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ppxai Documentation

Multi-LLM Interface for Developers - Use your favorite AI provider in terminal or VSCode with zero vendor lock-in.

Version License

Why ppxai?

Problem ppxai Solution
Locked to one AI vendor Switch between Perplexity, Gemini, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Ollama anytime
Can't use local models Full Ollama/vLLM support with same interface
AI modifies files without asking Consent-based safety for all file operations
Lost context when switching models Preserve conversation across provider changes
Expensive cloud-only pricing Mix cloud and local models per task

Quick Start

Installation

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rcconsult/ppxai/master/scripts/install.sh | bash

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rcconsult/ppxai/master/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

pip install ppxai

Configure API Keys

# Create ~/.ppxai/.env with your keys
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=pplx-xxx
GEMINI_API_KEY=xxx
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxx

Run

ppxai              # Rich TUI (original)
ppxaide            # Textual TUI (v1.15.0+)
ppxai-server       # HTTP server for VSCode
ppxai-desktop      # Desktop web app

Features

Multi-Provider Support

  • Perplexity AI - Real-time web search with citations
  • Google Gemini - 1M token context, search grounding
  • OpenAI - GPT-4o, o1 reasoning models
  • OpenRouter - 100+ models including Claude
  • Local Models - Ollama, vLLM, LMStudio

Four Interfaces

Feature ppxai (Rich TUI) ppxaide (Textual TUI) VSCode Web App
Streaming responses ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Syntax highlighting ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
File editing tools ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Agent mode ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Checkpoint/undo ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Markdown in chat Limited ✅ Full rendering ✅ ✅
Themes 6 themes 17+ themes N/A N/A
Tab completion ✅ ✅ N/A N/A

Agent Mode

Enable autonomous multi-step task execution:

/agent on

The AI can chain tool calls, edit files, run commands - all with your consent.

Bootstrap Context

Load project-specific instructions from AGENTS.md:

---
provider_hints:
  local:
    - "Complete tasks fully without stopping."
model_hints:
  "deepseek-r1*":
    - "Show reasoning before actions."
---

# Project Instructions
Python 3.11+, pytest for testing.

Documentation

Resources