dotchatbot

A simple file-based interface for chatbots

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• License

Features

• File-based sessions
• Markdown output rendering via rich
• Session history and session resuming by just passing -
• Automatic filenames via prompting

Installation

uv tool install dotchatbot

Usage

Usage: dotchatbot [OPTIONS] [FILENAME]

  Starts a session with the chatbot, resume by providing FILENAME. Provide -
  for FILENAME to use the previous session (stored in SESSION_HISTORY_FILE).

Options:
  -p, --system-prompt TEXT      The default system prompt to use  [default: You
                                are a helpful assistant.]
  --no-pager                    Do not output using pager
  --no-rich                     Do not output using rich
  -r, --reverse                 Reverse the conversation in the editor
  -y, --assume-yes              Automatic yes to prompts; assume "yes" as
                                answer to all prompts and run non-
                                interactively.
  -n, --assume-no               Automatic no to prompts; assume "no" as answer
                                to all prompts and run non-interactively.
  -c, --current-directory       Use the current directory as the session file
                                location
  --session-history-file TEXT   The file where the session history is stored
  --session-file-location TEXT  The location where session files are stored
  --session-file-ext TEXT       The extension to use for session files
                                [default: .dcb]
  --summary-prompt TEXT         The prompt to use for the summary (for building
                                the filename for the session)  [default: Given
                                the conversation so far, summarize it in just 4
                                words. Only respond with these 4 words]
  -s, --service-name [OpenAI|Anthropic|Google]
                                The chatbot provider service name  [default:
                                OpenAI]
  --summary-service-name [OpenAI|Anthropic|Google]
                                The chatbot provider service name for filename
                                generation  [default: OpenAI]
  --quick-service-name TEXT     Call this model first, then the main model.
  --quick-system-prompt TEXT    System prompt for the quick response model
                                [default: You are a queryable information
                                engine that returns a max of 5 bullet-points.
                                Do not respond with a summary. Only respond
                                with a list of bullet-points. Be succinct and
                                use less bullet points when possible. Include
                                examples.]
  -H, --history                 Print history of sessions

OpenAI options:
  --openai-model TEXT          [default: gpt-4o]
  --quick-openai-model TEXT    [default: gpt-4o]
  --summary-openai-model TEXT  [default: gpt-4o]

Anthropic options:
  --anthropic-model TEXT          [default: claude-3-7-sonnet-latest]
  --quick-anthropic-model TEXT    [default: claude-3-sonnet-latest]
  --summary-anthropic-model TEXT  [default: claude-3-sonnet-latest]
  --anthropic-max-tokens INTEGER  [default: 16384]

Google options:
  --google-model TEXT          [default: gemini-2.5-pro]
  --quick-google-model TEXT    [default: gemini-2.5-flash-lite]
  --summary-google-model TEXT  [default: gemini-2.5-flash-lite]

Markdown options:
  --markdown-justify [default|left|center|right|full]
                                [default: default]
  --markdown-code-theme TEXT    [default: monokai]
  --markdown-hyperlinks
  --markdown-inline-code-lexer TEXT
  --markdown-inline-code-theme TEXT
  --markdown-max-width INTEGER  Maximum width of the output  [default: 125]

Other options:
  --config CONFIG_PATH  Location of the configuration file. Supports local path
                        with glob patterns or remote URL.  [default:
                        ~/.config/dotchatbot/*.toml|*.json|*.ini]
  --show-params         Show all CLI parameters, their provenance, defaults and
                        value, then exit.
  --color, --ansi / --no-color, --no-ansi
                        Strip out all colors and all ANSI codes from output.
                        [default: color]
  --verbosity LEVEL     Either CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG.
                        [default: WARNING]
  -v, --verbose         Increase the default WARNING verbosity by one level for
                        each additional repetition of the option.  [default: 0]
  -h, --help            Show this message and exit.

License

dotchatbot is distributed under the terms of the MIT license.