# OWLEN

> Terminal-native assistant for running local language models with a comfortable TUI.

![Status](https://img.shields.io/badge/status-alpha-yellow)
![Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/version-0.2.0-blue)
![Rust](https://img.shields.io/badge/made_with-Rust-ffc832?logo=rust&logoColor=white)
![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-AGPL--3.0-blue)

## What Is OWLEN?

OWLEN is a Rust-powered, terminal-first interface for interacting with local and cloud
language models. It provides a responsive chat workflow that now routes through a
multi-provider manager—handling local Ollama, Ollama Cloud, and future MCP-backed providers—
with a focus on developer productivity, vim-style navigation, and seamless session
management—all without leaving your terminal.

## Alpha Status

This project is currently in **alpha** and under active development. Core features are functional, but expect occasional bugs and breaking changes. Feedback, bug reports, and contributions are very welcome!

## Screenshots

![OWLEN TUI Layout](images/layout.png)

The refreshed chrome introduces a cockpit-style header with live gradient gauges for context and cloud usage, plus glassy panels that keep vim-inspired navigation easy to follow. See more screenshots in the [`images/`](images/) directory.

## Features

- **Vim-style Navigation**: Normal, editing, visual, and command modes.
- **Streaming Responses**: Real-time token streaming from Ollama.
- **Advanced Text Editing**: Multi-line input, history, and clipboard support.
- **Session Management**: Save, load, and manage conversations.
- **Code Side Panel**: Switch to code mode (`:mode code`) and open files inline with `:open <path>` for LLM-assisted coding.
- **Cockpit Header**: Gradient context and cloud usage bars with live quota bands and provider fallbacks.
- **Theming System**: 10 built-in themes and support for custom themes.
- **Modular Architecture**: Extensible provider system orchestrated by the new `ProviderManager`, ready for additional MCP-backed providers.
- **Dual-Source Model Picker**: Merge local and cloud catalogues with real-time availability badges powered by the background health worker.
- **Non-Blocking UI Loop**: Asynchronous generation tasks and provider health checks run off-thread, keeping the TUI responsive even while streaming long replies.
- **Guided Setup**: `owlen config doctor` upgrades legacy configs and verifies your environment in seconds.

## Upgrading to v0.2

- **Local + Cloud resiliency**: Owlen now distinguishes the on-device daemon from Ollama Cloud and gracefully falls back to local if the hosted key is missing or unauthorized. Cloud requests include `Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>` and reuse the canonical `https://ollama.com` base URL so you no longer hit 401 loops.
- **Context + quota cockpit**: The header shows `context used / window (percentage)` and a second gauge for hourly/weekly cloud token usage. Configure soft limits via `providers.ollama_cloud.hourly_quota_tokens` and `weekly_quota_tokens`; Owlen tracks consumption locally even when the provider omits token counters.
- **Web search tooling**: When cloud is enabled, models can call the spec-compliant `web_search` tool automatically. Toggle availability at runtime with `:web on` / `:web off` if you need a local-only session.
- **Docs & config parity**: Ship-ready config templates now include per-provider `list_ttl_secs` and `default_context_window` values, plus explicit `OLLAMA_API_KEY` guidance. Run `owlen config doctor` after upgrading from v0.1 to normalize legacy keys and receive deprecation warnings for `OLLAMA_CLOUD_API_KEY` and `OWLEN_OLLAMA_CLOUD_API_KEY`.
- **Runtime toggles**: Use `:web on` / `:web off` in the TUI or `owlen providers web --enable/--disable` from the CLI to expose or hide the `web_search` tool without editing `config.toml`.

## MCP Naming & Reference Bundles

Owlen enforces spec-compliant tool identifiers: stick to `^[A-Za-z0-9_-]{1,64}$`, avoid dotted names, and keep identifiers short so the host can qualify them when multiple servers are present.citeturn11search0 Define your tools with underscores or hyphens (for example, `web_search`, `filesystem_read`, `notion_query`) and treat any legacy dotted forms as incompatible.

Modern MCP hosts converge on a common bundle of connectors that cover three broad categories: local operations (filesystem, terminal, git, structured HTTP fetch, browser automation), compute sandboxes (Python, notebook adapters, sequential-thinking planners, test runners), and SaaS integrations (GitHub issues, Notion workspaces, Slack, Stripe, Sentry, Google Drive, Zapier-style automation, design system search).citeturn12search3turn12search10 Owlen’s configuration examples mirror that baseline so a fresh install can wire up the same capabilities without additional mapping.

