About Lichess
Lichess is an MCP server for querying public Lichess data, including player profiles, games, opening databases, and tablebase results. It is intended for clients that need read-only chess data and analysis endpoints.
Key features
- 01Retrieve profiles and ratings
- 02Check player online status
- 03Explore openings and games
- 04Get cloud evaluations
- 05Query Syzygy tablebases
Use cases
- 01Review a player's ratings across variants
- 02Find opening statistics for a position
- 03Check tablebase results for an endgame
MCP support
Exposes read-only Lichess API, opening explorer, cloud evaluation, and tablebase tools to MCP clients. It runs locally over stdio or through the Pipeworx gateway.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http pipeworx-io-lichess https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcp{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-lichess":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"pipeworx-io-lichess":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-lichess":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-lichess":{"serverUrl":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
Details
From the project README@pipeworx/lichess
Lichess.org public API MCP — player profiles, games, broadcasts, opening explorer, tablebase. Keyless.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1882+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.
Tools
user(username)— player profile + ratings across variantsusers(usernames[])— bulk lookup (up to 300)user_status(usernames[])— online / playing statususer_performance(username, perf)— single-variant performance + best rated gametop_players(perf, limit?)— top players for a variant (bullet/blitz/rapid/classical/etc.)leaderboards()— top 10 across all variantstv_channels()— currently-featured TV games per variantcloud_eval(fen, multi_pv?)— engine cloud eval for a FEN positiontablebase(fen, variant?)— Syzygy tablebase result (≤7 pieces)opening_explorer(scope, fen|play, ...)— Lichess / masters / player opening DB
Data source
https://lichess.org/api, https://explorer.lichess.ovh, https://tablebase.lichess.ovh.
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"lichess": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/lichess/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pipeworx": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
}
}
}
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1882+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No MCP client? Call it over HTTP
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/lichess_user \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"username":"hikaru"}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/lichess_user. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
Standalone (no gateway account)
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"lichess": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-lichess"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-lichess
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Using with ask_pipeworx
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Lichess data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT
Comments
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