GitHub - abi/lilo

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Lilo

Lilo is a Telegram personal assistant

Join the Lilo Discord License: MIT

Here are a few things Lilo can do:

  • Send Lilo photos of food, and it tracks your calories.
  • Leave a voice note on your run to pause your supplements, and Lilo adds a TODO.
  • Ask Lilo to remind you when the Knicks game starts and send you score updates every 5 minutes.
  • Ask Lilo to read an article out loud. Or give you a summary of the top stories on Hacker News.
  • Collect a Uber receipt, and pull it up later to file for a reimbursement at work.
  • Schedule a meeting with Jess next week, ask for suggestions on meeting location, and next week, remind you when it’s time to leave for the meeting.

Telegram is the easiest way to use Lilo, but it also works wherever you do: WhatsApp, web, desktop, mobile, or email. There's a companion mobile and desktop app for when you want to work more visually, like move things around on your TODO list.

What you can ask Lilo

Find kid-friendly dinner Track meals
Telegram chat asking Lilo for a kid-friendly restaurant nearby Telegram chat asking Lilo to track food and calories
Ask nearby and get a practical recommendation. Send food and keep calories up to date.
Pull up return info Manage TODOs
Telegram chat asking Lilo to find a return code at the store Telegram chat asking Lilo to pause supplements and add a TODO
Pull up return codes, receipts, and files. Turn voice notes into durable TODOs.
Follow a game Find a work spot
Telegram chat asking Lilo for game updates and summaries Telegram chat asking Lilo for a laptop-friendly cafe nearby
Get summaries and live score updates. Find laptop-friendly cafes nearby.

Warning

Alpha software. Expect breaking changes, rough setup, and bugs. Back up your workspace via git sync, and read Security before running it on a public host.

Quick start

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 20+
  • pnpm 10+
  • An API key for at least one of: OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter

1. Install

git clone https://github.com/abi/lilo.git
cd lilo
pnpm install

2. Configure

Create a .env.local at the repo root:

# Required
LILO_WORKSPACE_DIR=./workspace          # where the agent's files live
LILO_SESSIONS_DIR=./.lilo-sessions      # persistent chat session storage

# At least one chat model
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...                   # enables GPT 5.5
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...            # enables Claude Fable 5 and Claude Opus 4.7
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...            # enables OpenRouter-routed models

# Recommended
LILO_AUTH_PASSWORD=choose-a-strong-password   # locks down the whole app

See Configuration for the full list.

3. Run

pnpm run dev   # backend (http://localhost:8787) + frontend (http://localhost:5800) + typechecks

Open http://localhost:5800. If you set LILO_AUTH_PASSWORD, you'll get a login screen on first visit.

Your workspace should be auto-bootstrapped from the bundled workspace-template/, so you'll immediately have a Desktop, TODO list, Calories tracker, and a handful of other apps to play with.

Telegram setup

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456:ABC-...
TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET=long-random-secret
LILO_TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USER_IDS=123456789

Point your Telegram bot webhook at https://your-lilo/api/inbound-telegram and pass the same secret as Telegram's secret_token:

curl -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN/setWebhook" \
  -d "url=https://your-lilo/api/inbound-telegram" \
  -d "secret_token=$TELEGRAM_WEBHOOK_SECRET"

LILO_TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USER_IDS must contain numeric Telegram user IDs, not group chat IDs. To find yours, message your bot and inspect getUpdates, or use a Telegram ID helper bot such as @userinfobot.

Each contact gets their own persistent chat, so the agent remembers your conversation across messages.

For email, WhatsApp, and native app link setup, see External messaging.

Security

Lilo is built for a single, self-hosted user — not multi-tenant SaaS.

  • Set LILO_AUTH_PASSWORD before exposing an instance to the internet. It gates the web app, all REST/SSE/WebSocket endpoints, and workspace apps. Without it, everything is open.
  • The agent has shell, filesystem, and network access. Prompt injection is a real risk — anything it reads (web pages, emails, PDFs) can try to hijack it. Keep messaging allowlists (LILO_EMAIL_ALLOWED_SENDERS, LILO_WHATSAPP_ALLOWED_SENDERS, LILO_TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USER_IDS) tight, and keep credentials in env vars, not the workspace.
  • Webhooks (/api/inbound-*) skip the password gate on purpose and use provider-signed verification instead.
  • Report security issues privately through GitHub Security Advisories. Please don't open public issues for sensitive reports.

More docs

License

MIT