catatui

A command line agent harness for MSU students

catatui is a coding agent that runs in your terminal and uses the MSU CatChat models, which are free for MSU students & faculty.

catatui is built as an extension on top of the excellent pi harness.

Install

macOS or Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/msu/catatui/master/install.sh | sh

Windows (in PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/msu/catatui/master/install.ps1 | iex

Open a new terminal, go to your project and run:

catatui

The first time you run it, catatui walks you through creating a CatChat API key. The key page only works on the MSU network, so if you are off campus connect to the VPN first.

Docs

Modes

Run /mode to change the mode or flip an option. By default catatui runs in ask mode.

Mode	What it does
`ask`	Asks before each file change, command and http request
`plan`	Writes a plan to `PLAN.md` and changes nothing else
`yolo`	Doesn't ask. Good luck.

Options

Option	What it does	Default
`ta`	The agent teaches and offers hints rather than writing code for you. We suggest you use this frequently.	off
`sandbox`	Keeps the agent in the directory you started it in. This is very simple and a determined agent can get around it, so read commands before you allow them.	on
`ste`	Uses Simplified Technical English, which keeps the annoying chattiness of many AI models down. Turn it off if you don't like the clipped responses.	on

Commands

Command	What it does
`/mode`	Change the mode and options
`/undo`	Put back the files the agent changed in your last request
`/model`	Pick a CatChat model
`/catchat`	Show your sign-in status and reload the models
`/catchat reset`	Sign out and quit
`/hotkeys`	Show the keyboard shortcuts

Press Escape to stop the agent while it is working.

/undo only covers the agent's file edits in the current session. It can't undo what a command did, so use git.

Updating

catatui --version tells you if there is a newer version and catatui --update installs it. On Windows, --update prints the install command for you to run after you close catatui.