Games & Comics — entry 042 of 77
Lichess
Lichess, the free and ad-free open-source chess server, exposes almost all of its data — user profiles, game exports, puzzles, tournaments, broadcasts, and live game/board play — through a public API. Most read endpoints work without a key, while writes and higher-rate or account-scoped access use OAuth 2 personal tokens; JSON and streamed NDJSON are the main formats, alongside PGN for game downloads.
AuthenticationOAuthRequires an OAuth flow; expect app registration.
HTTPSSupportedTraffic is encrypted in transit.
CORSEnabledCallable directly from browser JavaScript.
PricingFreeNo paid tier — free for the documented use case.
FormatsJSONResponses can be requested as JSON.
GreatAPIs Score
Score57
Authentication8/25OAuth flow required
Pricing20/20Free to use
Docs0/20No docs or spec available
Formats9/15Single response format
Freshness20/20Verified within 6 months
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<a href="https://greatapis.com/api/lichess/"><img src="https://greatapis.com/badge/lichess.svg" alt="Scored 57 on greatapis.com"></a>Auth quickstart
- Register an app / run the OAuth flow to obtain a bearer token.
- Send it as an Authorization header
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Stored keyNo key stored
Your key is stored only in this browser (localStorage) and sent directly to the API — never to greatapis.