elelem

Chat Client with Tool-Calling Support

An interactive C-based command-line chat client that enables AI models to execute real-world actions through a comprehensive tool-calling system.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential libglib2.0-dev libjson-glib-dev libsoup2.4-dev libreadline-dev

Fedora/RHEL:

sudo dnf install gcc glib2-devel json-glib-devel libsoup-devel readline-devel

macOS:

brew install glib json-glib libsoup readline pkg-config

Building

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd gobject
make clean && make

Setup API Keys

For DeepSeek API:

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here"

For Ollama (local):

# Install and start Ollama
curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh
ollama serve

# Pull a model (in another terminal)
ollama pull qwen3

📖 Usage

Basic Commands

# Start with DeepSeek (requires API key)
./elelem

# Use Ollama with specific model
./elelem -p ollama -m qwen3

# Use custom Ollama server
./elelem -p ollama -u http://remote-server:11434 -m mistral

Interactive Commands

Command	Description	Example
/tools	List available tools	/tools
/history	Show conversation history	/history
/save	Save current conversation	/save
/load <file>	Load previous conversation	/load conversations/chat_2024-01-01_10-30-00.txt
/model <name>	Switch AI model	/model llama3.1
/provider <name>	Switch between providers	/provider ollama
/clear	Clear conversation history	/clear
/exit	Exit application	/exit

🛠️ Available Tools

The AI can execute these tools to help you:

🔍 Search Tools

• grep - Search for patterns in files recursively

  • Required: pattern
  • Optional: path, file_pattern, case_sensitive

• analyze_code - Analyze code structure and metrics

  • Optional: path (default: current), language (default: c)

📁 File Tools

• read_file - Read and display file contents

  • Required: filename

• write_file - Create or modify files

  • Required: filename, content

• list_directory - Browse directory contents

  • Optional: path (default: current directory)

💻 System Tools

• shell - Execute shell commands (sandboxed for safety)
  • Required: command

💡 Example Interactions

Code Analysis

> Analyze this codebase and tell me about its structure

[AI will use the analyze_code tool to examine your project, count lines of code, identify functions, and provide architectural insights]

File Search

> Find all TODO comments in C files

[AI will use grep tool with pattern "TODO" and file_pattern "*.c" to search recursively through your codebase]

File Operations

> Create a new header file called "utils.h" with basic includes

[AI will use write_file tool to create the header file with appropriate content]

System Operations

> What's in the current directory and what's the git status?

[AI will use list_directory and shell tools to show directory contents and run "git status"]

🏗️ Architecture

Core Components

• main.c - CLI interface and main event loop
• llm_interface.[ch] - Abstract client interface
• deepseek_client.[ch] - DeepSeek API implementation
• ollama_client.[ch] - Ollama local API implementation
• tool_manager.[ch] - Tool orchestration system
• tool_definition.[ch] - Tool schema definitions
• builtin_tools.c - Built-in tool implementations
• my_http_client.[ch] - HTTP client utilities

Tool-Calling Flow

1. User Input → User asks AI to perform a task
2. AI Planning → Model decides which tools to use
3. Tool Calls → AI generates JSON function calls
4. Validation → System validates tool calls and parameters
5. Execution → Tools run in sandboxed environment
6. Results → Tool output fed back to AI
7. Response → AI provides final answer with context

🔧 Configuration

System Prompt Customization

The system prompt is loaded from prompts/system_prompt.txt. You can customize it to:

• Add new tool descriptions
• Modify AI behavior
• Change response format preferences

Conversation Storage

• Conversations are auto-saved to conversations/ directory
• Files are named with timestamps: chat_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.txt
• Use /load command to resume previous conversations

🛡️ Security Features

• Command Filtering - Dangerous shell commands are blocked
• Path Validation - File operations validate and sanitize paths
• Output Limits - Large outputs are truncated to prevent memory issues
• Sandboxed Execution - Tools run with limited permissions
• Input Validation - All tool parameters are validated before execution

🔨 Development

Adding New Tools

1. Implement the handler in builtin_tools.c:

static ToolResult *
my_custom_tool_handler (JsonObject *arguments, gpointer user_data)
{
  // Your implementation here
  ToolResult *result = g_new0 (ToolResult, 1);
  result->success = TRUE;
  result->content = g_strdup ("Tool output");
  return result;
}

2. Register the tool in tool_manager_register_builtin_tools():

tool = tool_definition_new ("my_custom_tool", "Description of what it does");
tool_definition_add_string_param (tool, "param_name", "Parameter description", TRUE);
tool_manager_register_tool (manager, tool, my_custom_tool_handler, NULL, NULL);

3. Update system prompt in prompts/system_prompt.txt to describe the new tool.

Building with Debug Info

make clean
CFLAGS="-g -O0 -DDEBUG" make

Running Tests

# Test with different providers
./elelem -p deepseek
./elelem -p ollama -m llama3.1

# Test tool functionality
echo "List the files in this directory" | ./elelem -p ollama -m llama3.1

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Build Errors:

• Ensure all dependencies are installed
• Check pkg-config can find libraries: pkg-config --cflags glib-2.0

DeepSeek API Issues:

• Verify API key is set: echo $DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
• Check network connectivity and API quotas

Ollama Issues:

• Ensure Ollama server is running: curl http://localhost:11434/api/version
• Verify model is available: ollama list

Tool Execution Issues:

• Check file permissions for file operations
• Verify shell commands aren't blocked by security filters

Debug Mode

Set environment variable for verbose output:

G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=all ./elelem

📊 Features

✅ Implemented

• Multi-provider support (DeepSeek, Ollama)
• Real-time streaming responses
• Tool-calling with 6 built-in tools
• Conversation history with save/load
• Command-line interface with readline support
• Security sandboxing and validation
• File-based system prompt configuration

🚧 Planned

• Tool result caching for performance
• Async tool execution for parallel operations
• Plugin system for third-party tools
• Tool dependency management and chaining

📄 License

GNU Affero General Public License v3

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Need help? Open an issue or check the conversation history with /history to see example interactions.