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Chat in the terminal

Chat with a Toolang agent, inspect its work, and adjust the model or runnable without leaving the terminal.

Open Chat

Create an agent using the Quickstart, then open a new thread:

toolang alice chat

Continue the latest thread with a bare -t, or supply a thread ID:

toolang alice chat -t
toolang alice chat -t THREAD

A shared definition also works directly:

toolang https://toolang.ai/dev.too chat

Send and queue input

Press Enter to send input. If a run is already active, the input is queued for a later run. Meta+Enter sends it as steering input to the active run.

ShortcutAction
EnterSend input or queue it
Ctrl+JInsert a newline; Shift+Enter also works in supported terminals
Meta+EnterSteer the active run
Esc EscCancel the active run
Tab / Shift+TabSwitch focus between input and queue
Ctrl+CClear input, otherwise cancel the run; press twice to exit

With the queue focused, use the arrow keys to select input, Space to expand it, e to edit it, and d to delete it. Use /keys for the complete list.

Choose models and runnables

Slash commands change session settings or inspect the agent. Submit each slash command on its own.

CommandPurpose
/modelsList allowed models
/toolsList allowed tools
/capsList allowed caps
/agics / /flowsList available runnables
/model MODELSet the session model
/model effort=highSet the model's reasoning effort, when supported
/agic NAME / /flow NAMESelect a session runnable
/runnable defaultReturn to the default runnable
/outputShow the latest run's output
/output RUNShow a specific run's output
/helpList commands
/exitExit Chat

/models, /tools, and /caps accept a collection query to filter results. Add -a to inspect all available resources, including those outside the session's allowed set. Use toolang query COLLECTION for query syntax and fields.

Set resource and run limits

Session settings apply to subsequent submissions:

/allow tools=fs/* skills=review*
/limit tokens=20000 time=120

/allow sets resource ceilings; it does not grant resources excluded by the agent's configuration. /limit sets run budgets. Use /allow or /limit without arguments for focused help.

Override one run

Put colon directives before the input in a single submission. These settings apply only to that run:

:model effort=high
:limit tokens=10000

Compare the two approaches and recommend one.

To select a runnable and supply named inputs for one run:

:agic review focus=security

Review this file for security issues.
@src/auth.py

This assumes the agent defines an agic named review with a focus parameter. Type :? for the supported overrides.

Include files and prompts

Place a file reference such as @README.md on its own line to include its content. Quote paths containing spaces: @"release notes.md". Prompt calls also start at the beginning of a line, for example $review focus=security -- explain this change, when that prompt is available.

Use @@, $$, //, or :: at the start of a line to write a literal marker instead of a file reference, prompt call, slash command, or colon directive.

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