✅ Getting Started with Pixella

This guide will help you quickly start using Pixella’s Command-Line Interface (CLI) and Web User Interface (UI).

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure you have Pixella installed and configured. If not, please follow the Installation Guide and Setup and Configuration Guide.

1. 🔨 Command-Line Interface (CLI)

Pixella’s CLI provides a powerful way to interact with the chatbot directly from your terminal.

Interactive Mode

To start an interactive chat session:

pixella cli --interactive

In interactive mode, you can type your messages directly. You can also use various slash commands:

• /exit or /quit: End the session.
• /debug: Toggle debug logging for the session.
• /persona [text]: Set or update your user persona.
• /session [cmd]: Manage conversation sessions (e.g., /session new, /session load <name>, /session list).
• /import [rag|doc] <file_path>: Import documents for RAG context or permanent chat context.
• /clear: Clear the current conversation history.
• /model [chat|embedding] <model_name>: Switch the active AI model.
• /models [type]: List available chat or embedding models.
• /help: Display a list of all available slash commands.

Single Message Chat Mode

You can send a single message and get a response without entering interactive mode:

pixella cli "What is the capital of France?"

You can also specify a session to continue a conversation:

pixella cli "Tell me more about it" --session my_travel_plans

2. 🌐 Web User Interface (UI)

Pixella also offers a user-friendly Web UI powered by Streamlit.

Launching the Web UI

To launch the UI in your browser:

pixella ui

This will open a new tab in your default web browser (usually at http://localhost:8501). The UI provides a more visual way to chat, manage settings, and interact with Pixella.

Running UI in Background

You can run the UI as a background process, freeing up your terminal:

pixella ui --background

To stop the background UI:

pixella ui --end

To view the logs of a background UI process:

pixella ui --log

3. Managing Configurations

You can adjust Pixella’s settings (like API keys, models, user persona, etc.) using the config command:

pixella config --show       # Display current settings
pixella config --google-model gemini-2.5-pro # Change the AI model

For a full list of configuration options, refer to the Setup and Configuration Guide.