Show HN: Lofi Cities – Pixel-art city nights with browser-generated lofi

A free website at loficities.com that shows animated pixel-art city nights (Paris, Tokyo, New York, London, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Sydney, San Francisco, Hamburg and Amsterdam) with endless lofi music composed live in your browser, plus each city's ambient sounds.

Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, with no download, no account and no pop-ups.

It is generated in your browser while you listen. Chords, drums, bass and melody are synthesized with the Web Audio API, without samples or recordings, so every track is new and the music never runs out. The Vibe button (or V) picks the style (jazzhop, lofi piano, ambient, bossa nova, synth city pop, lofi house, chill guitar, sad lofi or medieval lofi), makes it chill or upbeat, and plays the full band, no drums, or the chords only.

Browsers block sound until you interact with a page. Click, tap or press any key and the music starts; the play button pauses and resumes it.

That is what it is made for. Press F for fullscreen and H to hide the interface, or P for the mini player: a picture-in-picture window that keeps the scene floating over your other apps (on a computer, in browsers that support it). The controls also fade out on their own when you stop moving the mouse.

Yes. The Tour chip next to the city picker (or the C key) moves on to the next city every 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or follows the night: it shows whichever city is closest to 1 am local time, moving west from Sydney to San Francisco as the hours pass. Cities on the same clock, like Paris, Hamburg and Amsterdam, take turns.

Yes. The Weather chip next to the Tour chip (or the W key) brings rain, snow, falling autumn leaves or a clear night to any city, or goes back to the weather the city was drawn with: winter snow in New York, autumn in London and Hamburg, spring blossom in Tokyo and Sydney. The city sounds follow it, so rain brings the sound of rain in, and your pick stays for the next visit.

The glowing pill under the city name shows it, for example "23 here now · 5 in Tokyo · 480 today": people with Lofi Cities open right now, how many of them are on your city, and browsers that came by today, since midnight where you are. When nobody else is on, it shows the day alone ("480 here today"), and it stays hidden if nobody else came by today. You can say hello to the people on your city too: pick a heart, note, star or moon with the Together button in the player (or G), then tap the scene to float it up from that spot on everyone's screen there, or release a paper lantern (L) that rises over the city for about a minute, in the same place for everyone, including people who arrive while it is in the air. It is all anonymous, with no chat, names or accounts: a random id in your browser's local storage (not a cookie) makes your tabs count as one person and the server forgets it about 25 hours after your last visit. Your page also tells it when your day began, so "today" starts at your midnight, and that is forgotten when you leave. The only other thing it keeps is the lanterns still in the air.

Yes. Press T or the clock button. The focus timer runs 25 minutes of focus and 5 of break (or 50 and 10) on repeat, with a soft chime at each break and a bell to call you back. The sleep timer fades the music and city sounds out after 15 to 90 minutes, then pauses.

Yes. Add a Browser source set to 1920×1080 with a city page's address followed by ?obs, for example https://loficities.com/tokyo/?obs. The interface stays hidden and the music starts on its own; tick Control audio via OBS to bring it into your mix. Interact with the source to switch city with the arrow keys, skip a track with N or change the weather with W, or add &weather=snow (rain, leaves or clear) to the address.

Yes. In portrait orientation every city's landmark and billboard stay in view, you can drag the scene sideways to look around it, and swiping past its end switches city. All controls work with touch.

Yes. Open it once while online and it keeps working without a connection, every city and the music included, since both are generated in your browser. You can also install it as an app with your browser's Install or Add to Home Screen option (on iPhone and iPad: Share, then Add to Home Screen).

Yes. The save button in the player (the down arrow) saves the current frame as a 1080p PNG, and S does the same with a keyboard.

Yes. Every city has a billboard for rent, where your café, shop, studio or brand can be drawn in pixel art. Fill in the short form at tally.so/r/rj7bY5 to get in touch.

Lofi Cities is made by Safa Elmali. You can support it on Buy Me a Coffee using the coffee link at the top right.

Yes. Send your idea to Safa Elmali on X at https://x.com/SafaElmali (Request a city, at the end of the city picker, or the X link at the top right of the site). New cities are added over time: Hong Kong, Sydney, San Francisco, Hamburg and Amsterdam joined the first six.

Yes. Get the 11-city collection on Gumroad through the Get video loops link or the save menu. Each AI-assisted video is a four-minute 1920×1080 MP4 loop at 60 fps, without audio. Personal use and video or livestream backgrounds, including monetized content, are allowed with the Lofi Cities credit specified on the product page. The music and city sounds you hear on this site are not included in the downloads. The website stays free.

No. There is no sign-in and no cookies. Anonymous usage statistics, such as which cities are viewed, are collected without cookies, and browsers that send Do Not Track are left out of them (the live count still counts the tab, anonymously). Your settings (such as the last city, volumes and vibe) and anonymous random ids for the statistics and the live count are kept in your browser's local storage instead.