Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Termichess – Play chess in your terminal
Hey everyone, I have been trying to build a terminal based app for sometime now and this is an attempt at trying to build a chess app that one can play right inside terminal. I was inspired by `chess-tui`[1] which is a rust based project and was looking to build something similar using python. Luckily I stumbled upon textual[2] recently and it made my task of building this far more easier than I thought. [1] https://github.com/thomas-mauran/chess-tui [2] https://github.com/textualize/textual
Termichess is a terminal-based chess application built with Python that lets users play chess directly within their command-line interface. It is designed for developers and chess enthusiasts who prefer working in the… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Termichess – Play chess in your terminal launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1
Terminal-based game engine for Go, built on top of Termbox - JoelOtter/termloop
2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 2
Hi HN, I’ve released a new version of chess-tui, a Rust terminal UI for playing live games against Lichess opponents. The update includes a cleaner TUI, better performance, improved keybindings, and smoother real-time integration with the Lichess API. It’s designed as a simple, fast way to play chess without leaving the terminal. Repo:https://github.com/thomas-mauran/chess-tui Feedback and bug reports are welcome. Happy to answer questions!
Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 3
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I’ve been building termcraft, a terminal-first 2D sandbox survival game in Rust. The idea is to take the classic early survival progression and adapt it to a side-on terminal format instead of a tile or pixel-art engine. Current build includes: - procedural Overworld, Nether, and End generation - mining, placement, crafting, furnaces, brewing, and boats - hostile and passive mobs - villages, dungeons, strongholds, Nether fortresses, and dragon progression This is still early alpha, but it’s already playable. Project: https://github.com/pagel-s/termcraft Docs:…
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Hi HN! I just built chessterm, a Rust-powered TUI chess engine to practice chess notation (PGN) for an upcoming chess competition. This was also a way for me to learn Rust more deeply, particularly bitboards for move generation and terminal UI development with ratatui Unlike typical chess UIs that wrap around Stockfish, this is built completely from scratch, with: - PGN-only input (no AI, just human vs human) - Bitboard-based move generation (u64, precomputed attack masks) - Built with ratatui for a smooth terminal experience Would love to hear your feedback!
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Truncate is a chess flavoured word game that blends spatial reasoning and wordplay. In puzzle mode, you beat back your NPC opponent's words and take over their territory. Truncate started as a pen and paper game between a friend and I, evolved into a handmade board game, and finally arrived at an online puzzle game. Like any good word game, there is of course a daily mode, shareable with the tried and true grid of emojis We've been playtesting it with friends and family for a few months, which has helped iron out the tutorials and gameplay, and we're finally happy with an MVP worth sharing!…
2024 · truncate.town · its alternatives →
- 9
Hi, I have created a terminal app for wordle that has web like experience. In particular, it has keyboard hints and guess reveal animations. The idea is to able to play wordle in the terminal offline (and continuously if needed). This is also kind of a Rust learning project for me, and my first public rust project. The terminal game is built with ratatui framework, which is great. I find it interesting that you can model a tui with `The Elm Architecture - TEA` principles for the terminal. Feedbacks are welcome, particularly if you are a wordle person. Have a nice day!
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10
Spicy Chess▲76Hello! I created SpicyChess(https://spicychess.com) because I wanted a tactics training app that would have the following features: - Spaced Repetition. - Countdown time to simulate blitz Chess where you have to find the best move quickly. - The ability to save puzzles for later review. I'd love to hear any feedback that you may have !
2023 · spicychess.com · its alternatives →
- 11
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 12
Hi HN, Matle is a daily chess puzzle inspired by Wordle. You're shown a checkmate position with 5 hidden squares, and your goal is to guess what’s on them to complete the mate. Someone kindly shared it here a few months ago before I had the chance to post it myself. I’m the creator, and wanted to share a few new features based on feedback, and hear your thoughts. You can now view the original game behind each puzzle, get explanations for why a guess isn’t checkmate, and see daily solving stats. Would love to hear what you think: https://matle.io
2025 · matle.io · its alternatives →
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Chess AI in Java - 2005 High School Project. Contribute to theronic/chessmate development by creating an account on GitHub.
2013 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 14CE
We built ChessBoss at the TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon this week. It didn’t make the top 10 but I thought Hacker News might think it’s pretty cool. https://devpost.com/software/chess-boss There are these really cool smart chessboards that can suggest moves and track your games... but they’re $400 and weigh 19 pounds. And of course there are apps that can analyze games but tracking and inputting games by hand is a huge pain. Or fully-digital chess apps... but board games are way more fun in real life! We wondered: “why can’t you just do that in software and bring the best…
2019 · devpost.com · its alternatives →
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Chess Twist▲29I continue my experiment of transposing classic games onto an irregular grid. I've previously released variants of minesweeper and checkers. And now I'd like to share my variant of Chess. Chess can be a pretty punishing game, but I thought this was nevertheless a way to make it even more challenging by making it trickier to anticipate your opponent, even though both players still have the same information. From the playtests I've done, that challenge is pretty compelling. It also seems to be more fun at 2 people, where both players keep surprising one another.
2024 · polyreplay.com · its alternatives →
- 16RRetichess▲45
2014 · retichess.com · its alternatives →
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A minimal Emacs client for the Lichess API. Contribute to tmythicator/lichess.el development by creating an account on GitHub.
Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 18OC
My personal project: https://github.com/leonidasdeim/chasse Goal was to build session based chessboard game without any rules - to play just like oldschool over the board. Just create new board and share link with a friend. I would appreciate any feedback and github star. Thanks!
2023 · chasse.fun · its alternatives →
- 19
I'm doing some fun chess-related programing during my sabbatical, and taking the opportunity to dive down rabbit holes I'd avoid for in a work setting. Found out interesting stuff from old ANSI DEC escape sequences to sixel graphics that are useful today.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 20LA
About a game I made under direction of my kids. Tagged with rust, opensource, showdev, terminal.
2020 · dev.to · its alternatives →
- 21TY
Hi everybody, I’m Roman from Termius (YC W19, HN launch https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20118727). I want to share news about a new exciting feature that we wanted to build for a long time. It’s Terminal Sharing. Terminal Sharing enables engineers to get instant help from their colleagues by providing a link to their terminal output updated in real-time. There is also a mode where the viewer can enter commands from their end. When I was getting into programming, some of my biggest problems were: compilation errors or not being able to set up something on a Linux server.…
2021 · its alternatives →
- 223C
2012 · codepen.io · its alternatives →
- 23
Hello HackerNews, I'm Kaamkiya, the author of this program. It's a collection of minimal games made for terminals, like 2048, Hangman, and even two player games like pong. They're all text-based, but they can actually be quite fun. If you want to test it right now, you can do this: go run github.com/Kaamkiya/gg@latest I started this project out of boredom, honestly. I was bored, and when I'm bored I like to code or play video games. So I coded video games. I kept them really minimal though, because I'm not great at gamedev and thought it would be easier to contribute to text-based…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24
A typing game that runs entirely in your terminal - no GUI. Words fall from the top and you type them before they reach the water line, or die.
Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →