Terminal REPL

The Terminal REPL is AI Butler’s command-line chat interface. No configuration, no external services — just run one command and start talking.

aibutler repl

What You Get

Token-by-token streaming responses
Multi-line input
Command history
Shared memory with all other channels
Tool execution visible inline
No API key required (beyond whatever your model needs)

Quick Start

$ aibutler repl
AI Butler v1.0 — type /help for commands, Ctrl-D to exit

> what can you do?
I can help with: coding, research, smart home control, running...

> remember that my favorite editor is neovim
Got it — I'll remember you prefer neovim.

> ^D

The REPL shares the same memory, tools, and configuration as every other channel. Ask a question on Telegram, and the answer is visible when you open the terminal — and vice versa.

Built-in Slash Commands

The REPL supports slash commands for runtime inspection and control:

Command	What it does
`/help`	Show available commands
`/clear`	Clear the screen (but keep history)
`/model <name>`	Switch model for this session
`/tools`	List enabled tools
`/memory`	Show recent memory entries
`/quit`	Exit the REPL

The exact set of slash commands is defined in internal/cli/cmd_repl.go — check there for the latest list.

Multi-line Input

Start a message with """ to enter multi-line mode, close with """:

> """
  Write a Python script that reads a CSV
  and calculates the average of each column.
  """

Or paste directly — bracketed paste mode is auto-detected in most terminals.

Voice Input (Experimental)

aibutler voice tui

This opt-in command enables voice capture via arecord (Linux/ALSA) or sox (cross-platform). You’ll need one of those installed:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install sox

# macOS
brew install sox

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S sox

Features

Feature	Supported
Text streaming	Yes
Multi-line input	Yes (`"""` or bracketed paste)
Command history	Yes (persisted)
Syntax highlighting	Plain terminal rendering
Markdown rendering	Plain text for now
File input	Pipe files: `cat report.md \| aibutler repl`
Voice input	Experimental (`aibutler voice tui`)
Shared memory	Yes (cross-channel)

Resuming Sessions

Sessions persist to disk. You can jump back into a previous conversation:

aibutler resume            # pick from a list of recent sessions
aibutler resume <id>       # resume a specific session by ID

For programmatic control, use the A2A protocol or MCP server interfaces instead of driving the REPL from a script.