Chat CLI

Use `nodetool chat`, the interactive terminal for conversing with models and running tools.

The nodetool chat command starts an interactive terminal interface for conversing with language models and running tools. Every chat session runs the unified agent loop — the assistant can call tools and decompose work on its own; there is no separate mode to toggle.

Starting the Interface

Run nodetool chat from your shell. The current provider and model are shown in the status bar at the bottom. Type /help at any time to toggle the list of available commands.

# Start with saved / auto-detected settings
nodetool chat

# Override provider and model
nodetool chat --provider anthropic --model claude-sonnet-4-6

# Set the workspace directory (defaults to the current directory)
nodetool chat --workspace /path/to/project

# Connect to a running server instead of a local provider
nodetool chat --url ws://localhost:7777/ws

The --agent flag is deprecated and has no effect — the unified chat agent always runs.

Slash Commands

Commands use a / prefix. Tab completes commands and arguments (provider names, model ids).

  • /help — Toggle the list of available commands.
  • /new — Start a new chat session (clears history and starts a fresh thread).
  • /clear — Clear the conversation history.
  • /compact [instructions] — Summarize the conversation into a retained context message. Optional instructions focus the summary.
  • /model <model-id> — Set the model.
  • /provider <name> — Set the provider (switches to that provider’s default model).
  • /tools — List the enabled tools.
  • /exit — Exit the chat session.
  • /quit — Exit the chat session.

Press ↑/↓ to navigate input history, Tab to complete, and Esc or Ctrl+C to cancel a streaming response (or exit when idle).

Tools

The assistant runs with a set of enabled tools (file operations, web search, browser, code execution, NodeTool MCP tools, and more). Tools are auto-enabled based on the API keys available in your environment or the encrypted secret store. Use --tools to override the set explicitly, or /tools to see what is currently enabled.

nodetool chat --tools read_file,write_file,grep,run_code

Workspace

File operations run against a workspace directory. The workspace defaults to the current working directory; override it with --workspace <path>.

Settings and Logs

Persisted settings (provider, model, enabled tools) are stored in ~/.nodetool/chat-settings.json. A log file is written to ~/.nodetool/chat.log so logging does not interfere with the terminal UI. Your provider and model choices are saved automatically as you change them, so they carry over between runs.

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