Cadence

Multi-model AI in your terminal. One command, twelve frontier models, and a bridge that runs Claude Code and the OpenClaudia skill library on your backend.

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Install

One line, PowerShell or Terminal:

irm https://cadence.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Or from a local clone:

.\Install.ps1

The installer checks for Python 3.9+, installs Cadence, and adds it to your PATH. Then:

cadence login

Manual install

pip install --user .
cadence login

Best rendering

Cadence detects your terminal and adapts. For the full look (rounded panels, comet loader, waveform banner) use Windows Terminal:

winget install Microsoft.WindowsTerminal

The legacy console works fine and falls back to safe glyphs automatically.

Paste your API key. It is verified against the server, then stored in ~/.cadence/config.json with owner-only permissions.

Run it

cadence

Opens the interactive shell:

you > what is a closure?
cadence >
  A closure is a function bundled with its surrounding state...

Slash commands

| Command | What it does | |---|---| | /help | Show all commands | | /models | List models, active one highlighted | | /model <name> | Switch model (fuzzy matched) | | /web | Toggle web search | | /new | Start a fresh thread | | /clear | Clear the screen | | /history | Show this session's messages | | /status | Connection and account info | | /tools | List agent tools | | /cwd | Show or change the workspace | | /key | Replace your stored API key | | /exit | Leave |

Agent

Cadence is an agent by default. It can read files, write files, search, and run commands in your workspace from the moment it starts.

you > what does Config.txt say about retries?
  · ReadFile  Config.txt
      ✓ Config.txt (34 bytes)
cadence >
  The retries value is 5.

Tab completion

Press Tab to complete slash commands, model names after /model, and paths after /cwd.

Tools

| Tool | Access | What it does | |---|---|---| | ReadFile | read | Read a text file | | ListDirectory | read | List files and folders | | SearchText | read | Search file contents | | WriteFile | write | Create or overwrite a file | | RunCommand | write | Run a shell command |

Safety

• Read tools run freely. Write and command tools always ask first.
• Answer y to allow once, n to decline, a to allow for the session.
• Every path is confined to the workspace root. ../ escapes are rejected.
• Destructive commands (rm -rf /, format c:, mkfs, shutdown) are blocked.
• Commands time out after 60 seconds.
• The agent stops after 12 steps per request.

Set the workspace with /cwd <path>. It defaults to the directory you launched Cadence from.

End a line with \ to continue on the next line.

One-shot commands

cadence ask "Explain async/await in one paragraph"
cadence ask --Web "latest Python release"
cadence models
cadence use anthropic/claude-opus-5
cadence status
cadence logout

From Python

from Chat import NewClient, NewConversation

Client = NewClient()
ChatId, Answer = Client.Ask("Say hi in exactly five words.")

Talk = NewConversation()
Talk.Send("What is a monad?")
Talk.Send("Give me an example.")

Claude Code + OpenClaudia

OpenClaudia is a library of 75 marketing skills for Claude Code. It has no model of its own, so it needs a backend. Cadence provides one.

python InstallOpenClaudia.py --Skills seo-audit
cadence claude

Then inside Claude Code: /seo-audit https://yoursite.com

Once that works, install everything with python InstallOpenClaudia.py --All.

Requires Node.js 18+ and Claude Code on PATH. For other Anthropic-compatible tools, cadence claude --PrintEnv prints the variables to set.

Responses arrive complete rather than streaming token-by-token.

Terminal support

The UI detects your console at runtime. Terminals that support Unicode get rounded box borders and a braille spinner; others fall back to ASCII automatically. Colour is disabled when output is piped to a file.

Environment variables

| Variable | Purpose | |---|---| | CADENCE_API_KEY | Overrides the stored key | | CADENCE_ENDPOINT | Overrides the server URL | | NO_COLOR | Disables all colour | | CADENCE_FORCE_COLOR | Forces colour even when piped | | CADENCE_ASCII | Forces plain ASCII glyphs |

Security

• The upstream gate secret lives only in server environment variables.
• API keys are stored server-side as SHA-256 hashes, compared in constant time.
• Per-key rate limiting; exceeding it returns 429.
• Model names checked against an allowlist before reaching upstream.
• Input size capped.
• No keys configured means deny-all, not open-to-all.

Keys rotate server-side without shipping a client update.

Do not put the gate secret in a bundled executable. PyInstaller is an archive, not encryption; the contents can be extracted and decompiled in under a minute. Ship the executable for convenience, keep the secret on the server.

Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Fix | |---|---| | No API key found | cadence login | | API key rejected | Key rotated or mistyped; cadence login again | | Rate limit exceeded | Wait for the Retry-After window | | Claude Code is not installed | Install it, or use cadence claude --PrintEnv | | npx not found | Install Node.js 18+ |