ChessDesk

Bored waiting for your build, tests, or Claude to finish? Play a game of chess.

ChessDesk drops a real lichess.org board into a VS Code panel. Play real people, the computer, or a friend; all without leaving your editor. Your terminal keeps running. You keep pretending to work.

Install

• From the Marketplace (easiest): open Extensions (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+X), search ChessDesk, click Install. Direct link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=gurur.chessdesk
• Or Quick Open: press Ctrl/Cmd+P, paste ext install gurur.chessdesk, Enter.
• Or the file: grab the .vsix from Releases, then in Extensions click the ... menu -> Install from VSIX.

Play

1. Open the bottom panel (Ctrl/Cmd+J) and click the Chess icon.
2. Hit Sign in with Lichess (opens your browser once to authorize).
3. Pick a time control and color, then:
   • Find a game for a random human, or
   • Play the computer (strength 1-8), or
   • Play a friend: type their Lichess name, send them the link.

Moves, clocks, resign, draw offers, and promotion all work right in the panel.

Make it yours

Hit the settings gear in the panel for board themes, piece styles and colors, and swappable move sounds. Themes follow your VS Code light/dark automatically.

Credits & license

Free software under GPL-3.0-or-later. Copyright (C) 2026 Gurur.

Bundled assets keep their own licenses (see NOTICE):

• Pieces from lichess/lila (GPL / Apache-2.0).
• Sounds from Pixabay (Pixabay Content License).
• Built on chessground and chessops.

Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Lichess.