A terminal-based AI chat application built with Ink, providing an interactive chat interface with simulated bot responses.

• Interactive Terminal UI: Clean, React-based interface in your terminal
• Real-time Messaging: Send messages and receive bot responses
• Message History: Persistent chat history during session
• Loading States: Visual feedback while processing responses
• Advanced Text Input: Full keyboard shortcuts and cursor navigation

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build and watch for changes
pnpm run dev

# In another terminal, run the CLI
pnpm start

# Build the project
pnpm run build

# Run the built CLI
node dist/chat-cli.js

src/
├── app.js               # Main React component wrapper
├── chat-cli.js          # CLI entry point with Ink rendering
├── use-input.jsx        # Core chat application component
├── constant.js          # Application constants
├── components/          # Reusable UI components
│   ├── ai-message.jsx   # AI message display component
│   ├── history-message.jsx  # Message history component
│   └── text-input.jsx   # Advanced text input with keyboard shortcuts
└── hooks/               # Custom React hooks
    └── use-ai-chat.js   # AI chat state management

The chat interface includes a sophisticated text input component with full keyboard navigation:

• Arrow Keys: Move cursor left/right
• Ctrl+F / Ctrl+B: Forward/backward character (Emacs-style)
• Ctrl+Left/Right: Move by word boundaries

• Ctrl+A: Move to beginning of line
• Ctrl+E: Move to end of line
• Ctrl+U: Clear to start of line
• Ctrl+K: Clear to end of line
• Ctrl+W: Delete previous word
• Ctrl+D: Delete character at cursor
• Ctrl+H: Backspace
• Ctrl+L: Clear entire line
• Backspace/Delete: Standard character deletion

Type these commands directly in the chat interface:

• Runtime: Node.js >=16 (ES modules)
• Framework: React with Ink for CLI rendering
• Build: Babel with @babel/preset-react for JSX
• Testing: AVA with ink-testing-library
• Styling: Ink components with color support
• Command Architecture: Modern ES6+ with object destructuring for cleaner parameter handling

Once running, simply type your message and press Enter to send. The AI bot will respond with simulated messages.

Basic Commands:

• Type regular messages to chat with the AI
• Press Enter to send a message
• Use Ctrl+C to exit the application
• Use Ctrl+C during AI response to cancel

Keyboard Shortcuts:

• All standard text editing shortcuts work in the input field
• Arrow keys for cursor navigation
• Emacs-style keybindings (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+E, etc.)

Use CLI mode to send a prompt directly to the AI and exit immediately after receiving the response:

# Send a prompt and exit
node dist/chat-cli.js -p "What is the capital of France?"

# Or use the long form
node dist/chat-cli.js --prompt "Explain quantum computing"

# With custom model and temperature
node dist/chat-cli.js -p "Write a haiku" --model deepseek-chat --temperature 0.9 -p "hello"

In CLI mode:

• No welcome message is shown
• User input is disabled
• The program exits automatically after the AI response
• Perfect for scripting and automation

This chat CLI uses OpenRouter for AI responses. You need to set your OpenRouter API key as an environment variable:

# Set your OpenRouter API key (macOS/Linux)
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

You can obtain an API key from OpenRouter.

The CLI supports two types of configuration files for customizing the AI assistant behavior and system prompts:

This file contains global instructions that apply to all projects and sessions. It's loaded from your home directory and affects the AI's behavior regardless of which directory you're in.

Location: ~/.chat-cli.md (Markdown format)

Example usage:

# Global AI Instructions

## Personal Preferences
- Always use TypeScript when possible
- Prefer functional programming patterns
- Use descriptive variable names

## Project Standards
- Follow conventional commits
- Use 2 spaces for indentation
- Prefer arrow functions over function declarations

## Development Environment
- Use pnpm for package management
- Run tests before committing changes
- Use VS Code as the primary editor

This file contains project-specific instructions that are loaded when you're in a specific project directory. It overrides or extends the global configuration.

Location: ./chat-cli.md in your project root (Markdown format)

Example usage:

# Project-Specific AI Instructions

## Project Overview
This is a React-based e-commerce application using Next.js and TypeScript.

## Coding Standards
- Use Tailwind CSS for styling
- Follow Next.js App Router conventions
- Use React Server Components where appropriate
- Implement proper TypeScript types

## Dependencies
- Next.js 14 with App Router
- TypeScript 5.0+
- Tailwind CSS 3.0+
- Prisma for database ORM

## Testing
- Use Jest and React Testing Library
- Write tests for all new components
- Achieve 80%+ test coverage

## API Standards
- Use RESTful conventions
- Implement proper error handling
- Use Zod for validation

1. Global configuration (~/.chat-cli.md) is loaded first
2. Project configuration (./chat-cli.md) is loaded second and can override global settings
3. Both configurations are merged into the system prompt

Add mcpServers in ~/.chat-cli.json (JSON format for MCP server configuration):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sequential-thinking": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-sequential-thinking"
      ]
    }
  }
}

• Node.js 16 or higher
• pnpm

git clone https://github.com/gnosis23/chat-cli.git
cd chat-cli
pnpm install
pnpm run dev

# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Run linter only
pnpm xo

# Run formatter
pnpm run format

• MacOS
• Linux