Commands

This document lists all available Askimo commands, their purpose, parameters, and usage examples.

Command Modes

Askimo supports two modes of operation:

🖥️ Interactive Mode (REPL)

Start the interactive shell by running askimo without arguments. Commands use the :keyword format:

askimo
askimo> :help
askimo> :models

⚡ Non-Interactive Mode (CLI)

Run commands directly from your terminal using the --flag format:

askimo --help
askimo --models
askimo --tools

Available Commands

Commands Available in BOTH Modes

The following commands work in both interactive (:keyword) and non-interactive (--flag) modes:

:help / --help - Show available commands
:config / --config - Show current provider, model, and settings
:providers / --providers - List all supported model providers
:set-provider / --set-provider - Set the current model provider
:models / --models - List available models for the current provider
:params / --params - Show current model parameters or list available param keys
:set-param / --set-param - Set a model parameter
:tools / --tools - List all available tools
:version / --version - Show detailed version and build information

Non-Interactive Mode Only Commands

The following commands are only available in non-interactive mode (CLI flags):

--create-recipe - Create a provider-agnostic recipe from a YAML template
--recipes - List all registered recipes in ~/.askimo/recipes
--delete-recipe - Delete a registered recipe

Interactive Mode Only Commands

The following commands are only available in interactive mode:

:clear - Clear the current chat memory
:copy - Copy the last AI response to the clipboard
:create-project - Create a project, auto-start Postgres+pgvector, and index the folder
:projects - List all saved Askimo projects
:project - Activate a saved project (sets scope and enables RAG)
:delete-project - Delete a saved project and drop its pgvector embedding table
:sessions - List all saved sessions
:new-session - Start a new chat session
:resume-session - Resume a previous chat session
:agent - Enable agent mode for autonomous task execution

Command Reference

:help / —help

Description:
Display all available commands and their short descriptions.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:help

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --help

:clear

Description:
Clear the chat history for the current session.
This does not reset provider, model, or session parameters - only the conversation context is removed.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:clear

:copy

Description:
Copy the last AI response to your system clipboard.
This is useful for quickly pasting the output into another application without manually selecting it.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:copy

:params / —params

Description:
Display the current session parameters, including:

Active provider
Selected model
All configurable parameters available for :set-param / --set-param

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:params
:params --list

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --params
askimo --params --list

Example:

askimo> :params --list
Available parameter keys for gpt-4o (OPENAI):
  model (String) – Model name to use (e.g., gpt-4, llama3)
  style (Enum(precise|balanced|creative)) – Output style (determinism vs. creativity)
  verbosity (Enum(short|normal|long)) – Controls response length/cost
  api_key (String) – OpenAI API key

Notes:

The list under “Available parameters” shows what can be changed with :set-param or --set-param
Parameter names and defaults may vary depending on the active provider

:set-param / —set-param

Description:
Set a parameter for the current AI provider.
Available parameters depend on the provider and can be viewed using :params or --params.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:set-param <name> <value>

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --set-param <name> <value>

Parameters:

<name> - Name of the parameter (e.g., model, style)
<value> - New value to assign to the parameter

Example:

# Interactive mode
askimo> :set-param model gpt-4o

# Non-interactive mode
$ askimo --set-param model gpt-4o

:config / —config

Description:
Display the current Askimo configuration values.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:config

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --config

Example:

askimo> :config
🔧 Current configuration:
  Provider:    OPENAI
  Model:       gpt-4o
  Settings:
    apiKey:      sk-pr***
    presets: Presets(style=BALANCED, verbosity=NORMAL)

:providers / —providers

Description:
List all AI providers supported by Askimo.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:providers

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --providers

Notes:

The list may vary depending on your installation and configuration
Use :set-provider <name> or askimo --set-provider <name> to switch to one of the available providers

:set-provider / —set-provider

Description:
Switch to a different AI provider for the current session.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:set-provider <provider_name>

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --set-provider <provider_name>

Notes:

Switching providers may change the available parameters and models
After switching, you can use :models or --models to see available models for the new provider

:models / —models

Description:
List all models available for the current provider.
The list is retrieved dynamically based on the active provider’s settings.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:models

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --models

Notes:

The available models depend on the provider and your local/remote configuration
Use :set-param model <model_name> or --set-param model <model_name> to change the active model for the session

:create-project

Description: Create a new Askimo project, automatically start a Postgres database with pgvector extension using Testcontainers, and index the specified folder for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:create-project -n <project-name> -d <project-folder>

Parameters:

-n, --name - Name of the project to create
-d, --dir, --folder - Path to the project folder to index

Example:

askimo> :create-project -n myapp -d /Users/john/projects/myapp

Notes:

The project name must be unique
The folder path must exist and be a directory
A Postgres+pgvector container will be started automatically if not already running
All project files will be indexed for RAG-enabled chat

:projects

Description: List all saved Askimo projects registered in your configuration.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:projects

Example:

askimo> :projects
📚 Projects:
  1. myapp  →  /Users/john/projects/myapp
  2. webapp  →  /Users/john/projects/webapp

:project

Description: Activate a previously saved Askimo project by name. This sets the project scope and enables RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) for the session.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:project <project-name>

Parameters:

<project-name> - Name of the saved project to activate

Example:

askimo> :project myapp

Notes:

The project must have been previously created with :create-project
Postgres+pgvector will be started automatically if not already running
RAG will be enabled for the active project

:delete-project

Description: Delete a saved project from the Askimo registry (~/.askimo/projects.json) and drop its pgvector embedding table from the database, or delete all projects at once.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:delete-project <project-name>
:delete-project --all

Parameters:

<project-name> - Name of the project to delete
--all - Delete all saved projects and their embeddings

Examples:

# Delete a specific project
askimo> :delete-project myapp

# Delete all projects
askimo> :delete-project --all

Notes:

This action removes the project(s) from the registry and deletes all indexed embeddings
The original project folders remain untouched
When using --all, you’ll see a list of all projects before confirmation
This operation cannot be undone

—create-recipe

Description: Create a provider-agnostic recipe from a YAML template file. Recipes are reusable prompt templates that can be used across different AI providers.

