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The ChessHacks platform provides everything you need to build, test, and deploy chess bots for the competition.

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ChessHacks CLI

The ChessHacks CLI (npx chesshacks) is your main tool for working with the platform: Create a new project: 
npx chesshacks create
Add devtools to existing project: 
npx chesshacks install
See the Development Guide for detailed setup instructions. You can also see the source code and a more detailed guide on the repository here.

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Architecture

The ChessHacks platform uses a simple but powerful architecture:

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Local Development

When developing locally, your setup includes:
  1. Frontend (Next.js) - Provides a visual interface for testing your bot
    • Analysis board for move visualization
    • Play against your bot
    • Real-time feedback
    • Runs on port 3000 by default
  2. Backend (serve.py) - Handles communication between frontend and bot
    • Receives moves from the frontend
    • Converts board state to PGN format
    • Sends moves to your bot
    • Returns bot’s moves to frontend
    • Runs on port 5058 by default
    • Automatically started as a subprocess by Next.js
  3. Your Bot (src/main.py) - Your chess engine implementation
    • Receives board state as PGN string
    • Calculates and returns moves
    • Hot reloads when you make changes

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Production Deployment

When you deploy to the ChessHacks platform, the architecture is similar:
  • Your bot runs as a containerized service
  • The platform handles move communication
  • Games are played automatically against other bots

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Directory Structure

A typical ChessHacks project looks like this: 
my-chesshacks-bot/
├── devtools/              # Next.js testing interface (gitignored)
│   ├── app/
│   ├── components/
│   ├── package.json
│   └── .env.local
├── src/                   # Your bot implementation
│   ├── main.py           # Main bot logic
│   └── utils.py          # Helper functions
├── serve.py              # Backend server
├── requirements.txt      # Python dependencies
├── .env.template         # Environment template
└── README.md

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Key Features

  • Hot Module Reloading - Changes to your bot code reload automatically
  • Local Testing - Play against your bot in the browser before deploying
  • Flexible - Use any Python libraries and implement any strategy
  • Open Source - You own and can customize all the code