CUTECHESS-ENGINES.JSON(5) File Formats Manual CUTECHESS-ENGINES.

JSON(5)

NAME
cutechess-engines.json - Cute Chess engine configuration file

DESCRIPTION
cutechess-engines.json is the chess engine configuration file for
cutechess-cli(6). An engine configuration defines a name, a command, a
working directory and many other options. Engine configurations can be
used in cutechess-cli(6) with the conf command-line option.

Engine configurations are defined in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

format. See JSON FORMAT.

JSON FORMAT
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a text-based format for structured
data. JSON is a subset of ECMAScript (JavaScript).

Values
A JSON value must be one of: object, array, number, string, false, true
or null.

Objects
An object is structure of name-value pairs enclosed in curly brackets. A
name is a string. Name and value are separated by a single colon. Pairs
are separated by commas.

Example objects would be:

{ "Finland" : ".fi", "Sweden" : ".se" }

{
"firstName" : "JC",
"lastName" : "Denton",
"age" : 28,
"languages" : [ "English", "French", "Spanish" ]
}

Arrays
An array is a structure of zero or more values enclosed in square
brackets. Values are separated by commas.

Example arrays would be:

[ "Cute", "Chess" ]

[
[ 1, 0, 0 ],
[ 0, 1, 0 ],
[ 0, 0, 1 ]
]

Numbers
A number consists of an integer part and optional fractional and/or
exponent part. The integer part can be prefixed with a minus sign.
Fractional part is a decimal point followed by one or more digits.
Exponent part begins with a letter E in upper or lowercase which may be
followed by a plus or minus sign. The E and optional sign are followed
by one or more digits.
 Octal and hex forms are not allowed.

Example numbers would be:

128
-1.04
2e32
-18E-20

Strings
A string is sequence of characters enclosed in quotation marks. All
Unicode characters may be placed within the quotation marks except for
the characters that must be escaped: quotation mark, backslash, and
control characters.

Available two-character escape sequences are as follows:

\\ Backslash character.
\/ Forward slash character.
\" Quotation mark.
\b Bell character.
\f Form feed character.
\n Line feed character.
\t Vertical tab character.
\unum Unicode character where num is a four hexadecimal digits
that encode the character's code point.

Example strings would be:

"Hello, world!"

"Please place all items \"carefully\" in bins."

"\u03a6 is one of the letters of Greek alphabet."

ENGINE CONFIGURATION
The configuration file consist of an array of objects. Each object
defines a single engine configuration. Required options for each engine
configuration are:

name : string
The name of the engine.

command : string
The engine command.

protocol : "uci" | "xboard"

The chess engine protocol used by this engine.

Other available options for an engine configuration are:

workingDirectory : string
The working directory of the engine.

stderrFile : string
File where the engine's standard error output is redirected.

initStrings : array of string

 Array of strings sent to the engine's standard input at startup.

whitepov : true | false

When true invert the engine's scores when it plays black. The
default is false.

This option should be used with engines that always report scores
from white's perspective.

ponder : true | false

When true enable pondering if the engine supports it. The
default is false.

EXAMPLES
A minimal engine configuration file for the Sloppy chess engine:

[
{
"name": "Sloppy",
"command": "sloppy",
"protocol": "xboard"
}
]

Using the above engine configuration file with the conf command-line
option:

$ cutechess-cli -engine conf=Sloppy -engine conf=Sloppy -each

tc=40/60 -rounds 10

SEE ALSO
cutechess-cli(6)

The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON),

RFC 4627, July 2006.

Debian October 27, 2015 Debian