Availability: Non-interactive mode only

Syntax:

askimo --create-recipe [name] -f <file.yml>
askimo --create-recipe [name] -i

Parameters:

[name] - Optional name for the recipe (can also be specified in the YAML file)
-f, --file - Path to the YAML template file
-i, --interactive - Create recipe interactively with guided prompts

Example:

$ askimo --create-recipe myrecipe -f ~/templates/code-review.yml

Notes:

If the name is not provided as an argument, it must be specified in the YAML file’s name: field
The recipe will be saved to ~/.askimo/recipes/
Use askimo -r <recipe-name> to run the recipe from the command line

—recipes

Description: List all registered recipes stored in ~/.askimo/recipes.

Availability: Non-interactive mode only

Syntax:

askimo --recipes

Example:

$ askimo --recipes
📦 Registered recipes (3)
────────────────────────────
code-review - Review code for bugs and improvements
documentation - Generate documentation for code
refactoring - Suggest refactoring improvements

—delete-recipe

Description: Delete a registered recipe from ~/.askimo/recipes, or delete all recipes at once.

Availability: Non-interactive mode only

Syntax:

askimo --delete-recipe <name>
askimo --delete-recipe --all

Parameters:

<name> - Name of the recipe to delete
--all - Delete all registered recipes

Examples:

# Delete a specific recipe
$ askimo --delete-recipe myrecipe

# Delete all recipes
$ askimo --delete-recipe --all

Notes:

You will be prompted to confirm the deletion
When using --all, you’ll see a list of all recipes before confirmation
This operation cannot be undone

:tools / —tools

Description: List all available tools that can be used in recipes and by the AI agent. This includes tools from GitTools and LocalFsTools.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:tools

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --tools

Example:

$ askimo --tools
🔧 Available Tools
──────────────────────────────

📦 GitTools
  • branch
    Current branch name
  • commit
    Write .git/COMMIT_EDITMSG and run git commit -F -
  • stagedDiff
    Unified diff of staged changes (git diff --cached)
  • status
    Concise git status (-sb)

📦 LocalFsTools
  • readFile
    Read text file from path
  • writeFile
    Write text file to path
  • runCommand
    Run shell commands in a persistent terminal...
  • searchFileContent
    Search for text content within files in a directory...
  • searchFilesByGlob
    Search for files by name/pattern with smart matching...
  (and more...)

──────────────────────────────
Total: 14 tools

Notes:

Tools are organized by their provider class (GitTools, LocalFsTools)
Each tool shows its name and description
These tools can be invoked by recipes or used by AI agents during code generation

:sessions

Description: List all saved chat sessions for the current provider and model.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:sessions

Example:

askimo> :sessions
💬 Saved Sessions:
  1. [2025-11-06 14:30] Session with 15 messages
  2. [2025-11-05 09:15] Session with 8 messages
  3. [2025-11-04 16:45] Session with 23 messages

Notes:

Sessions are saved automatically during interactive chat
Each session is tied to a specific provider and model combination
Use :resume-session to continue a previous conversation

:new-session

Description: Start a new chat session, clearing the current conversation history and creating a fresh context.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:new-session

Example:

askimo> :new-session
✨ Started new session

Notes:

This command clears the current conversation context
The previous session is saved and can be resumed later with :resume-session
Provider, model, and configuration settings are preserved

:resume-session

Description: Resume a previous chat session by selecting from your saved sessions.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:resume-session
:resume-session <session-id>

Parameters:

<session-id> - Optional session ID to resume directly

Example:

# Interactive selection
askimo> :resume-session
💬 Saved Sessions:
  1. [2025-11-06 14:30] Session with 15 messages
  2. [2025-11-05 09:15] Session with 8 messages
Select session to resume [1-2]:

# Direct resume
askimo> :resume-session 1

Notes:

If no session ID is provided, you’ll be prompted to select from available sessions
Resuming a session loads all previous messages and context
Sessions are specific to the provider and model they were created with

:agent (In Preview)

Description: Enable agent mode for autonomous task execution. In agent mode, the AI can use available tools to complete complex tasks independently.

Availability: Interactive mode only

Syntax:

:agent <task-description>

Parameters:

<task-description> - Description of the task you want the agent to accomplish

Example:

askimo> :agent Analyze the git repository, find all TODO comments, and create a summary report
🤖 Agent mode activated
📋 Task: Analyze the git repository, find all TODO comments, and create a summary report
🔧 Using tools: searchFileContent, readFile, writeFile
...
✅ Task completed. Report saved to TODO-summary.md

Notes:

Agent mode allows the AI to autonomously use tools like searchFileContent, runCommand, readFile, etc.
The agent will break down complex tasks into steps and execute them
You can see which tools the agent is using in real-time
Use :tools to see all available tools the agent can use

:version / —version

Description: Show detailed version and build information for Askimo.

Syntax:

# Interactive mode
:version

# Non-interactive mode
askimo --version