Xela CLI

Free AI coding assistant for your terminal. Works with any model — OpenRouter, Groq, Ollama, DeepSeek, OpenAI, and more. Like Cursor/Claude Code, but free and open source.

╲  ╳  ╱   Xela
╱  ╳  ╲   AI coding assistant
  XELA    powered by any model

Install

npm install -g @xelauvas/xela-cli

On first run, Xela walks you through setup — pick a provider, paste a key, choose a model. No config files to edit.

Other install methods:

# One-liner
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xelauvas/codeclau/main/install.sh | bash

# From source
git clone https://github.com/xelauvas/codeclau.git /opt/xela
cd /opt/xela && npm install && npm link

Quick Start

# Interactive setup + launch
xela

# With a prompt
xela "fix the login bug in auth.ts"

# Non-interactive (pipe-friendly)
xela -p "explain this function"

# Override model for one session
xela -m google/gemini-2.5-pro-exp-03-25:free "review this code"

What It Can Do

• Edit files — reads your code, makes changes with your permission
• Run commands — executes shell commands, runs tests, builds projects
• Agentic coding — plans, executes, and iterates on code changes
• Multi-file refactoring — rename, restructure, migrate across your codebase
• Web search — looks up docs, APIs, error messages
• MCP support — extensible via Model Context Protocol servers
• Project memory — run /init to create XELA.md with project instructions
• Auto mode — let Xela handle permissions automatically for long tasks

Slash Commands

| Command | Description | |---|---| | /init | Create a XELA.md file with project instructions | | /model | Switch model | | /config | Open settings | | /help | Show help | | /clear | Clear conversation | | /compact | Compress conversation to save context | | /cost | Show token usage | | /mcp | Manage MCP servers |

Keyboard Shortcuts

| Key | Action | |---|---| | Enter | Submit prompt | | Escape | Cancel current request | | Ctrl+C | Exit | | Tab | Accept autocomplete | | Shift+Tab | Toggle auto mode | | Up/Down | Navigate history |

Free Providers

You don't need to pay anything. Here are free options:

OpenRouter (recommended)

Sign up at openrouter.ai/keys — no credit card needed.

Available free models: | Model | ID | |---|---| | Qwen 3.6 Plus (1M context) | qwen/qwen3.6-plus-preview:free | | DeepSeek Chat V3 | deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324:free | | Gemini 2.5 Pro | google/gemini-2.5-pro-exp-03-25:free | | Llama 4 Maverick | meta-llama/llama-4-maverick:free | | Nemotron Ultra 253B | nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-ultra-253b:free |

Groq (free tier)

Sign up at console.groq.com/keys — blazing fast inference.

Ollama (local, free forever)

Install from ollama.com — runs on your machine, fully private.

ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:7b
# Then pick "ollama" as provider during xela setup

Other free tiers

• Cerebras — fast inference, free tier
• SambaNova — free tier available

Paid Providers

For better quality and higher rate limits:

| Provider | Setup | |---|---| | DeepSeek | platform.deepseek.com/api_keys — very cheap | | OpenAI | platform.openai.com/api-keys | | OpenRouter (paid models) | Same key, just pick a paid model |

Configuration

Config is stored at ~/.xela/config.json (created during first-run setup).

{
  "provider": "openrouter",
  "apiKey": "sk-or-v1-...",
  "model": "qwen/qwen3.6-plus-preview:free",
  "baseUrl": ""
}

Re-run setup

rm ~/.xela/config.json && xela

Change model

# Edit config directly
nano ~/.xela/config.json

# Or override per-session
xela -m model-id

Supported Providers

| Provider | Default Model | Free? | |---|---|---| | OpenRouter | qwen/qwen3.6-plus-preview:free | Free models available | | Groq | qwen-qwq-32b | Free tier | | Ollama | qwen2.5-coder:7b | Free (local) | | DeepSeek | deepseek-chat | Cheap | | OpenAI | gpt-4o | Paid | | Cerebras | llama-3.3-70b | Free tier | | SambaNova | Meta-Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct | Free tier |

Self-Hosting Models

For privacy or unlimited usage, run models locally with Ollama:

# Small (16GB RAM, no GPU) — ~10-30 tok/s
ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:3b

# GPU (24GB+ VRAM) — ~100 tok/s
ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:32b

# Multi-GPU — full power
ollama pull deepseek-v3.2

Project Instructions (XELA.md)

Run /init inside any project to generate a XELA.md file. This file tells Xela about your project — build commands, architecture, conventions. It's loaded automatically every session.

cd my-project
xela
# then type /init

Xela also reads XELA.local.md for personal project instructions (add it to .gitignore).

Uninstall

# Remove CLI
npm uninstall -g @xelauvas/xela-cli

# Remove config (optional)
rm -rf ~/.xela

Links

• GitHub: github.com/xelauvas/codeclau
• npm: @xelauvas/xela-cli
• Issues: github.com/xelauvas/codeclau/issues

License

MIT