Chat with your OpenClaw agents, a Hermes profile, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (Ollama, vLLM, LM Studio, OpenAI proper) — from the terminal. Streaming responses, markdown rendering, no mouse required.
No file browsers, no task boards, no dashboards. Just chat.
- Multiple backends — connect to an OpenClaw gateway, a Hermes Agent profile, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (Ollama, vLLM, LM Studio, llamafile, OpenAI proper). Switch between saved connections with
/connections. - Streaming responses, conversation history, and multi-agent support
- Create and delete agents directly from the TUI — gateway-managed for OpenClaw, or local
IDENTITY.md+SOUL.mdmarkdown for OpenAI-compatible backends. Delete is type-the-name to confirm, with an optional "keep files" toggle so you can drop the listing without nuking the content. Hermes profiles are configured server-side viahermes profile create - Markdown rendering for assistant messages
- Tool call cards — when the agent invokes a tool, an inline card shows what's running, what arguments it got, and whether it succeeded or failed (OpenClaw)
- Shell commands — run locally with
!or remotely on the gateway with!! - Message queueing so you can keep typing while the agent is responding
- Local agent skills loaded from
~/.agents/skills/— invoke as a slash command (/review) or drop one mid-message (use /review on the diff) - Routines — author multi-step prompt sequences once, replay them with
/routine <name>. Auto-advance after each reply, or step through manually. Manage them in-TUI with/routines. - Live token/cost stats in the header bar (OpenClaw)
- Thinking level control via
/think— tune reasoning depth per session (OpenClaw) - Cron browser — list, edit, run, create, and duplicate scheduled jobs without leaving the terminal (OpenClaw)
- Per-agent header colour — set the chat header background to any hex colour with
/header <hex>and the override sticks to that agent, persisted across runs
With Homebrew (macOS / Linux):
brew install lucinate-ai/tap/lucinateOr via the install script (macOS / Linux):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lucinate-ai/lucinate/main/install/lucinate.sh | shOn Windows, in PowerShell:
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lucinate-ai/lucinate/main/install/lucinate.ps1 | iexOr, if you have Go 1.24+:
go install github.com/lucinate-ai/lucinate@latestOr build from source:
git clone https://github.com/lucinate-ai/lucinate.git
cd lucinate
go build -o lucinate .On first launch lucinate opens a Connections picker so you can add a backend.
Three connection types are supported:
- OpenClaw — connect to an OpenClaw gateway over WebSocket. Auth uses Ed25519 device pairing.
- OpenAI-compatible — Ollama, vLLM, LM Studio, llamafile, OpenAI - connect to any
/v1/chat/completionsendpoint. - Hermes (Nous Research) — connect to a Hermes Agent profile's
/v1/responsesAPI server. One Lucinate connection maps to one Hermes profile; chat state lives server-side.
OpenClaw URLs can use https, http, wss, or ws — lucinate derives the WebSocket endpoint automatically. OpenAI-compatible and Hermes URLs are HTTP(S) base URLs ending in /v1.
Switch between saved connections at any time with /connections from the chat view. Use n to add a new one, e to edit, d to delete (with confirmation).
lucinateOn first run, lucinate generates an Ed25519 device identity under ~/.lucinate/identity/<endpoint>/ (keyed by gateway host) and sends a pairing request to the gateway. The TUI shows a "pairing required" prompt with the next steps. On the gateway host, run:
openclaw device list --pendingYou should see lucinate's device ID. Approve it:
openclaw device approve <device-id>Press Enter in the lucinate prompt to retry — the connection completes in place, the gateway issues a device token, and you land in the agent picker. No restart needed.
