Terminus Code

A multi-provider AI assistant for your terminal. Bring your own API keys — OpenRouter, Gemini, Groq, and more — and chat with any model without leaving the command line.

Install

cd terminus-code
npm install
npm link          # makes the `terminus` command available globally

Or run it directly without linking:

node bin/terminus.js

First run

terminus
/keys set openrouter sk-or-...
/keys set gemini AIza...
/keys set groq gsk_...
/model

/model with no arguments opens an interactive picker: choose a provider, then filter/select from its live model list.

Commands

| Command | Description | |---|---| | /new | Start a new chat (clears context) | | /model <provider:model> | Switch directly, e.g. /model openrouter:openai/gpt-4o-mini | | /model list [provider] | List available models for a provider | | /model | Interactive provider + model picker | | /keys | List configured API keys (masked) | | /keys set <provider> <key> | Save an API key | | /keys remove <provider> | Delete a stored API key | | /search <query> | Search the web via DuckDuckGo | | /history | Show recent input history | | /clear | Clear the terminal | | /help | Show all commands | | /exit | Quit |

Plain text (no leading /) is sent to the current model as a chat message. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to browse your input history, just like a shell.

Supported providers

• OpenRouter — proxies almost any hosted model (OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, etc.)
• OpenAI
• Gemini — Google's Gemini API
• Groq — fast inference for open models
• Meta (Llama)
• Kimi
• Mistral
• DeepSeek
• xAI (Grok)
• Together AI
• Cerebras
• Perplexity — Sonar models (no tool-calling support)
• Fireworks AI

Want more? The terminus-code-providers-plus plugin adds Cohere, AI21, SambaNova, DeepInfra, and Novita AI without waiting on a core release — see the plugin dev guide (Plugins tab → "View plugin dev guide" in /settings).

Each provider adapter lives in src/providers/ and implements two functions: listModels(apiKey) and chat({ apiKey, model, messages, onToken }). Add a new provider by dropping a file in there with the same shape and registering it in src/providers/index.js.

Web search

Terminus Code detects when your message looks like it needs fresh information (e.g. contains "latest", "today", "search", etc.) and automatically pulls a few DuckDuckGo results into context. You can also trigger a search manually with /search <query>.

Config storage

API keys and your last-used model are stored locally via conf, typically at:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\terminus-code-nodejs\config.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/terminus-code-nodejs/config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/terminus-code-nodejs/config.json

You can also set keys via environment variables instead: OPENROUTER_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, GROQ_API_KEY.

License

MIT — Author: CodeStuff