API key from the Search interface, and verify that the Bearer nlk_your_key format is correct.