The chat command starts an interactive chat session with an AI agent.
Usage
praisonai chat [OPTIONS] [PROMPT]
Arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|
PROMPT | Initial prompt for the chat session |
Options
| Option | Short | Description | Default |
|---|
--model | -m | LLM model to use | provider-aware default |
--verbose | -v | Verbose output | false |
--memory | | Enable memory persistence | false |
--tools | -t | Comma-separated tool names (e.g. web_search,github) or a tools.py file path | |
--user-id | | User ID for memory isolation | |
--session | -s | Session ID to resume | |
--workspace | -w | Workspace directory | current dir |
--debug | | Enable debug logging to ~/.praisonai/async_tui_debug.log | false |
--safe / --no-safe | | Safe mode: require approval for file writes and commands (default: on). Use --no-safe to disable. | true |
--autonomy/--no-autonomy | | Enable agent autonomy for complex tasks | true |
--ui-backend | | UI backend: auto, plain, rich, mg | auto |
--json | | Output JSON (forces plain backend) | false |
--no-color | | Disable colors | false |
--theme | | UI theme: default, dark, light, minimal | default |
--compact | | Compact output mode | false |
--no-rules | | Disable auto-injection of project instruction files | false |
--no-context | | Disable AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md auto-loading into system prompt | false |
praisonai chat with no --model picks a default that matches your active provider credential — it no longer always falls back to gpt-4o-mini. See Setup → What happens if you skip --model for the precedence ladder.praisonai chat accepts piped stdin as an initial prompt seed.
echo "$STACKTRACE" | praisonai chat "Explain this"
Examples
Start a chat session
Chat with initial prompt
praisonai chat "Hello, how can you help me today?"
Chat with specific model
praisonai chat --model gpt-4o "Explain machine learning"
Chat with memory enabled
praisonai chat --memory "Remember my name is Alice"
Resume a previous session
praisonai chat --session abc123
Use plain text output (no colors)
praisonai chat --ui-backend plain "What is 2+2?"
Output as JSON
praisonai chat --json "Summarize this text"
Use middle-ground UI (enhanced streaming)
praisonai chat --ui-backend mg
Chat without auto-loaded instructions
praisonai chat --no-rules "Hello, ignore project rules"
AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md/PRAISON.md from the working directory. --no-rules runs the assistant with only its built-in instructions.
Exit codes
praisonai chat returns a non-zero exit code on failure so shell scripts and CI can detect problems without parsing stderr.
| Exit code | Meaning |
|---|
0 | Prompt executed successfully. |
1 | Authentication failed (invalid or missing API key), the agent raised an exception, or a profiled run finished with no response and a logged auth error. |
Exit-code semantics apply to single-prompt / non-interactive invocations (praisonai chat "..." and praisonai chat --profile ...). The interactive TUI (praisonai chat with no prompt) always exits 0 when you leave the session.
Detect failures in a script
if ! praisonai chat "Summarize the changelog" >/dev/null; then
echo "chat failed — check credentials or provider status" >&2
exit 1
fi
CI example (GitHub Actions)
- name: Smoke-test chat
run: praisonai chat "Say hello" > /tmp/chat.out
env:
OPENAI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENAI_API_KEY }}
Project context
By default, praisonai chat walks up from the current directory to your git root and prepends any AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md / agents.md / .agents/AGENTS.md it finds to the agent’s system prompt, layered on top of ~/.praisonai/AGENTS.md. Pass --no-context (or set PRAISON_NO_CONTEXT=true) to disable. See Context Files for details.
UI Backends
The --ui-backend flag controls how output is rendered:
| Backend | Description |
|---|
auto | Auto-select best available (default) |
plain | Plain text, no colors, works everywhere |
rich | Rich formatting with colors and panels |
mg | Middle-ground: enhanced streaming with no flicker |
PRAISONAI_UI_SAFE=1 to force plain backend.
Interactive Commands
During a chat session, you can use these commands:
| Command | Description |
|---|
/help | Show available commands |
/exit, /quit | Exit the chat session |
/clear | Clear conversation history |
/new | Start new conversation |
/session | Show current session info |
/sessions | List all saved sessions |
/continue | Continue most recent session |
/model [name] | Show or change model |
/cost | Show token usage and cost |
/history | Show conversation history |
/export [file] | Export conversation to file |
/import <file> | Import conversation from file |
/status | Show ACP/LSP runtime status |
/auto | Toggle autonomy mode (auto-delegate complex tasks) |
/debug | Toggle debug logging to ~/.praisonai/async_tui_debug.log |
/plan <task> | Create a step-by-step plan for a task |
/handoff <type> <task> | Delegate to specialized agent (code/research/review/docs) |
/compact | Toggle compact output mode |
/multiline | Toggle multiline input mode |
/files | List workspace files for @ mentions |
/queue | Show pending prompts in queue |
Quick Start
Running praisonai with no arguments starts interactive mode:
This is equivalent to praisonai chat.
Features
The interactive chat mode includes:
- ASCII Art Logo - Beautiful PraisonAI branding on startup
- Status Bar - Shows model, session info, and keyboard shortcuts
- Auto-completion - Tab completion for commands and file paths
- Command History - Navigate previous commands with arrow keys
- Markdown Rendering - Rich formatted responses with syntax highlighting
- Streaming Output - Real-time response streaming
See Also
