Lichess

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Claude Desktop to interact with Lichess chess platform through natural language. Play games, analyze positions, manage your account, and participate in tournaments—all by simply talking to Claude.

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GitHub Stars

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Language

6 months ago

First Indexed

2 months ago

Catalog Refreshed

Documentation & install

Readme and setup notes from the catalogue, plus a client-ready config you can copy for your MCP host.

Installation

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

Configuration

View docs

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "karayaman-lichess-mcp": {
      "command": "lichess-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "DEBUG": "*",
        "LICHESS_TOKEN": "YOUR_LICHESS_API_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Speak to Lichess via an MCP server to interact with your account, play games, analyze positions, and manage tournaments or teams. This guide shows you how to use the MCP with Claude Desktop, install it locally, and configure it for seamless control of your Lichess activities from your preferred client.

How to use

You connect to the Lichess MCP server from your MCP client (for example, Claude Desktop). Use the available functions to manage your Lichess profile, start games, analyze positions, and participate in tournaments or teams. The core actions you can perform include retrieving profiles, creating challenges, making moves, exporting games, and querying cloud evaluations.

Here are the practical usage patterns you’ll perform most often, in order of typical flow:

Set your Lichess API token either via environment variables or at runtime with a helper function.
Fetch your own profile to confirm authentication and see your stats.
Fetch another user’s profile if you want to inspect their trophies or activity.
Create a challenge against another player with a specified time control and color preference.
Play moves in an active game, or fetch your ongoing games to monitor your sessions.
Export games in PGN format for offline analysis or sharing.
Get cloud evaluations for positions to aid analysis.
List current tournaments, join a tournament, or create a new arena (tournament).

Available tools

get_my_profile

Retrieve your Lichess profile information to confirm authentication and view your stats.

get_user_profile

Retrieve another user’s profile, with optional trophies included.

create_challenge

Create a new challenge against another user with a specific time control and color preference.

make_move

Submit a move in an active game and optionally offer a draw.

get_ongoing_games

List your current ongoing games to monitor activity and plan moves.

export_game

Export a finished or ongoing game in PGN format for offline analysis.

get_cloud_eval

Request a cloud-based evaluation for a given position in FEN.

get_arena_tournaments

List the currently available arena tournaments you can participate in.

join_arena

Join a specific arena tournament by its ID.

create_arena

Create a new arena with a name, clock settings, and duration.

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