For IT teams: what to allowlist
Spark & Anvil runs in the browser, with nothing to install. These are all the addresses it loads. The list comes from the site's own security policy, so if we ever add one, this page changes with it.
Domains
| Domain | What it is for | Needed? |
|---|---|---|
sparkanvil.org | The site and every game, plus play-together rooms (secure WebSocket at /api/room). | Yes |
cdn.spark-and-anvil.com | Pictures, story audio, printable books and the files some games load. | Yes |
spark-and-anvil.com | An older address. It forwards to sparkanvil.org; printed QR codes may use it. | Recommended |
spark-and-anvil.org | An older address. It forwards to sparkanvil.org; printed QR codes may use it. | Recommended |
plausible.io | Cookieless page-visit counts for the website. Games work without it. | Optional |
static.cloudflareinsights.com | Cloudflare Web Analytics script: cookieless page-speed measurement. Games work without it. | Optional |
cloudflareinsights.com | Where the page-speed measurement above is sent. Games work without it. | Optional |
challenges.cloudflare.com | A bot check shown only when a teenager (13+) creates the optional account. | Optional |
foldcommons.org | Our sister site for protein structures; a few pages show its viewer. | Optional |
Everything is served over HTTPS on port 443. Play-together rooms use a secure WebSocket (wss://) on the same address as the site, at /api/room.
What the site never does
- No logins or accounts for children. An optional account exists only for teenagers aged 13 or older who choose to sync their own games.
- No chat and no free text between children. Rooms use a short code and picture reactions.
- No ads and no ad networks.
- No tracking cookies. Our two analytics tools are cookieless and count page visits and load speed, not people.
- Children's progress stays in that browser's storage on that device. It is not sent to us.
The full detail is on the safety page and in the privacy policy.
No internet in the room?
A downloadable offline library is on the way; the offline page has its status. Until then, most games keep working once a page has loaded, and many have a printable version.
Ask your filter vendor to review us
Filters sometimes block a new site before anyone has looked at it. Most vendors accept a review request. Do it before a pilot, not after a block. You can copy this:
Please review and categorise these sites as Education: sparkanvil.org cdn.spark-and-anvil.com Spark & Anvil is a free nonprofit library of learning games for ages 3 to 18. It runs in the browser, has no ads, no chat between children and no child accounts, and uses only cookieless analytics. We would like to use it in our aftercare program.