AUI

A native window onto Autolith's world of channels, written in Common Lisp on Lightfast and FLTK 1.4. It runs on Linux, macOS and NetBSD.

AUI is a client of Autolith's world server, as Autolith's terminal is. It uses Autolith's own client code to open channels, to follow them and to list them. Whatever you can reach from the terminal, you can reach from the window.

The look is Interlisp Paper's and the Autolith site's: paper, black ink, Times for what is said, a typewriter face for what is said about it, inversion instead of grey, dither as the only tone between, hairlines, square corners, and a few accent inks.

Install

AUI is built on the machine it runs on, against the Autolith installed there.

1. Install Autolith, so that autolith is on your path. From a release:

   curl -fsSL https://sh.lambda-symbolics.com/autolith | sh

   A release brings Autolith's source, its pinned libraries and an SBCL of its own, and AUI builds against those. A source checkout that has run its script/bootstrap serves the same way.

2. Install FLTK 1.4 and a C++17 compiler. On macOS: brew install fltk. On Arch: pacman -S fltk. On NetBSD, from pkgsrc: x11/fltk, with devel/gmake, shells/bash and devel/pkgconf for the build.

3. Clone Lightfast beside AUI:

   git clone https://github.com/lambda-symbolics/lightfast.git
   git clone https://github.com/lambda-symbolics/aui.git

4. Build and install:

   cd aui
   script/install

script/install builds Lightfast's native bridge and the saved image build/aui, links aui into ~/.local/bin, and on macOS also makes ~/Applications/Autolith.app for the Dock and Spotlight. The image holds the client code of the Autolith it was built against. After updating AUI, Lightfast or Autolith, run aui again: the launcher builds the image again when its sources are newer or another Autolith is installed.

AUI_AUTOLITH_ROOT names Autolith's release directory or its checkout when autolith is not on the path, and AUI_LIGHTFAST_ROOT names Lightfast when it is not beside AUI.

On a Mac with Homebrew, from nothing, with Autolith from its release. The macOS check in .github/workflows/check.yml runs these steps on every push, and a second time with Autolith built from source:

brew install fltk
curl -fsSL https://sh.lambda-symbolics.com/autolith | sh
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
autolith auth                 # sign in to a model provider, once

git clone https://github.com/lambda-symbolics/lightfast.git
git clone https://github.com/lambda-symbolics/aui.git
(cd aui && script/install)

After that, Autolith is in ~/Applications, and aui is on the path.

Run

aui takes autolith's command line.

aui                          # the latest channel for this directory, or a new one
aui open ID                  # a specific channel, by identifier or a part of it
aui open                     # no channel yet: pick one from the list
aui --model MODEL --permissions auto
aui -C ~/work/project        # as if started in that directory
aui lg status                # every other sub-command runs as under autolith

If no world server is running, the first aui starts one with autolith localgroup start, so it is the server a terminal would start. The options for a channel (--model, --provider, --permissions, --immutable, --image, --site-config-root) are Autolith's own and mean what they mean there. A start without a window (--detached, --pristine) and every sub-command except open run in autolith itself: aui turns into it.

Options of AUI's own:

option	meaning
-C, --directory DIR	work in DIR instead of the current directory
--prompt TEXT	send TEXT as soon as the channel is attached
--draft TEXT	put TEXT in the composer
--view NAME	show commands, settings, channels, agenda, memories or plan at start
--demo	a scripted conversation, no server needed
--shot FILE	write a picture of the window and exit
--size WIDTHxHEIGHT	with --shot, draw offscreen at exactly this size

Using it

A wide window has three columns:

• On the left, the list of channels.
• In the middle, the conversation and nothing else.
• On the right, the console: the channel's title, identifier and directory, how full its context is, what is running, what is waiting, an approval when one is asked for, and the composer at the bottom.

Drag the edge between the conversation and the console to resize the console. The width is remembered. In a narrow window the same things are stacked above and below the conversation, and the channel list is a drawer.

In the channel list you see the inbox, then each workspace with its channels, children under their parents. A green dot means the agent is working, a ring means the channel is hosted and idle, a small point means nobody serves it. The numbers on the right count unread messages and mentions. Click a channel to open it. Right-click it to send it a message, stop serving it or delete it. Click the button next to the wordmark to hide the list.

Running things are grouped as agents, commands, evaluations and model calls. Click the cross on a row to cancel it. Right-click the row to copy the call that cancels it.

Write in the composer. Start a line with / or ( to run a command or a Lisp form, as in the terminal. Type either to see the commands, or @ to see who you can mention. Use the chips under the text to pick the model, the reasoning effort and the permission mode.

The three buttons in the header open the settings, the commands and the channel's menu. From the menu you can open the status, the plan, the agenda, the memories and the jobs, each in a window of its own, and sign in to a model provider.

Each tool call, thought and notice is one line in the conversation. Click it to open it. Commands, Lisp and edits are highlighted as in the terminal. Drag across the conversation to select text, then copy it.

key	action
Enter	send; while the agent is working, steer the running turn
Shift+Enter	break the line
Tab	take the highlighted completion; while the agent is working, queue a follow-up
Up, Down	step through completions, or through what you sent
Escape	put a list or the drawer away; otherwise stop the agent
1 to 9	answer a waiting approval with that choice, when the composer is empty
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+E	the start and the end of the line
Ctrl+U, Ctrl+K	delete to the start and to the end of the line
Ctrl+W, Ctrl+Backspace, Alt+Backspace	delete the word before the caret
Alt+D, Ctrl+Delete	delete the word after the caret
Alt+B, Alt+F	move by words
Ctrl+K	commands, when there is nothing after the caret to delete
Ctrl+,	settings
Ctrl+T	show or hide the channel list
Ctrl+O	find a channel
Ctrl+N	a new channel in this directory
Page Up, Page Down	scroll the conversation
Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+End	its beginning; its end, following new output again

On macOS use Command instead of Ctrl for the window's own keys. The editing keys are on Control there, as in every text field on a Mac.

Develop

script/check                    # tests, source rules and the warning compile
script/check --suite records    # one suite
script/check --fix              # repair what the source rules can repair
script/run --demo               # the scripted conversation, from source
script/run --demo --size 1400x900 --shot /tmp/aui.png
script/exercise                 # click, scroll, select and type against the demonstration
script/exercise-live            # real turns through a world server of its own and a scripted model
script/build                    # the saved image

The source rules come from cheque, installed on first use into the per-user cache. Every push is checked on macOS in GitHub Actions, and the pictures of the demonstration drawn there are kept as an artifact.

You need no account for script/exercise-live. It uses a throwaway world under /tmp, Autolith's real world server and a scripted model. It sends a message, queues a follow-up, allows a command, stops a turn, steers one, runs a command, reopens the channel from its history and deletes it. Afterwards the server is stopped and the world removed.

src/client/ is the only directory that names Autolith's definitions. When Autolith publishes its client interface, that directory is what changes.