Lichess

aid: lichess
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/lichess/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
apis:
- aid: lichess:lichess-api
  name: Lichess API
  tags:
  - Chess
  - Games
  - Open Source
  - REST
  humanURL: https://lichess.org/api
  baseURL: https://lichess.org
  properties:
  - url: https://lichess.org/api
    type: Documentation
  - url: openapi/lichess-openapi.yml
    type: OpenAPI
  - url: https://github.com/lichess-org/api/blob/master/doc/specs/lichess-api.yaml
    type: OpenAPI
  - url: json-schema/lichess-game-schema.json
    type: JSONSchema
  - url: json-schema/lichess-user-schema.json
    type: JSONSchema
  - url: json-ld/lichess-context.jsonld
    type: JSONLD
  - url: rules/lichess-rules.yml
    type: SpectralRuleset
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/account.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/users.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/games.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/puzzles.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/teams.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/board.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/bot.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/challenges.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/arena-tournaments.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/swiss-tournaments.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/studies.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/broadcasts.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/opening-explorer.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/tablebase.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/external-engine.yaml
  description: The Lichess API is a comprehensive REST and streaming API covering account, users, games, puzzles,
    teams, challenges, board and bot play, Arena and Swiss tournaments, simuls, studies, broadcasts, messaging,
    OAuth, FIDE data, opening explorer, tablebase, external engine, and cloud evaluation. The full OpenAPI 3.1
    specification is published at github.com/lichess-org/api with 185 operations across 23 tags, and many endpoints
    stream responses as newline-delimited JSON (ND-JSON).
name: Lichess
tags:
- Chess
- Games
- Open Source
- Nonprofit
- Tournaments
- Puzzles
- Bots
- Streaming
- ND-JSON
- OAuth
kind: contract
image: https://lichess1.org/assets/logo/lichess-pad12.svg
access: 3rd-Party
common:
- url: https://lichess.org
  name: Lichess
  type: Portal
- url: https://lichess.org/api
  name: API Reference
  type: Documentation
- url: https://lichess.org/api/ui
  name: API UI
  type: Sandbox
- url: https://lichess-org.github.io/api-demo/
  name: API Demo
  type: Sandbox
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org
  name: Lichess on GitHub
  type: GitHubOrganization
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/api
  name: Lichess API Documentation Repository
  type: SourceCode
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/lila
  name: Lila - Lichess Server
  type: SourceCode
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/scalachess
  name: scalachess Engine Library
  type: SourceCode
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/chessground
  name: Chessground Board UI
  type: SourceCode
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/pgn-viewer
  name: PGN Viewer
  type: SourceCode
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/mobile
  name: Lichess Mobile (Flutter)
  type: SourceCode
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/berserk
  name: Berserk - Python Client
  type: SDK
- url: https://github.com/tors42/chariot
  name: Chariot - Java Client
  type: SDK
- url: https://github.com/devjiwonchoi/equine
  name: Equine - JavaScript/TypeScript Client
  type: SDK
- url: https://github.com/Rabergsel/LichessNET
  name: LichessNET - C# Client
  type: SDK
- url: https://github.com/Dblike/LichessSharp
  name: LichessSharp - .NET Client
  type: SDK
- url: https://github.com/mkomon/uberserk
  name: uberserk - MicroPython Client
  type: SDK
- url: https://pypi.org/project/async-lichess-sdk
  name: async-lichess-sdk
  type: SDK
- url: https://github.com/lichess-bot-devs/lichess-bot
  name: lichess-bot - Python Bot Reference
  type: Tool
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/fishnet
  name: Fishnet - Distributed Stockfish Analysis
  type: Tool
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/external-engine
  name: External Engine
  type: Tool
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/broadcaster
  name: Broadcaster
  type: Tool
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/pgn-mule
  name: PGN Mule
  type: Tool
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/api-ui
  name: API UI Source
  type: Tool
- url: https://github.com/lichess-org/api/tree/master/example
  name: OAuth and API Examples
  type: CodeExamples
- url: https://discord.gg/lichess
  name: Lichess Discord
