ChessAgine MCP

ChessAgine MCP is a Model Context Protocol server that gives LLMs deep chess awareness by exposing real-time board state, Stockfish analysis, opening databases, Lichess games, and neural engines including Maia2, Leela, and Elite Leela.

It also renders individual positions and full PGN games for in-depth visual analysis—enabling AI agents to reason about positions, evaluate variations, detect themes, explore game databases, and interact directly with chess engines.

Preview

Installation

Option 1: Using MCPB File (Recommended)

Download the chessagine-mcp.mcpb file and install it directly in Claude Desktop:

1. Download the latest release from GitHub releases

2. Open Claude Desktop

3. Go to Settings → Extensions → Install from file

4. Select the chessagine-mcp.mcpb file

5. Restart Claude Desktop

[!NOTE]

To make sure its working correctly ask it to render the chessboard or a specific chess query

Option 2: Local Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• npm or yarn package manager

Clone and Setup

git clone https://github.com/jalpp/chessagine-mcp.git
cd chessagine-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Configure Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS/Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chessagine-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/chessagine-mcp/build/runner/stdio.js"]
    }
  }
}

Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chessagine-mcp": {
      "command": "node", 
      "args": ["C:\\absolute\\path\\to\\chessagine-mcp\\build\\runner\\stdio.js"]
    }
  }
}

Usage:

• show me my last Lichess game I played, I'm insert_your_username there, also analyze the game using Stockfish
• given fen compare and constrast what stockfish thinks vs Leela and Maia
• analyze my opening rep from Chessboard magic.

ChessAgine.Skill

to properly use ChessAgine MCP, give LLM access to how to properly use the it via .skill file here

Deploy your own instance

You can deploy your own copy to Vercel in a few clicks:

1. Fork this repo

2. Go to vercel.com/new and import your fork

3. No environment variables needed — just deploy

4. Your server will be at https://your-project.vercel.app/mcp

Dev commands

npm run build:mcp  # Builds the mcp server layer which generates mcpb file
npm run build:ui   # Builds the ChessAgine MCP UI html files
npm run build      # Builds entire project, use for local development
npm run start      # starts the MCP server
npm run debug      # opens MCP inspector to inspect new changes made

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License, the /themes and /protocol are under GPL. See the LICENSE file for details.

Authors

@jalpp