To replicate the reference bundle today:

1. Enable the built-in tools that ship with Owlen (`web_search`, filesystem resource APIs, execution sandboxes).
2. Add external servers under `[mcp_servers]`, keeping names spec-compliant (e.g., `filesystem`, `terminal`, `git`, `browser`, `http_fetch`, `python`, `notebook`, `sequential_thinking`, `sentry`, `notion`, `slack`, `stripe`, `google_drive`, `memory_bank`, `automation_hub`).
3. Qualify tool identifiers in prompts and configs using the `{server}__{tool}` pattern once multiple servers contribute overlapping operations (`filesystem__read`, `browser__request`, `notion__query_database`).

See the updated MCP guide in `docs/` for detailed installation commands, environment variables, and health checks for each connector. The documentation set below walks through configuration and runtime toggles for `web_search` and the rest of the reference bundle.

## Security & Privacy

Owlen is designed to keep data local by default while still allowing controlled access to remote tooling.

- **Local-first execution**: All LLM calls flow through the bundled MCP LLM server which talks to a local Ollama instance. If the server is unreachable, Owlen stays usable in “offline mode” and surfaces clear recovery instructions.
- **Sandboxed tooling**: Code execution runs in Docker according to the MCP Code Server settings, and future releases will extend this to other OS-level sandboxes (`sandbox-exec` on macOS, Windows job objects).
- **Session storage**: Conversations are stored under the platform data directory and can be encrypted at rest. Set `privacy.encrypt_local_data = true` in `config.toml` to enable AES-GCM storage protected by a user-supplied passphrase.
- **Network access**: No telemetry is sent. The only outbound requests occur when you explicitly enable remote tooling (e.g., web search) or configure a cloud LLM provider. Each tool is opt-in via `privacy` and `tools` configuration sections.
- **Config migrations**: Every saved `config.toml` carries a schema version and is upgraded automatically; deprecated keys trigger warnings so security-related settings are not silently ignored.

## Getting Started

### Prerequisites
- Rust 1.75+ and Cargo.
- A running Ollama instance.
- A terminal that supports 256 colors.

### Installation

Pick the option that matches your platform and appetite for source builds:

| Platform | Package / Command | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Arch Linux | `yay -S owlen-git` | Builds from the latest `dev` branch via AUR. |
| Other Linux | `cargo install --path crates/owlen-cli --locked --force` | Requires Rust 1.75+ and a running Ollama daemon. |
| macOS | `cargo install --path crates/owlen-cli --locked --force` | macOS 12+ tested. Install Ollama separately (`brew install ollama`). The binary links against the system OpenSSL – ensure Command Line Tools are installed. |
| Windows (experimental) | `cargo install --path crates/owlen-cli --locked --force` | Enable the GNU toolchain (`rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu`) and install Ollama for Windows preview builds. Some optional tools (e.g., Docker-based code execution) are currently disabled. |

If you prefer containerised builds, use the provided `Dockerfile` as a base image and copy out `target/release/owlen`.

Run the helper scripts to sanity-check platform coverage:

```bash
# Windows compatibility smoke test (GNU toolchain)
scripts/check-windows.sh

# Reproduce CI packaging locally (choose a target from .woodpecker.yml)
dev/local_build.sh x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
```

> **Tip (macOS):** On the first launch macOS Gatekeeper may quarantine the binary. Clear the attribute (`xattr -d com.apple.quarantine $(which owlen)`) or build from source locally to avoid notarisation prompts.

### Running OWLEN

Make sure Ollama is running, then launch the application:
```bash
owlen
```
If you built from source without installing, you can run it with:
```bash
./target/release/owlen
```

### Updating

Owlen does not auto-update. Run `owlen upgrade` at any time to print the recommended manual steps (pull the repository and reinstall with `cargo install --path crates/owlen-cli --force`). Arch Linux users can update via the `owlen-git` AUR package.

## Using the TUI

OWLEN uses a modal, vim-inspired interface. Press `F1` (available from any mode) or `?` in Normal mode to view the help screen with all keybindings.

- **Normal Mode**: Navigate with `h/j/k/l`, `w/b`, `gg/G`.
- **Editing Mode**: Enter with `i` or `a`. Send messages with `Enter`.
- **Command Mode**: Enter with `:`. Access commands like `:quit`, `:w`, `:session save`, `:theme`.
- **Quick Exit**: Press `Ctrl+C` twice in Normal mode to quit quickly (first press still cancels active generations).
- **Tutorial Command**: Type `:tutorial` any time for a quick summary of the most important keybindings.
- **MCP Slash Commands**: Owlen auto-registers zero-argument MCP tools as slash commands—type `/mcp__github__list_prs` (for example) to pull remote context directly into the chat log.

### Keymaps

Two built-in keymaps ship with Owlen:

- `vim` (default) – the existing modal bindings documented above.
- `emacs` – bindings centred around `Alt+X`, `Ctrl+Space`, and `Alt+O` shortcuts with Emacs-style submit (`Ctrl+Enter`).

