Customization

Customize the look, feel, and behavior of Chess Analyzer Pro. All settings are saved locally and apply immediately.

Basic / Advanced Settings

The settings panel has a Basic / Advanced toggle at the top. Basic mode shows commonly used options. Advanced mode reveals engine tuning parameters (depth, Multi-PV, live analysis time budget). The toggle state persists across sessions.

Settings -Basic view

Settings -Advanced view with engine tuning options

Engine Settings

Configure Stockfish behavior for analysis.

Setting	Range	Default	Description
Threads	1–16	1	CPU cores for Stockfish. Higher = faster analysis. Conservative default prevents laptop overheating.
Hash	64–4096 MB	128	Memory for position cache. Higher helps complex positions but competes with other apps.
Depth	10–25	18	Search depth in half-moves. Depth 22 takes 3–5x longer than depth 18.
Multi-PV	1–8	2	Number of candidate moves to show. Enables Brilliant/Great detection.
Live Analysis Time	0.1–5s	0.5	Time budget per position during live analysis.

Stockfish path resolution is automatic in v2.2.0+. The app checks config path → system PATH → common install locations → previously downloaded. A built-in downloader fetches the correct binary if not found.

To configure manually: Settings → Chess Engine, click Browse, select the executable, and click Test Engine to validate.

API Configuration

LLM Profiles

Manage configurations for AI summary and coach features. See AI Features for provider details.

Multiple profiles can be configured and switched via a dropdown. Each profile stores: name, provider, API key, model name, and base URL.

Lichess API Token

Required for opening book move lookups and better API rate limits. Generate a token at lichess.org/account/oauth/token with the "Read games" scope.

Player Settings

Pre-fill your Chess.com and Lichess usernames to:

Auto-populate in the Load Game dialogs
Filter the Stats dashboard to show only your games
Enable color performance analysis

Appearance

Board Theme

Choose square colors for the chess board. Options:

Theme	Light Square	Dark Square
Green	#EEEDD2	#769656
Blue	#F0F0F0	#4A7FB5
Brown	#F0D9B5	#B58863
Gray	#F0F0F0	#808080
Purple	#F0F0F0	#A36AE5
Teal	#F0F0F0	#4A9E9E
Cherry	#F0F0F0	#C04040
Neon	#F0F0F0	#FF9500

The board updates immediately when you select a theme.

Board theme selector with preview

Piece Theme

Choose a piece set. The built-in set is Standard (Cburnett). Additional piece sets (Merida, Alpha, Cardinal, Chess7, etc.) can be imported via Custom Piece Theme Import.

Custom Piece Theme Import (v2.2.0+)

Import any SVG piece set from your filesystem:

Go to Settings → Appearance.
Click Import Theme....
Select a folder containing exactly 12 SVG files:

White: wK.svg, wQ.svg, wR.svg, wB.svg, wN.svg, wP.svg Black: bK.svg, bQ.svg, bR.svg, bB.svg, bN.svg, bP.svg

The app validates the folder, normalizes SVGs (handles scaling, gradients, and grouping), and adds the theme to the dropdown. Imported themes persist across sessions.

Accent Color

Change the primary UI accent color for buttons, highlights, and active elements. Pick any color using the color picker in Settings. Changes apply immediately.

Sound Effects

Toggle move, capture, check, castle, and game-end sounds in Settings → Appearance. Uses a sound pool (4 instances per sound) for rapid replay without clipping.

Book Settings

Configure Polyglot binary opening books (.bin files) to supplement the built-in SQLite opening database.

Go to Settings → Book Settings.
Click Browse and select a .bin opening book file.
Book moves appear in both the main analysis move list and the Opening Explorer.

Data Management

Option	What It Does
Clear Cache	Removes cached position evaluations. Forces re-analysis of previously analyzed positions. Does NOT delete game history.
Clear All Data	Removes all game history AND cached evaluations. Consider exporting to CSV first.

Configuration File

All settings are stored in config.json in the platform-specific user data directory:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ChessAnalyzerPro/config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/ChessAnalyzerPro/config.json
Linux: ~/.local/share/chessanalyzerpro/config.json

Key settings include:

Key	Type	Default	Description
engine_path	string	`stockfish`	Path to Stockfish executable
theme	string	`dark`	UI theme (`dark` or `light`)
sound_enabled	bool	`true`	Enable sound effects
analysis_depth	int	`18`	Default search depth
multi_pv	int	`2`	Number of engine lines
live_analysis_time	float	`0.5`	Position analysis time (seconds)
engine_threads	int	`1`	CPU threads for engine
engine_hash	int	`128`	Hash memory in MB
board_theme	string	`Green`	Board color theme
piece_theme	string	`Standard`	Piece set name
accent_color	string	`#FF9500`	UI accent color (hex)
llm_profiles	array	`[]`	Configured LLM provider profiles
llm_active_profile	string	`""`	Active LLM profile name
chesscom_username	string	`""`	Chess.com username
lichess_username	string	`""`	Lichess username
lichess_token	string	`""`	Lichess API token
polyglot_book_path	string	`""`	Path to Polyglot .bin file
setup_completed	bool	`false`	First-run wizard status
window_state	object	`{}`	Window position, size, maximized state