OWLEN is a Rust-powered, terminal-first interface for interacting with local large language models. It provides a responsive chat workflow that runs against Ollama with a focus on developer productivity, vim-style navigation, and seamless session management—all without leaving your terminal.

Screenshots

Initial Layout

The OWLEN interface features a clean, multi-panel layout with vim-inspired navigation. See more screenshots in the images/ directory including:

Full chat conversations (chat_view.png)
Help menu (help.png)
Model selection (model_select.png)
Visual selection mode (select_mode.png)

Features

Chat Client (`owlen`)

Vim-style Navigation - Normal, editing, visual, and command modes
Streaming Responses - Real-time token streaming from Ollama
Multi-Panel Interface - Separate panels for chat, thinking content, and input
Advanced Text Editing - Multi-line input with tui-textarea, history navigation
Visual Selection & Clipboard - Yank/paste text across panels
Flexible Scrolling - Half-page, full-page, and cursor-based navigation
Model Management - Interactive model and provider selection (press m)
Session Persistence - Save and load conversations to/from disk
AI-Generated Descriptions - Automatic short summaries for saved sessions
Session Management - Start new conversations, clear history, browse saved sessions
Thinking Mode Support - Dedicated panel for extended reasoning content
Bracketed Paste - Safe paste handling for multi-line content

Code Client (`owlen-code`) [Experimental]

All chat client features
Optimized system prompt for programming assistance
Foundation for future code-specific features

Core Infrastructure

Modular Architecture - Separated core logic, TUI components, and providers
Provider System - Extensible provider trait (currently: Ollama)
Session Controller - Unified conversation and state management
Configuration Management - TOML-based config with sensible defaults
Message Formatting - Markdown rendering, thinking content extraction
Async Runtime - Built on Tokio for efficient streaming

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Rust 1.75+ and Cargo (rustup recommended)
A running Ollama instance with at least one model pulled (defaults to http://localhost:11434)
A terminal that supports 256 colors

Clone and Build

git clone https://somegit.dev/Owlibou/owlen.git
cd owlen
cargo build --release

Run the Chat Client

Make sure Ollama is running, then launch:

./target/release/owlen
# or during development:
cargo run --bin owlen

(Optional) Try the Code Client

The coding-focused TUI is experimental:

cargo build --release --bin owlen-code --features code-client
./target/release/owlen-code

Using the TUI

Mode System (Vim-inspired)

Normal Mode (default):

i / Enter - Enter editing mode
a - Append (move right and enter editing mode)
A - Append at end of line
I - Insert at start of line
o - Insert new line below
O - Insert new line above
v - Enter visual mode (text selection)
: - Enter command mode
h/j/k/l - Navigate left/down/up/right
w/b/e - Word navigation
0/$ - Jump to line start/end
gg - Jump to top
G - Jump to bottom
Ctrl-d/u - Half-page scroll
Ctrl-f/b - Full-page scroll
Tab - Cycle focus between panels
p - Paste from clipboard
dd - Clear input buffer
q - Quit

Editing Mode:

Esc - Return to normal mode
Enter - Send message and return to normal mode
Ctrl-J / Shift-Enter - Insert newline
Ctrl-↑/↓ - Navigate input history
Paste events handled automatically

Visual Mode:

j/k/h/l - Extend selection
w/b/e - Word-based selection
y - Yank (copy) selection
d - Cut selection (Input panel only)
Esc - Cancel selection

Command Mode:

:q / :quit - Quit application
:c / :clear - Clear conversation
:m / :model - Open model selector
:n / :new - Start new conversation
:h / :help - Show help
:save [name] / :w [name] - Save current conversation
:load / :open - Browse and load saved sessions
:sessions / :ls - List saved sessions

Session Browser (accessed via :load or :sessions):

j / k / ↑ / ↓ - Navigate sessions
Enter - Load selected session
d - Delete selected session
Esc - Close browser

Panel Management

Three panels: Chat, Thinking, and Input
Tab / Shift-Tab - Cycle focus forward/backward
Focused panel receives scroll and navigation commands
Thinking panel appears when extended reasoning is available

Configuration

OWLEN stores configuration in ~/.config/owlen/config.toml. The file is created on first run and can be edited to customize behavior:

[general]
default_model = "llama3.2:latest"
default_provider = "ollama"
enable_streaming = true
project_context_file = "OWLEN.md"

[providers.ollama]
provider_type = "ollama"
base_url = "http://localhost:11434"
timeout = 300

Storage Settings

Sessions are saved to platform-specific directories by default:

Linux: ~/.local/share/owlen/sessions
Windows: %APPDATA%\owlen\sessions
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/owlen/sessions

You can customize this in your config:

[storage]
# conversation_dir = "~/custom/path"  # Optional: override default location
max_saved_sessions = 25
generate_descriptions = true  # AI-generated summaries for saved sessions

Configuration is automatically saved when you change models or providers.

Repository Layout

owlen/
├── crates/
│   ├── owlen-core/       # Core types, session management, shared UI components
│   ├── owlen-ollama/     # Ollama provider implementation
│   ├── owlen-tui/        # TUI components (chat_app, code_app, rendering)
│   └── owlen-cli/        # Binary entry points (owlen, owlen-code)
├── LICENSE               # AGPL-3.0 License
├── Cargo.toml            # Workspace configuration
└── README.md

Architecture Highlights

owlen-core: Provider-agnostic core with session controller, UI primitives (AutoScroll, InputMode, FocusedPanel), and shared utilities
owlen-tui: Ratatui-based UI implementation with vim-style modal editing
Separation of Concerns: Clean boundaries between business logic, presentation, and provider implementations

Development

Building

# Debug build
cargo build

# Release build
cargo build --release

# Build with all features
cargo build --all-features

# Run tests
cargo test

# Check code
cargo clippy
cargo fmt

Development Notes

Standard Rust workflows apply (cargo fmt, cargo clippy, cargo test)
Codebase uses async Rust (tokio) for event handling and streaming
Configuration is cached in ~/.config/owlen (wipe to reset)
UI components are extensively tested in owlen-core/src/ui.rs

Roadmap

Completed ✓

Streaming responses with real-time display
Autoscroll and viewport management
Push user message before loading LLM response
Thinking mode support with dedicated panel
Vim-style modal editing (Normal, Visual, Command modes)
Multi-panel focus management
Text selection and clipboard functionality
Comprehensive keyboard navigation
Bracketed paste support

In Progress

Session persistence (save/load conversations)
Theming options and color customization
Enhanced configuration UX (in-app settings)
Conversation export (Markdown, JSON, plain text)

Planned

Code Client Enhancement
- In-project code navigation
- Syntax highlighting for code blocks
- File tree browser integration
- Project-aware context management
- Code snippets and templates
Additional LLM Providers
- OpenAI API support
- Anthropic Claude support
- Local model providers (llama.cpp, etc.)
Advanced Features
- Conversation search and filtering
- Multi-session management
- Export conversations (Markdown, JSON)
- Custom keybindings
- Plugin system

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how to get started:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Make your changes and add tests
Run cargo fmt and cargo clippy
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Please open an issue first for significant changes to discuss the approach.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0) - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Built with:

ratatui - Terminal UI framework
crossterm - Cross-platform terminal manipulation
tokio - Async runtime
Ollama - Local LLM runtime

Status: Alpha v0.1.0 | License: AGPL-3.0 | Made with Rust 🦀

Releases 5

Release v0.1.10 Latest

2025-10-03 07:57:53 +02:00

Languages

Rust 99.5%

Shell 0.5%

README.md

OWLEN

Alpha Status

What Is OWLEN?