ifcli

Chat with AI via Command Line Interface.

Features:

• System prompt configuration and management
• Preset message support
• Chat history management and viewing
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools support
• Flexible usage patterns with alias commands
• Environment variable support for secure configuration (backward compatible with direct configuration)

Installation

ifcli is built using Bun.js and requires a Bun environment.

From NPM

npm install -g @vhxnif/ifcli

From Source

bun install && bun run build && bun link

Configuration

Configure application settings using the ist cf -m command. Please configure your LLM settings before first use.

To use MCP Servers, configure the relevant settings and enable MCP functionality for your chat session with ict cf -p.

The EDITOR environment variable must be set to enable configuration editing and system functions. If not configured, vim is used as the default editor.

Data Directory

Windows: Data and MCP configurations are stored in %APPDATA%\ifcli

macOS/Linux: Data is located in $HOME/.config/ifcli

Each release includes a version-specific SQLite database file (ifcli_<version>.sqlite). Data migration between versions must be handled manually.

Commands

Setting Commands

Usage: ifsetting|ist [options] [command]

Manage application settings and configuration

Options:
  -V, --version        output the version number
  -h, --help           display help for command

Commands:
  config|cf [options]  manage application configuration
  mcp [options]        manage MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers
  prompt|pt [options]  manage system prompts library
  help [command]       display help for command

Chat Commands

Usage: ifchat|ict [options] [command] [string...]

Interactive AI chat interface

Arguments:
  string                       chat message content (multiple arguments will be joined into a single string)

Options:
  -V, --version                output the version number
  -f, --force <name>           use specified chat session
  -s, --sync-call              use synchronous (non-streaming) mode
  -e, --edit                   open editor for input
  -t, --new-topic              start a new conversation topic
  -r, --retry                  retry the last question
  -a, --attachment <file>      attach text file content to message
  -h, --help                   display help for command

Commands:
  new <string>                 create a new chat session
  history|hs [options]         view chat conversation history
  remove|rm                    delete a chat session
  switch|st [options] [name]   switch between chat sessions or topics
  prompt|pt [options]          manage system prompts
  preset|ps [options]          manage preset message templates
  config|cf [options]          configure chat settings
  export|exp [options] [path]  export chat conversations

Application Settings

Example

{
    "generalSetting": {
        "theme": "ethereal_glow"
    },
    "mcpServers": [
        {
            "name": "weather",
            "version": "v1",
            "enable": true,
            "type": "sse",
            "url": "http://localhost:3000/sse"
        },
        {
            "name": "sequential-thingking",
            "version": "v1",
            "enable": true,
            "type": "stdio",
            "params": {
                "command": "npx",
                "args": [
                    "-y",
                    "@modelcontextprotocol/server-sequential-thinking"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "context7",
            "version": "v1",
            "enable": true,
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp",
            "headers": {
                "CONTEXT7_API_KEY": "<your api key>"
            }
        }
    ],
    "llmSettings": [
        {
            "name": "deepseek",
            "baseUrl": "https://api.deepseek.com",
            "apiKey": "<your deepseek api key>",
            "models": ["deepseek-chat", "deepseek-reasoner"]
        },
        {
            "name": "ollama",
            "baseUrl": "http://localhost:11434/v1/",
            "apiKey": "",
            "models": ["gemma3:latest"]
        },
        {
            "name": "openai",
            "baseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
            "apiKey": "<your openai key>",
            "models": ["gpt-4o"]
        },
        {
            "name": "openrouter",
            "baseUrl": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
            "apiKey": "<your openrouter key>",
            "models": [
                "deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324:free",
                "deepseek/deepseek-r1-0528:free",
                "deepseek/deepseek-r1:free",
                "qwen/qwen3-coder:free"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Application settings support both direct configuration and environment variable placeholders using the $env. prefix. This allows you to securely store sensitive information like API keys in environment variables while maintaining backward compatibility.

Usage Example

{
    "name": "deepseek",
    "baseUrl": "$env.DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL",
    "apiKey": "$env.DEEPSEEK_API_KEY",
    "models": ["deepseek-chat", "deepseek-reasoner"]
}

General Settings

Field	Type	Required
theme	string	true

LLM Settings

Field	Type	Required
name	string	true
baseUrl	string	true
apiKey	string	false
models	string[]	true

MCP Server (http)

Field	Type	Required
name	string	true
version	string	true
enable	boolean	true
type	'http'	true
url	string	true
opts	StreamableHTTPClientTransportOptions	false

MCP Server (SSE)

Field	Type	Required
name	string	true
version	string	true
enable	boolean	true
type	'sse'	true
url	string	true
opts	SSEClientTransportOptions	false

MCP Server (Stdio)

Field	Type	Required
name	string	true
version	string	true
enable	boolean	true
type	'stdio'	true
params	StdioServerParameters	true

Usage Tips

Chat Session Management

# Use specific chat sessions without switching context
# 'ts' is a chat session for translation purposes
alias ts='ict -f ts'

Disable Streaming Output

# Use synchronous output for pipeline operations
ict -sf ts

# Create custom commands for pipelines
alias sts='ict -sf ts'
cat system_prompt.md | sts | tee system_prompt.txt

Edit System Prompts

Using pipes:

cat system_prompt.md | ict pt -c

Using editor:

ict pt -m

Retry Last Question

If a response fails for any reason, use the -r or --retry flag to retry the most recent question without losing context:

ict -r