Quick Start

This guide gets you from a fresh install to your first conversation in about five minutes.

Step 1 - Install

uv tool install tuochat

See Installation for other methods.

Step 2 - Configure

Run the interactive setup wizard:

tuochat init

The wizard asks for:

  • GitLab host - e.g. https://gitlab.com or your self-managed instance URL
  • Credential type - Personal Access Token (PAT) or OAuth
  • Storage - OS keyring (recommended) or config file

PAT

Create a PAT at User / Preferences / Access Tokens with the ai_features scope.

OAuth

Create an application at User / Preferences / Applications / Add New with redirect URI http://127.0.0.1:8765/callback. Supply the app ID and secret when prompted (or via TUOCHAT_OAUTH_APP_ID / TUOCHAT_OAUTH_SECRET env vars before running the wizard).

Changing credentials later

tuochat auth login    # re-run the credential picker
tuochat auth status   # show what is currently configured

If you prefer to skip the wizard, create the config file manually. The location depends on your platform:

Platform Path
Linux ~/.config/tuochat/config.toml
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/tuochat/config.toml
Windows %APPDATA%\tuochat\config.toml

Minimal config (PAT path):

[gitlab]
host = "https://gitlab.com"
token = "glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
token_type = "pat"

Step 3 - Start chatting

tuochat repl

On your very first run, tuochat offers an optional interactive tutorial. Type your question at the > prompt and press Enter to send.

To submit a multi-line message, use Ctrl-D (Linux/macOS) or Ctrl-Z then Enter (Windows) instead of Enter alone.

If you want a one-shot non-interactive run instead of the REPL, use:

tuochat chat new "Explain this repository"

Step 4 - Exit

Type /quit or /exit at the prompt, or press Ctrl-C.

What just happened?

  • Your conversation was saved to a local SQLite database.
  • A markdown transcript was written to your data folder (see Files and Data).
  • Any extracted named code files were written as .check files for your review.

Next steps

Topic Guide
Full configuration reference Configuration
Interactive terminal usage Terminal Chat
Graphical interface GUI
Non-interactive / scripting Advanced CLI
Slash commands reference Slash Commands