Installation

Building from Source

Currently, FollyChess is distributed as source code. To run the engine, you will need to build it for your specific environment.

Ensure your environment is set up with the following:

C++23 Compiler: Use Clang 17+ or a modern equivalent that supports the C++23 standard.
Bazel: The project uses the Bazel build system. Ensure it is installed and available in your PATH.

To build the optimized UCI (Universal Chess Interface) command-line binary, execute the following command in your terminal:

bazel build --compilation_mode=opt //cli:follychess

Using --compilation_mode=opt ensures the compiler applies performance-critical optimizations.

Once the build is complete, the executable binary will be located at bazel-bin/cli/follychess.