Bito CLI

Bito CLI (Command Line Interface) provides a command line interface to the Bito AI chat functionality. Over time, CLI will add more functions and new command options to support complex automation and workflows.

This is a very early Alpha version. We would love to get your feedback on the new features or improvements. Please write us at [email protected] or [email protected].

Prerequisites

Terminal

• Bash (for Mac and Linux)
• CMD (for Windows)

Using Bito CLI

• Execute Chat: Run bito command on command prompt to get started. Ask anything you want help with such as awk command to print first and last column.

  Note: Bito CLI supports long prompts through multiline input. To complete and submit the prompt, press Ctrl+D. Enter/Return key adds a new line to the input.

• Exit Bito CLI: To quit/exit from Bito CLI, type quit and press Ctrl+D .

• Terminate: Press Ctrl+C to Bito CLI.

Getting Started

Check out the video below to get started with Bito CLI

BitoCLI.-.install.and.use.mp4

Installing Bito CLI (Recommended)

We recommend you use the following methods to install Bito CLI.

MAC and Linux

sudo curl https://alpha.bito.ai/downloads/cli/install.sh -fsSL | bash (curl will always download the latest version)

Archlinux

Arch and Arch based distro users can install it from AUR

yay -S bito-cli or paru -S bito-cli

Using Homebrew:

1. Before using homebrew, please make sure that you uninstall any previously installed versions of Bito CLI using the uninstall script provided here.
2. Once above is done then you can use following commands to install Bito CLI using homebrew:
   • First tap the CLI repo using brew tap gitbito/bitocli, this should be a one time action and not required every time.
   • Now you can install Bito CLI using following command:
     • brew install bito-cli - this should install Bito CLI based upon your machine architecture.
   • To update Bito CLI to the latest version, use following commands:
     • Please make sure you always do brew update before upgrading to avoid any errors.
     • brew update - this will update all the required packages before upgrading.
     • brew upgrade bito-cli - once above is done, this will update Bito CLI to the latest version.
   • To uninstall Bito CLI you can either use the uninstall command from here or use following commands:
     • brew uninstall bito-cli - this should uninstall Bito CLI completely from your system.

Note for the Mac Users: You might face issue related to verification for which you will have to manually do the steps from here (we are working on fixing it as soon as possible).

Windows

1. Install the Bito CLI through MSI using this installer.
2. On Windows 11 you might get notification related to publisher verification. Click on "Show more" or "More info" and click on "Run anyway" (we are working on fixing this as soon as possible).
3. Once the installation is complete, start a new command prompt and run bito to get started.

Uninstalling Bito CLI

MAC and Linux

sudo curl https://alpha.bito.ai/downloads/cli/uninstall.sh -fsSL | bash (this will completely uninstall Bito CLI and all of its components)

Windows

For Windows you can uninstall Bito CLI just like you do for any other software uninstall from control panel. You can still refer the link provided here.

Installing with Manual Binary Download (Not Recommended)

While it's not recommended, you can download the Bito CLI binary from our repository, and install is manually. The binary is available for Linux and Mac OS, x86 and ARM architecture.

Mac & Linux

1. Download Bito CLI binary specific to your OS platform from here (Please download the latest version for all new updates).
2. Start the terminal, go to the location where your downloaded the binary, move the downloaded file (in the command below use bito-* filename you have downloaded) to filename bito mv bito-<os>-<arch> bito
3. Make the file executable using following command chmod +x ./bito
4. Copy the binary to /usr/local/bin using following command sudo cp ./bito /usr/local/bin
5. Set PATH variable so that Bito CLI is always accessible. PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
6. Run Bito CLI with bito command. If PATH variable is not set, you will need to run command with the complete or relative path to the Bito executable binary.

Windows

1. For using bito CLI, always move to the directory containing bito CLI prior to running it.
2. Set PATH variable so that bito CLI is always accessible.
   • Follow the instructions as per this link
   • Edit the "Path" variable and add new path of the location where bito CLI is installed on your machine.