  type: Forum
- url: https://lichess.org/forum
  name: Lichess Forum
  type: Forum
- url: https://database.lichess.org/
  name: Lichess Database Exports
  type: BulkDataDownload
- url: https://lichess.org/account/oauth/token
  name: Personal Access Token
  type: Authentication
- url: https://lichess.org/developers
  name: Lichess Widgets
  type: Documentation
- url: https://lichess.org/account/oauth/app
  name: OAuth App Registration
  type: Authentication
- url: https://lichess.org/page/fair-play
  name: Fair Play Policy
  type: TermsOfService
- url: https://lichess.org/terms-of-service
  name: Terms of Service
  type: TermsOfService
- url: https://lichess.org/privacy
  type: PrivacyPolicy
- url: https://lichess.org/source
  name: Source Code
  type: SourceCode
- url: https://lichess.org/patron
  name: Become a Lichess Patron
  type: Donate
- url: https://status.lichess.org/
  name: Lichess Status
  type: StatusPage
- url: https://lichess.org/blog
  type: Blog
- url: https://lichess.org/api#section/Introduction/Rate-limiting
  name: Rate Limiting
  type: RateLimits
- url: https://lichess.org/api#tag/OAuth
  name: OAuth and PKCE
  type: Authentication
- url: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt
  name: AGPL-3.0
  type: License
- url: plans/lichess-plans-pricing.yml
  type: Plans
- url: rate-limits/lichess-rate-limits.yml
  type: RateLimits
- type: Features
  data:
  - Free, ad-free, open-source online chess server operated by a French nonprofit, funded by donations
  - Full OpenAPI 3.1 specification with 185 operations across 23 tags published at github.com/lichess-org/api
  - Account, users, relations, and messaging endpoints for managing players and social graph
  - Games REST and ND-JSON streaming endpoints for current and historical games, including PGN export
  - TV channels and current best games for live broadcast and embedding
  - Daily puzzle, puzzle by ID, puzzle activity, and puzzle dashboard endpoints
  - Teams API for creating, joining, listing, and managing chess teams
  - Board API for playing real-time games with physical boards and third-party clients using regular accounts
  - Bot API for programmatic play by accounts upgraded to bot status, with streaming game state
  - Challenges API for issuing, accepting, declining, and listing challenges including AI and open challenges
  - Bulk pairings for programmatically creating many games at once
  - Arena and Swiss tournament APIs including create, update, terminate, join, withdraw, and result export
  - Simuls endpoint for current and upcoming simultaneous exhibitions
  - Studies API for exporting and importing study chapters in PGN
  - Broadcasts API for creating tournaments, rounds, and pushing PGN updates for live event coverage
  - FIDE endpoints exposing FIDE player and federation data
  - Opening Explorer with Masters database, Lichess database, and player database lookups
  - Tablebase endpoint for 7-piece Syzygy endgame results
  - External Engine API enabling user-hosted engines to power analysis on lichess.org/analysis
  - Cloud evaluation lookup for previously evaluated positions
  - OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow with PKCE plus personal access tokens, long-lived (one year typical)
  - Newline-delimited JSON (ND-JSON) streaming for events, games, and TV feeds
  - Distributed Stockfish analysis network (fishnet) and open client-side Stockfish WASM builds
  - Public dataset exports of all rated games, puzzles, and computer evaluations at database.lichess.org
  - Official community SDKs in Python (berserk), Java (chariot), JavaScript/TypeScript (equine), .NET, and more
  - AGPL-3.0 licensed server (lila), with MIT scalachess engine library and GPL-3.0 mobile and tooling code
  sources:
  - https://lichess.org/api
  - https://github.com/lichess-org/api
  - https://github.com/lichess-org
  - https://lichess.org/about
  updated: '2026-05-25'
created: '2026-05-25T00:00:00.000Z'
modified: '2026-05-25'
position: Consuming
description: Lichess is a free, ad-free, open-source online chess server operated by a French nonprofit and powered
  entirely by volunteers and donations. It serves millions of games per day with live play, tournaments, puzzles,
  studies, broadcasts, analysis, and a public API. The server (lila), engine library (scalachess), mobile app,
  board UI (chessground), and distributed Stockfish analysis network (fishnet) are all open source under AGPL-3.0,
  MIT, and GPL-3.0 licenses. The Lichess API provides 185 documented operations across 23 functional areas
  including Account, Users, Games, Puzzles, Teams, Board, Bot, Challenges, Arena and Swiss Tournaments, Simuls,
  Studies, Broadcasts, Messaging, OAuth, FIDE, Opening Explorer, Tablebase, External Engine, and Cloud Analysis,
  with comprehensive ND-JSON streaming support.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: [email protected]
  X: apievangelist
  url: https://apievangelist.com
specificationVersion: '0.16'