Select an agent from the list to start chatting.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Enter |
Select agent |
n |
Create a new agent |
d |
Delete the highlighted agent (type-to-confirm) |
Ctrl+C |
Quit |
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Enter |
Send message |
Alt+Enter |
Insert newline |
Ctrl+W |
Delete word |
PgUp / PgDn |
Scroll chat history |
Tab |
Show slash-command menu, extend to common prefix, then cycle |
Shift+Tab |
Cycle backward through matches |
Esc |
Back to agent list |
Ctrl+C |
Quit |
Use /config to open the preferences view. Settings are persisted to ~/.lucinate/config.json.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Completion notification | On | Ring the terminal bell when a response completes (only if the terminal isn't focused) |
| Check for updates on startup | On | Once a day, fetch a tiny manifest from lucinate.ai and show a subtle ↑ badge in the chat header when a newer release is out. No telemetry — just a single GET. |
| History limit | 50 | Number of messages loaded when restoring a session (range 10–500) |
| Connect timeout | 15s | Per-attempt deadline for the initial connect and each reconnect (range 5–300s — bump it for slow local LLMs) |
In the config view, use Space to toggle checkboxes and ←/→ to adjust numeric values.
Type these in the chat input. As soon as you type /, a menu shows every matching command and skill. Tab extends the input to the longest common prefix; press it again at the prefix to cycle through candidates (Shift+Tab to cycle back). The same menu and Tab cycling apply to agent names after /agent .
| Command | Action |
|---|---|
/help |
Show available commands |
/agents |
Return to agent picker |
/agent <name> |
Switch to a named agent (fuzzy match) |
/cancel |
Cancel the in-progress response (also: Esc) |
/clear |
Clear chat display |
/compact |
Compact session context — server-side on OpenClaw, local summarisation pass on OpenAI-compatible backends (with confirmation) |
/config |
Open preferences |
/connections |
Switch backend connection |
/crons |
List and manage gateway cron jobs (default: filter by current agent; /crons all shows global) — OpenClaw only |
/header <hex> |
Set the chat header background for the current agent to a hex colour (e.g. #4FC3F7); the override sticks to that agent and persists across runs. Bare /header reports the current agent's value, /header reset restores the default. |
/models |
Open the model picker (filter as you type) |
/model <name> |
Switch model (fuzzy match) |
/reset |
Delete session and start fresh (with confirmation) |
/routine <name> |
Activate a stored multi-step routine in the current session |
/routines |
List, view, edit, or delete routines |
/sessions |
Browse and restore previous sessions |
/skills |
List available agent skills |
/stats |
Show token usage and cost breakdown — OpenClaw only |
/status |
Show gateway health and agent status — OpenClaw only |
/think |
Show current thinking level — OpenClaw only |
/think <level> |
Set thinking level (off, minimal, low, medium, high) — OpenClaw only |
/quit, /exit |
Quit lucinate |
Prefix input with ! to run a command locally on your machine. The input border turns green to indicate local execution mode.
!ls -la
!git status
!cat README.md
Prefix input with !! to run a command on the gateway host. The input border turns amber to indicate remote execution mode.
!!hostname
!!ls -la /tmp
!!uptime
The gateway's exec security policy controls which remote commands are allowed. If a command is denied, you'll see an error message. Configure exec permissions on the gateway host using openclaw config.
Recurring prompt workflow you find yourself retyping every Tuesday? Save it as a routine. Each routine is an ordered list of steps; each step is a complete user message. Activate one with /routine <name> and lucinate fires the steps at the assistant in order, optionally auto-advancing after every reply.
Manage them with /routines — list, view, add, edit, delete. The form has one textarea per step plus Alt+↑ / Alt+↓ to insert above/below and Alt+Delete to remove. Ctrl+S saves.
Routine files live at ~/.lucinate/routines/<name>/STEPS.md. The format is plain markdown with optional YAML frontmatter and --- between steps:
---
name: review-pr
mode: auto
log: ./review.log
---
list the files changed in the current PR
---
flag any obvious bugs or style issues, one per line
---
write a one-paragraph review summarymode: auto advances on every assistant reply; manual (the default) waits for Enter. log: is optional — when set, each turn is appended to that file, prefixed user: ... / assistant: ... with ISO timestamps.
While a routine is running you'll see a status row above the input:
routine: review-pr — AUTO — sent: 2/3 — next: write a one-paragraph review summary
Useful keys mid-routine:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Shift+Tab |
Cycle the mode (auto ↔ manual) |
Enter (empty input) |
Send the next step (manual / paused mode) |
Esc |
Cancel the routine and any in-flight reply |
The assistant can steer the routine in its own reply by emitting one of these on its own line:
| Directive | Effect |
|---|---|
/routine:stop |
End the routine immediately |
/routine:pause |
Pause until you press Enter |
/routine:continue |
Explicit no-op (also resumes a paused auto-mode routine) |
/routine:mode auto |
Switch to auto mode |
/routine:mode manual |
Switch to manual mode |
Routines live entirely client-side and work with every backend.
