Golem CLI

A provider-agnostic terminal AI coding assistant. Chat with any LLM, read and edit files, search codebases, and run commands — all from your terminal.

Features

Multi-provider: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini, and local Ollama models
Built-in tools: Read, write, edit files; glob and regex search; shell commands; git; memory; todo tracking; multi-edit; patching; renaming; directory trees; code outline; diffing; web search; fetch; and more
Rich terminal UI: Markdown rendering with syntax-highlighted code blocks and streaming responses
Session persistence: Save and load conversations across sessions
Context management: Automatic truncation when conversations exceed the context window
Project-aware: Reads GOLEM.md/CLAUDE.md/README.md into the system prompt and includes remembered context
Approval gating: Dangerous shell commands and non-read-only git operations require user confirmation
MCP support: Connect external tool servers via the Model Context Protocol

Prerequisites

Node.js >= 20.0.0
An API key for at least one provider, or a local Ollama instance

Installation

npm install -g golem-cli

This installs the golem command globally.

Quick Start

Set your API key:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-...
# or
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# or
export GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY=...

Run Golem:

golem                                          # Default (Anthropic Claude)
golem --provider openai --model gpt-4o         # Use OpenAI
golem --provider ollama --model llama3.1       # Use local Ollama
golem --debug                                  # Enable debug logging

Slash Commands

Command	Description
`/help`	Show available commands
`/clear`	Clear conversation history
`/save`	Save current session
`/load [id]`	Load a saved session
`/history`	List saved sessions
`/model`	Show current model
`/provider`	Show current provider
`/exit`, `/quit`	Exit Golem

Input Modes

Single-line (default): Type and press Enter to send
Multi-line: Press Ctrl+J to toggle. Enter adds newlines, Ctrl+Enter sends

Configuration

Golem uses layered configuration (later overrides earlier):

Built-in defaults
Global config: ~/.config/golem/config.json
Project config: .golem/config.json
Environment variables: GOLEM_PROVIDER, GOLEM_MODEL, provider API keys
CLI flags: --provider, --model, --debug

Example config:

{
  "provider": "openai",
  "model": "gpt-4o",
  "maxTokens": 4096,
  "contextWindow": 128000,
  "temperature": 0.7,
  "providers": {
    "ollama": {
      "baseUrl": "http://localhost:11434/api"
    }
  }
}

Built-in Tools

Tool	Description
`readFile`	Read file contents with optional line range
`writeFile`	Create or overwrite files
`editFile`	Find-and-replace text in files
`multiEdit`	Apply multiple replacements in one pass
`patch`	Apply unified diffs
`listFiles`	Glob-based file discovery
`searchFiles`	Regex search across files
`bash`	Shell command execution (requires approval)
`git`	Git operations with approval gating
`memory`	Persist key/value context across sessions
`todoManager`	Track multi-step work items
`directoryTree`	Show directory structure
`codeOutline`	Extract symbols from source files
`diffFiles`	Compare files or raw content
`rename`	Rename or move files and directories
`webSearch`	Search the web via SearXNG
`fetchUrl`	Make HTTP requests to URLs

License

MIT

JSPM

golem-cli

Package Exports

Readme