tuillem

A 3-pane terminal AI chat client with easy connectivity to local and remote LLM endpoints. Switch between providers and models mid-conversation. Full markdown rendering with tables and syntax highlighting. SQLite-backed conversation history with full-text search. Configurable themes, adaptive scroll, slash commands, and a plugin framework for extensibility.

Features

• Multi-provider support -- Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
• Switch models mid-conversation -- jump between providers and models, with per-session memory of last-used model
• Terminal markdown rendering -- headings, bold/italic, code blocks with syntax highlighting, tables with column reflow, lists with wrapped indentation, blockquotes
• SQLite storage -- all conversations, thinking blocks, tool calls, and metadata persisted locally with FTS5 full-text search
• 10 built-in themes -- dark, light, Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Tokyo Night, Solarized (dark + light), GitHub Light, Rose Pine Dawn. Custom themes via YAML
• Slash commands -- /set model, /tag, /rename, /export, /stats, /help and more
• Reading scroll -- viewport freezes after one screenful of response; Enter advances with line highlighting
• Command palette (Ctrl+K) -- quick access to common actions
• Settings panel (Ctrl+S) -- edit all config in-app, changes apply instantly
• Collapsible sidebar (Ctrl+L) -- date-grouped conversations with search and preview
• External editor (Ctrl+E) -- compose long prompts in your preferred editor
• Clipboard copy (Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+B) -- copy responses or individual code blocks
• Plugin system -- external process tools via stdin/stdout JSON protocol
• Stats for nerds -- token counts, tokens/sec, context usage
• First-run wizard -- interactive setup creates your config on first launch
• Environment variable expansion -- ${VAR} and ${VAR:-default} in YAML config

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install tuillem

From source

git clone https://github.com/seesee/tuillem.git
cd tuillem
cargo install --path .

Quick start

On first run with no config file, tuillem launches an interactive setup wizard:

Welcome to tuillem! Let's set up your configuration.

Step 1/5: Provider Setup
  1. Anthropic (Claude)
  2. OpenAI
  3. OpenRouter
  4. Ollama (local)
  5. LM Studio / OpenAI-compatible (local)
Choose [1-5]:

Or create ~/.config/tuillem/config.yaml manually (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.tuillem.tuillem/config.yaml):

providers:
  - name: anthropic
    provider_type: anthropic
    api_key: "${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}"
    default_model: claude-sonnet-4-20250514
    models:
      - claude-sonnet-4-20250514
      - claude-opus-4-0520

  - name: ollama
    provider_type: ollama
    base_url: http://localhost:11434
    models:
      - llama3
      - mistral

  - name: lmstudio
    provider_type: openai
    api_key: "lm-studio"
    base_url: http://localhost:1234/v1
    models:
      - my-local-model

defaults:
  provider: anthropic
  model: claude-sonnet-4-20250514

Then run:

tuillem

Keyboard shortcuts

Sidebar (when focused)

Slash commands

Type in the message box:

Configuration

Config location:

• Linux: ~/.config/tuillem/config.yaml
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.tuillem.tuillem/config.yaml

Database location:

• Linux: ~/.local/share/tuillem/tuillem.db
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.tuillem.tuillem/tuillem.db

Environment variables are expanded in config values: ${VAR} or ${VAR:-default}.

See config.example.yaml for all available options.

Architecture

tuillem is a Cargo workspace with 7 focused crates:

Communication between layers uses typed tokio::mpsc channels. The coordinator runs on a dedicated thread (SQLite is !Sync).

Requirements

• Rust 2024 edition (1.85+)
• A terminal with 256-color or truecolor support
• A Nerd Font is recommended (for rounded message bubbles) but not required -- set ui.nerd_fonts: false in config

License

MIT