RetroChat

RetroChat is a powerful command-line interface for interacting with various AI language models. It provides a seamless experience for engaging with different chat providers while offering robust features for managing and customizing your conversations.

ATTENTION: RAG only works with nomic-embed-text currently, all you need to do is have it on Ollama.

1. Create a folder in user/.retrochat and put all your files in it.
2. In the chat type /load and you'll get a message if it's executed successfully.
3. Then use @ to ask that specific folder's documents questions.

Features

• Multi-Provider Support: Choose between Ollama, Anthropic, and OpenAI, Google and OpenRouter.
• Custom Model Support: When using OpenRouter you can add your own custom models.
• Customizable Settings: Fine-tune AI behavior with adjustable parameters for all providers.
• Conversation Editing: Edit entire conversation history using your preferred text editor.
• Multi-line Input: Enter complex queries or code snippets with ease.
• Command System: Control various aspects of the chat and application with '/' prefixed commands.
• Local Setup: Easy installation in your home directory for system-wide access.
• Auto-Update: Check for and apply updates automatically.
• Provider Switching: Easily switch between different AI providers and models during a session.
• Token Counting: Display token usage for messages and entire conversations.
• Document Loading and Querying: Load documents from local folders and query them using AI models.

Installation

To run RetroChat, you need Python 3.11 or higher installed on your system. Link to Python 3.12 from the MS store. Follow these steps to set up the environment:

1. Download retrochat.py and the requirements.txt files and either run them from anywhere or place them in the 'C:\Users\your username\.retrochat' directory.
2. Navigate to the project directory or right-click in the directory and select 'Open in Terminal'.

   cd C:\Users\<your username>\.retrochat
   

3. Install the required packages:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

4. Run the script with the setup flag to configure RetroChat:

   python retrochat.py --setup
   

NOTE: If chromadb doesn't properly install for you, all you need to do is download and install Microsoft Visual Studio Build Tools and after installing that navigate to the individual components and install MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools (Latest) and Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22621.0)

Usage

After installation, you can start RetroChat by running the shortcut command:

rchat

This command can be used from any directory in your terminal.

Commands

RetroChat supports various commands to manage your chat sessions and settings:

• /chat rename <new_name> - Rename the current chat
• /chat delete - Delete the current chat
• /chat new <chat_name> - Create a new chat
• /chat reset - Reset the current chat history
• /chat list - List all available chats
• /chat open <chat_name> - Open a specific chat
• /set system <message> - Set the system message
• /set - Show available parameters and their current values
• /set <parameter> <value> - Set a parameter
• /edit - Edit the entire conversation
• /show length - Display the total conversation tokens
• /show context - Display the context of the last query
• /switch - Switch to a different provider or model
• /help - Display the help message
• /exit - Exit the program
• /load <folder_name> - Load documents from a specified folder
• @<folder_name> <query> - Query loaded documents from a specific folder

Document Loading and Querying

RetroChat now supports loading and querying documents:

• Use /load <folder_name> to load documents from a specific folder in your .retrochat directory.
• Query loaded documents using @<folder_name> <your question>.
• Supported file types include .txt, .pdf, .doc, .docx, and .md.

Configuration

RetroChat uses a .env file to store configuration settings. This file is automatically created in the .retrochat directory in your home folder. You can manually edit this file to set API keys and other preferences.

Updates

RetroChat checks for updates automatically when you start the application. If updates are available, you'll be prompted to install them.

Watch the demo video

Contributing

Contributions to RetroChat are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests or create issues for bugs and feature requests.

License

MIT License.