SUSI.AI Chat Terminal (Browser Client)

This project is a browser-based chat terminal that blends an LLM chat UI with a lightweight, terminal-like command interface. It also includes a virtual file system (VFS) concept so chat-produced code can be captured and managed in a file-like structure.

Core principles implemented so far

1) Terminal-first UI with chat as the default command

• The UI is a single terminal surface (index.html, css/chat_terminal.css) with a content-editable input line appended after each command.
• Input handling favors terminal muscle memory: Enter submits; Shift+Enter inserts a newline.
• Output is streamed and rendered through Markdown (marked) and syntax highlighting (highlight.js), keeping the experience close to a dev console.

2) Chat history is the source of truth for LLM context

• Chat history is managed by js/susi_chat_history.js as an in-memory list of {role, content} entries.
• The system prompt is always message 0 and is persisted in config.json inside the IndexedDB VFS.
• Commands are interpreted first; anything unrecognized becomes a user prompt to the LLM, which is then appended to chat history.
• A special ??? suffix triggers a two-step "context first, answer later" prompt flow.

3) Streaming LLM output with stop-token cleanup

• The client calls /v1/chat/completions with stream: true.
• Each streamed chunk updates the last terminal line in-place and re-highlights newly emitted code blocks.
• Known stop tokens are stripped from the end of the stream to keep the visible output clean.
• Response timing stats are tracked for prompt processing and token generation, then exposed via the performance command.

4) Persistent VFS and shell layering

• js/susi_vfs.js is a standalone IndexedDB-backed VFS library (no dependencies).
• js/susi_shell_commands.js is the shell executor that depends only on the VFS and implements touch, rm, mv, ls, pwd, cd, mkdir, rmdir, tree, less, and edit.
• The chat UI calls the shell executor with access to the VFS; the shell manages paths and file operations.
• Command help is generated from command metadata, so each command self-documents.

5) IndexedDB VFS capabilities

• js/susi_vfs.js defines the VFS API and exposes it on window.vfs.
• Paths are normalized as keys with rules: leading slash required, trailing slash indicates a directory.
• Commands in this module mirror common shell ops: put, get, rm, touch, cp, mv, ls, cat, find, du, df, grep.
• This VFS is exposed on window.vfs and exercised in js/vfs-test.html.

6) Persistent config via IndexedDB VFS

• Configuration is stored in config.json inside the IndexedDB-backed VFS, not localStorage.
• A small config layer loads/saves keys such as apihost, model, apikey, companion, and systemprompt.
• The agent and team commands store definitions inside the same config file for reuse.
• mem prints the config contents; mem clear resets to defaults and rewrites config.json.

7) Export and capture flows

• export writes chat history to a local download in JSON, TXT, MD, CSV, or DOCX.
• make extracts the latest assistant code block and writes it to a VFS file.
• Image attachments are supported for the LLM call (JPEG/PNG with size gating).

High-level flow

1. User types in the terminal.
2. The shell executor runs first; if no shell command matches, the chat executor handles the command or routes to the LLM.
3. For LLM calls: payload is streamed, output is rendered progressively, and the final answer is appended to chat history.
4. File operations are handled via the IndexedDB VFS (susi_vfs.js).

Key files

• index.html: app shell and script wiring.
• js/susi_chat_terminal.js: terminal UI, command parser, chat/LLM streaming, config abstraction over config.json, and a thin integration layer to the shell.
• js/susi_shell_commands.js: shell executor that depends only on the VFS and owns shell command dispatch.
• js/susi_chat_executor.js: chat command executor (non-shell commands and LLM routing).
• js/susi_chat_history.js: chat history state and manipulation helpers.
• js/susi_ui_commands.js: UI-only commands (editor).
• js/susi_vfs.js: IndexedDB-backed VFS with shell-like commands.
• js/vfs-test.html: manual test harness for the IndexedDB VFS.
• css/chat_terminal.css: terminal look-and-feel.

Known separations (intentional seams)

• Terminal files and configuration both persist via the IndexedDB VFS (config.json plus user files).
• The VFS is dependency-free; the shell depends only on the VFS; the chat UI depends on the shell.
• The API host defaults to a SUSI endpoint but can be overridden from the terminal (host, set api).