Not every prompt needs a TUI. lucinate send dispatches a single message through one of your saved connections, waits for the assistant's first complete reply, and prints it to stdout — nothing else. No streaming, no spinner, no chrome. Safe to capture into a shell variable, pipe into jq, or schedule from cron.
lucinate send --connection my-con --agent main "summarise this PR description"| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--connection, -c |
Saved connection name or ID (case-insensitive on name). Required. |
--agent, -a |
Agent name or ID within the connection (case-insensitive on name). Required. |
--session, -s |
Session key. Defaults to the agent's main session — same default the picker would pick. |
--detach, -d |
Dispatch the message and exit as soon as the gateway accepts the turn. No reply is awaited. |
The reply is written to stdout with a single trailing newline. Errors go to stderr; the exit code is non-zero on failure. Messages that begin with a dash should be preceded by -- (the standard Unix escape) so the flag parser leaves them alone.
A couple of patterns this enables:
# capture a reply into a shell variable (short flags work too)
reply=$(lucinate send -c my-con -a main "what's the changelog entry for this commit?")
echo "$reply" | tee notes.md
# fire-and-forget from cron — the run continues server-side, the next TUI session sees the reply
lucinate send --connection my-con --agent main --detach "kick off the morning digest"For the lifecycle, the default-session rule, embedding app.Send from Go, and the detach contract, see docs/one-shot.md.
Already know which connection, agent, and session you want? lucinate chat drops you straight in — same TUI as the bare invocation, just pre-navigated past the pickers. Hand it a message and it's your first turn, auto-submitted once history loads.
lucinate chat --connection my-con --agent main "kick things off"| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--connection, -c |
Saved connection name or ID (case-insensitive on name). Optional — defaults to the same auto-pick the bare lucinate uses. |
--agent, -a |
Agent name or ID to auto-select. A miss surfaces as an error on the picker rather than silently picking the wrong one. |
--session, -s |
Session key to open. Defaults to the agent's main session — same default the picker would pick. |
Every flag is optional. lucinate chat with no flags and no message is functionally identical to bare lucinate. Messages that begin with a dash should be preceded by --, same Unix escape as send.
Unlike send, this stays in the TUI — the auto-submitted message is just your opening turn, not a one-shot exit. For the override-plumbing internals, see docs/chat-launch.md.
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--help, -h |
Show top-level usage and exit. lucinate help <command> prints command-specific usage. |
--version, -v |
Print version and exit |
Prefer env vars? Either is recognised on first run and auto-added as a connection:
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_URL=https://your-gateway-host
LUCINATE_OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434/v1
LUCINATE_OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... # optional
LUCINATE_OPENAI_DEFAULT_MODEL=llama3.2 # optionalOther knobs:
LUCINATE_DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECK=1 # opt out of the daily update check, regardless of the toggle in /config
LUCINATE_LOG_LEVEL=warn # debug | info | warn (default) | error
LUCINATE_LOG_FILE=/path/to/lucinate.log # path to log file. TUI defaults to <os-tempdir>/lucinate-events.log; non-TUI subcommands default to stderr
LUCINATE_LOG_FORMAT=text # text (default) | jsonThe TUI never writes diagnostics to your terminal — they would corrupt the rendered frame — so by default log output goes to a side file in the OS temp dir (lucinate-events.log). Bump LUCINATE_LOG_LEVEL=debug and tail it when something looks off. See docs/logging.md for the full design.
lucinate uses the openclaw-go SDK for gateway communication. The TUI is built with Bubble Tea, Bubbles, and Lip Gloss, with markdown rendered via Glamour.
Device identity (Ed25519 keypair and device token) is stored at ~/.lucinate/identity/<endpoint>/, isolated per gateway endpoint.
Apache 2.0
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