Introducing DICE Lite: A Minimal Starting Point for Custom DICE Setups

[Howquez]

I want to share a small update: I’ve created a new companion project called DICE Lite.

The original idea behind DICE is to let users create experimental sessions through the Graphical User Interface at dice-app.org. This already gives a fair amount of flexibility, but I’ve learned that some users want much deeper customization than what a GUI-based workflow can reasonably offer.

DICE Lite is meant for exactly those cases. It is a stripped-down version of DICE that removes most predefined templates and the GUI-based customization layer in order to keep the codebase simple and easy to adapt. Instead of offering ready-made designs, it only includes a generic microblogging-style UI, which users can adapt, redesign, or replace entirely according to their needs.

Importantly, the core functionality remains: dwell time is still measured unobtrusively in the background. The main difference is that customization happens directly in the code rather than through a GUI, which should make DICE Lite easier to understand, modify, and host independently (e.g., on Heroku or on a local lab server, following standard oTree setups).

In practice, this also makes DICE Lite a more natural entry point for lab managers and researchers already familiar with oTree, who may prefer starting from a minimal, code-centric version rather than adapting the full DICE stack.

A few important clarifications:

1. DICE Lite is not a replacement for DICE.
2. DICE remains the best option if you want to quickly create sessions via the GUI.
3. DICE Lite is intended as a starting point for people who want to build their own templates or custom workflows in code.
4. The code is intentionally simple and pragmatic rather than polished engineering.

You can find DICE Lite here

If this helps you experiment or customize DICE in ways that weren’t possible before, I’m glad — and feedback is always welcome.