Lichess
Lila is the open-source server behind Lichess, a free online chess platform with realtime play, tournaments, analysis and a tactics trainer.
- GitHub stars
- 19k
- Last commit
- today
- Latest release
- v1.1.0
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0
- Hosted version
- Available
Lila is the code that powers lichess.org, a free online chess server focused on realtime gameplay and ease of use. The platform is run as a non-profit and describes itself as free and ad-free. The name comes from li[chess in sca]la, a nod to the Scala language it is written in.
Features include a game search engine, computer analysis distributed through fishnet, tournaments, simultaneous exhibitions, forums, teams, a tactic trainer, a mobile app and a shared analysis board. The interface is translated into more than 140 languages by the community, and all rated games are published in a free PGN database. A public HTTP API is available for applications and websites.
Under the hood it is a Scala 3 application on a modified Play framework, with asynchronous processing through Futures and Pekko streams. A separate server handles WebSocket connections over Redis, MongoDB stores the games and Elasticsearch indexes them, and Stockfish runs on donated servers. The web client uses TypeScript. Lila is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and the wiki explains how to set up a development environment.
Key features
- Realtime online chess play
- Tournaments and simultaneous exhibitions
- Computer analysis via distributed Stockfish
- Tactic trainer and shared analysis board
- Free PGN database of rated games
- Public HTTP API for developers
Pricing: Free to use and ad-free; the project is a non-profit and the code is licensed under AGPL-3.0.
