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# UCI
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UCI is an acronym for **U**niversal **C**hess **I**nterface. It is a standard for communication that competes with
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XBoard/Winboard. [http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/html/UCIProtocol.html](UCI) makes communication a little easier, but
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it seems there's a nearly religious debate on which is better.
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Here are some benefits to using UCI:
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* It works with Chessbase 14
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* Simple to use
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* Fewer bugs in code
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* Built from scratch rather than ad-hoc
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* Flexible time controls
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* Additional search information can be displayed
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and to be fair, some downsides:
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* Stateless
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* Delegates some important decisions to the GUI
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* Difficult to add new features on top of it
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* Sends the whole move list each turn
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Overall, UCI seems to be fairly popular and is worth considering for your next engine.
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## Why
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People shouldn't waste their time implementing protocols that really should be libraries. With this, you can
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include it in your project, build your engine on top of it, and be able to focus on what matters - beating Stockfish.
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## Will You Implement Winboard?
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Yeah, probably.
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## Why GPL 3.0?
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I have noticed that there are no good _free_ solutions so that anyone can build a chess engine. Since UCI is
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a common format, and something all engines (should) implement, making this chunk of it free makes _total_ sense.
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## Usage
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UCI is designed to complement your chess engine rather than be a one-stop shop for engine development.
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As such, you will be responsible for maintaining the game loop. What UCI provides is a series of functions
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that will help you send data to, and receive data from the GUI.
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### First Steps
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Your engine will first need to wait on STDIN for a command `uci` from the GUI. This indicates that your engine should
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switch to UCI mode. You can use `commands::UCI` to make sure the command text you are waiting for is correct.
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