Switch at runtime with `:keymap vim` or `:keymap emacs`. Persist your choice by setting `ui.keymap_profile = "emacs"` (or `"vim"`) in `config.toml`. If you prefer a fully custom layout, point `ui.keymap_path` at a TOML file using the same format as [`crates/owlen-tui/keymap.toml`](crates/owlen-tui/keymap.toml); the new emacs profile file [`crates/owlen-tui/keymap_emacs.toml`](crates/owlen-tui/keymap_emacs.toml) is a useful template.

Model discovery commands worth remembering:

- `:models --local` or `:models --cloud` jump directly to the corresponding section in the picker.
- `:cloud setup [--force-cloud-base-url]` stores your cloud API key without clobbering an existing local base URL (unless you opt in with the flag).
- `:limits` prints the locally tracked hourly/weekly token totals for each provider and mirrors the values shown in the chat header.
When a catalogue is unreachable, Owlen now tags the picker with `Local unavailable` / `Cloud unavailable` so you can recover without guessing.

## Documentation

For more detailed information, please refer to the following documents:

- **[CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)**: Guidelines for contributing to the project.
- **[CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md)**: A log of changes for each version.
- **[docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md)**: An overview of the project's architecture.
- **[docs/troubleshooting.md](docs/troubleshooting.md)**: Help with common issues.
- **[docs/repo-map.md](docs/repo-map.md)**: Snapshot of the workspace layout and key crates.
- **[docs/provider-implementation.md](docs/provider-implementation.md)**: Trait-level details for implementing providers.
- **[docs/adding-providers.md](docs/adding-providers.md)**: Step-by-step checklist for wiring a provider into the multi-provider architecture and test suite.
- **[docs/tui-ux-playbook.md](docs/tui-ux-playbook.md)**: Design principles, modal ergonomics, and keybinding guidance for the TUI.
- **Experimental providers staging area**: [crates/providers/experimental/README.md](crates/providers/experimental/README.md) records the placeholder crates (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini) and their current status.
- **[docs/platform-support.md](docs/platform-support.md)**: Current OS support matrix and cross-check instructions.

## Developer Tasks

- `cargo xtask screenshots` regenerates deterministic ANSI dumps (and, when
  `chafa` is available, PNG renders) for the documentation gallery. Use
  `--no-png` to skip the PNG step or `--output <dir>` to redirect the output.

## Conversation Compression

Owlen automatically compacts older turns once a chat crosses the configured
token threshold. The behaviour is controlled by the `[chat]` section in
`config.toml` (enabled by default via `chat.auto_compress = true`).

- Launch the TUI with `--no-auto-compress` to opt out for a single run.
- Inside the app, `:compress now` generates an on-demand summary, while
  `:compress auto on|off` flips the automatic mode and persists the change.
- Each compression pass emits a system summary that carries metadata about the
  retained messages, strategy, and estimated token savings.

## Configuration

OWLEN stores its configuration in the standard platform-specific config directory:

| Platform | Location |
|----------|----------|
| Linux    | `~/.config/owlen/config.toml` |
| macOS    | `~/Library/Application Support/owlen/config.toml` |
| Windows  | `%APPDATA%\owlen\config.toml` |

Use `owlen config init` to scaffold a fresh configuration (pass `--force` to overwrite an existing file), `owlen config path` to print the resolved location, and `owlen config doctor` to migrate legacy layouts automatically.
You can also add custom themes alongside the config directory (e.g., `~/.config/owlen/themes/`).

See the [themes/README.md](themes/README.md) for more details on theming.

## Testing

Owlen uses standard Rust tooling for verification. Run the full test suite with:

```bash
cargo test
```

Unit tests cover the command palette state machine, agent response parsing, and key MCP abstractions. Formatting and lint checks can be run with `cargo fmt --all` and `cargo clippy` respectively.

## Roadmap

Upcoming milestones focus on feature parity with modern code assistants while keeping Owlen local-first:

1. **Phase 11 – MCP client enhancements**: `owlen mcp add/list/remove`, resource references (`@github:issue://123`), and MCP prompt slash commands.
2. **Phase 12 – Approval & sandboxing**: Three-tier approval modes plus platform-specific sandboxes (Docker, `sandbox-exec`, Windows job objects).
3. **Phase 13 – Project documentation system**: Automatic `OWLEN.md` generation, contextual updates, and nested project support.
4. **Phase 15 – Provider expansion**: OpenAI, Anthropic, and other cloud providers layered onto the existing Ollama-first architecture.

See `AGENTS.md` for the long-form roadmap and design notes.

## Contributing

Contributions are highly welcome! Please see our **[Contributing Guide](CONTRIBUTING.md)** for details on how to get started, including our code style, commit conventions, and pull request process.

## License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. See the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.
For commercial or proprietary integrations that cannot adopt AGPL, please reach out to the maintainers to discuss alternative licensing arrangements.