chess2lichess (c2l)

Turn a chess.com game URL into a lichess analysis URL from the terminal.

Overview • Quick start • Usage • TUI • npm package notes • Limits

Overview

c2l is a small CLI that converts a chess.com game URL into a lichess.org analysis link.

It runs as a native binary (Rust implementation) while providing a simple Node entry point at the package level.

[!IMPORTANT] c2l supports https://www.chess.com/game/<id> and https://www.chess.com/game/live/<id> URLs.

Key features

• URL validation for supported chess.com/game/... links
• PGN extraction with fallback strategies
• PGN import via https://lichess.org/api/import
• Structured metadata extraction from PGN headers
• Final analysis URL output and optional actions
  • copy PGN to clipboard
  • print PGN
  • save PGN to a file
  • auto open browser
• Interactive npm self-update prompt for npm-installed c2l when a newer package version exists
• Interactive URL input mode and TUI mode

Quick start - npm

Install globally for shell usage:

npm install -g @wnsdud-jy/c2l

Use c2l directly:

c2l "https://www.chess.com/game/live/123456789"

Run without global install:

npx @wnsdud-jy/c2l "https://www.chess.com/game/live/123456789"

If you want a local dependency:

npm i -D @wnsdud-jy/c2l
npx c2l "https://www.chess.com/game/live/123456789"

[!TIP] npm/npx install does not require a Rust toolchain. It downloads a prebuilt binary for your platform.

Usage

Usage: c2l [OPTIONS] [URL...] [COMMAND]

Commands:
  tui   Run TUI mode
  doctor  Run environment and release checks
  help  Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Arguments:
  [URL]  chess.com game URL(s). Can be repeated for batch mode.

Options:
      --copy             Copy PGN to clipboard
      --open             Open browser
      --print-pgn        Print PGN to stdout
      --no-open          Do not open browser automatically
      --save-pgn <PATH>  Save PGN to file
      --raw-url          Print only the final URL
      --json             Print machine-readable JSON output
      --quiet            Suppress human-readable progress and summary messages
      --verbose          Show verbose progress logs
      --format <FORMAT>  Output format: text|json|csv [default: text]
      --input <PATH>     Read URLs from a file, one per line
  -h, --help             Print help
  -V, --version          Print version

Examples:

# Process one URL
c2l "https://www.chess.com/game/123456789"

# Process one live URL
c2l "https://www.chess.com/game/live/123456789"

# Process multiple URLs at once
c2l "https://www.chess.com/game/live/111" "https://www.chess.com/game/live/222" --raw-url

# Process file input and output JSON
c2l --json --input urls.txt

# Pipe URLs via stdin
printf "%s\n%s\n" "https://www.chess.com/game/live/111" "https://www.chess.com/game/live/222" | c2l --json

# Get only final URL for scripting
c2l --raw-url "https://www.chess.com/game/live/123456789"

# Save PGN and avoid opening browser
c2l --save-pgn game.pgn --no-open "https://www.chess.com/game/live/123456789"

# Interactive mode
c2l
URL> https://www.chess.com/game/live/111
URL> https://www.chess.com/game/live/222
URL> quit

[!TIP] For shell pipelines, pass --raw-url and chain output directly.

[!NOTE] When c2l is launched from the npm package in an interactive terminal, it checks the npm registry for a newer package version before processing. Script-friendly modes such as --json, --format csv, --raw-url, and quiet output skip this prompt. You can upgrade immediately, skip once, or mute the prompt for 7 days.

Text output now also includes short metadata when PGN headers are available, such as players, result, date, move count, and opening.

TUI mode

c2l tui

• Enter: process current URL
• c: copy PGN to clipboard
• o: open final URL in browser
• p: save PGN as c2l-last.pgn
• q, Esc, or Ctrl+C: quit

npm package notes

During npm install, postinstall runs scripts/postinstall.js:

• Resolve your platform/arch (linux-x64, linux-arm64, darwin-x64, darwin-arm64, win32-x64)
• Download the matching asset from GitHub Releases
• Verify SHA-256 via checksums file
• Save binary to vendor/ in the package
• Make binary executable (chmod +x) on non-Windows platforms

Supported environment variables:

• C2L_SKIP_POSTINSTALL=1: skip download step
• C2L_GITHUB_REPO=<owner/repo>: override release repository
• C2L_RELEASE_TAG=<tag>: override release tag (default: v<package-version>)

bin/c2l.js simply launches the downloaded binary for your environment.

Build from source

cargo build --release
cargo test

Run Node-side tests:

npm test

Limits

• Non-chess.com URLs are rejected.
• Private/restricted games may fail to resolve.
• If chess.com markup/API shape changes, extraction can break.
• If lichess API behavior changes, final URL parsing can fail.
• Output color in TUI depends on terminal capability.