Skip to main content

Aye Chat: Terminal-first AI Code Generator

Project description

Aye Chat: AI-powered terminal workspace

Your terminal, but with AI. Edit files, run commands, chat with AI - all in one session.

Install in 30 seconds

$ pip install ayechat
$ aye chat          # Start in any project

Aye Chat: The AI-powered shell for Linux

What it does

$ aye chat
> fix the bug in server.py
✓ Fixed undefined variable on line 42

> vim server.py
[opens real vim, returns to chat after]

> refactor: make it async
✓ Updated server.py with async/await

> pytest
✗ Tests fail

> restore
✓ Reverted last changes

No copy-pasting. No context switching. AI edits your files directly.

Why developers love it

  • Zero config - Automatically reads your project files (respects .gitignore)
  • Instant undo - restore command reverts any AI changes immediately
  • Real shell - Run git, pytest, even vim without leaving the chat
  • 100% local backups - Your code is safe, changes stored in .aye/
  • No prefixes - Just type. Commands run, everything else goes to AI

Quick examples

# In your project directory:
aye chat

> refactor this to use dependency injection
> pytest
> fix what broke  
> git commit -m "refactored DI"

Get started

  1. Install: pip install ayechat
  2. Start chatting: aye chat in any project folder

📚 Full command reference

Core Commands

Authentication

Does not require authentication

Starting a Session

aye chat                          # Start chat with auto-detected files
aye chat --root ./src             # Specify a different project root
aye chat --include "*.js,*.css"   # Manually specify which files to include

In-Chat Commands

Your input is handled in this order:

  1. Built-in Commands (like restore or model)
  2. Shell Commands (like ls -la or git status)
  3. AI Prompt (everything else)

Session & Model Control

  • new - Start a fresh chat session
  • model - Select a different AI model
  • verbose [on|off] - Toggle verbose output on or off
  • exit, quit, Ctrl+D - Exit the chat
  • help - Show available commands

Reviewing & Undoing AI Changes

  • restore, undo - Instantly undo the last set of changes made by AI
  • history - Show the history of changes made by AI
  • diff <file> - Compare current version against last change

Shell Commands

  • Run any command: ls -la, git status, docker ps
  • Interactive programs work: vim, nano, less, top
⚙️ Configuration & Privacy

Configuration

  • Aye Chat respects .gitignore and .ayeignore - private files are never touched
  • Change history and backups stored locally in .aye/ folder
  • Configure default model and preferences in ~/.aye/config.yaml

Privacy & Security

  • All file backups are local only
  • API calls only include files you explicitly work with
  • No telemetry or usage tracking
  • Open source - audit the code yourself
🧩 Plugins & Extensions

Extensible via Plugins

The core experience is enhanced by plugins:

  • Shell execution plugin
  • Autocompletion plugin
  • Custom command plugins
  • Model provider plugins
🪟 Windows install notes

On some Windows setups, pip install puts console scripts (like aye.exe) in a directory that is not on your PATH by default. If, after installing, aye is not recognized, you have a few options:

  1. Run via Python directly (works immediately):

    python -m aye chat
    
  2. Add the Python Scripts folder to PATH so aye is found directly. For a typical user install this is something like:

    C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Python\PythonXX\Scripts
    

    (Replace PythonXX with your actual Python version directory.)

  3. Use pipx for a smoother global install (recommended on Windows):

    pip install pipx
    pipx ensurepath
    pipx install ayechat
    
    aye chat
    

pipx installs Python CLI tools into an isolated environment and puts the entry points on your PATH automatically.

Contributing

Aye Chat is open source! We welcome contributions.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file

Disclaimer

review the DISCLAIMER before using this software.


Ready to code with AI without leaving your terminal?

pip install ayechat && aye chat

WikiDiscordGitHub

Project details


Release history Release notifications | RSS feed

Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distribution

ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425.tar.gz (595.6 kB view details)

Uploaded Source

Built Distribution

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425-py3-none-any.whl (97.3 kB view details)

Uploaded Python 3

File details

Details for the file ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425.tar.gz.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425.tar.gz
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 ecce550a48abd67c2d8cf8a8e67d54f846ff8ea1a1e581ab158a0f72f0094b74
MD5 12e6224876dcfb55ac59b3ed2c756a3e
BLAKE2b-256 a5a5d468d6d69f265fedd1c969433b48c4e0c908824f21e0c52cf00190ced1a8

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425.tar.gz:

Publisher: python-publish-dev.yml on acrotron/aye-chat

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425-py3-none-any.whl.

File metadata

File hashes

Hashes for ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425-py3-none-any.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 86ebd080bf82e4610fad1a48cdbd2d7a99437f6f79d87c34497cdb874b52ddfc
MD5 f1aacf23267da8d65b030b03e63681ba
BLAKE2b-256 54c32218004e7a1082cef6c1278c567846f540f04dc9361b0d024c56dd60e030

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for ayechat-0.30.1.dev20251206162425-py3-none-any.whl:

Publisher: python-publish-dev.yml on acrotron/aye-chat

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

Supported by

AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Depot Continuous Integration Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Pingdom Monitoring Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page