Bito CLI Commands

help

• On MAC/Linux: run bito --help or bito config --help

• On Windows: run bito --help or bito config --help

Slash Commands

Slash Commands are introduced in Bito CLI to help make features like "AI that understands your code" to be available via the CLI. With this, you can access your code index created by the Bito extension in your IDE. Slash commands can be used to quickly execute actions like viewing all local code indexes, selecting a particular local code index and finally making LCA queries for that index.

• Type "/" in bito> prompt of interactive mode of Bito CLI and hit ENTER or TAB to view all available commands.
• Type "/[command_name]" in bito> prompt of interactive mode of Bito CLI and hit ENTER or TAB to view all available options for that command.
• Type "/[command_name] [option_name]" in bito> prompt of interactive mode of Bito CLI and hit ENTER or TAB to execute the available option.
• Run bito --help for help related to slash commands.

Bito CLI MyPrompt (Automation using Bito CLI)

On MAC/Linux:

• run bito -v or bito --version to print the version number of Bito CLI installed currently.

• run bito –p writedocprompt.txt -f mycode.js for non-interactive mode in Bito (where writedocprompt.txt will contain your prompt text such as "Explain the code below in brief" and mycode.js will contain the actual code on which the action is to be performed).

• run bito –p writedocprompt.txt to read the content at standard input in Bito (where writedocprompt.txt will contain your prompt text such as "Explain the code below in brief" and input provided will have the actual content on which the action is to be performed).

• run cat file.txt | bito to directly cat a file and pipe it to bito and get instant result for your query.

• run cat inventory.sql | bito -p testdataprompt.txt > testdata.sql to redirect your output directly to a file (where -p can be used along with cat to perform prompt related action on the given content).

• run cat inventory.sql | bito -c runcontext.txt -p testdataprompt.txt > testdata.sql to store context/conversation history in non-interactive mode in file runcontext.txt to use for next set of commands in case prior context is needed. If runcontext.txt is not present it will be created. Please provide a new file or an existing context file created by bito using -c option. With -c option now context is supported in non-interactive mode

• run echo "give me code for bubble sort in python" | bito to instantly get response for your queries using Bito CLI.

On Windows:

• run bito -v or bito --version to print the version number of Bito CLI installed currently.

• run bito –p writedocprompt.txt -f mycode.js for non-interactive mode in Bito (where writedocprompt.txt will contain your prompt text such as "Explain the code below in brief" and mycode.js will contain the actual code on which the action is to be performed).

• run bito –p writedocprompt.txt to read the content at standard input in Bito (where writedocprompt.txt will contain your prompt text such as "Explain the code below in brief" and input provided will have the actual content on which the action is to be performed).

• run type file.txt | bito to take input from file in windows and pipe it to bito and get instant result for your query.

• run type inventory.sql | bito -p testdataprompt.txt > testdata.sql to redirect your output directly to a file (where -p can be used along with type to perform prompt related action on the given content).

• run type inventory.sql | bito -c runcontext.txt -p testdataprompt.txt > testdata.sql to store context/conversation history in non-interactive mode in file runcontext.txt to use for next set of commands in case prior context is needed. If runcontext.txt is not present it will be created. Please provide a new file or an existing context file created by bito using -c option. With -c option now context is supported in non-interactive mode

• run echo "give me code for bubble sort in python" | bito to instantly get response for your queries using Bito CLI.

More on Bito CLI MyPrompt:

Using Comments:

Anything after # in your prompt file will be considered as a comment by Bito CLI and won't be part of your prompt.

You can use \# as an escape sequence to make # as a part of your prompt and to not use it for commenting anymore.

Few examples for above:

1. Give me an example of bubble sort in python # everything written here will be considered as a comment now.
2. Explain what this part of the code do: \#include<stdio.h>
   i. in the example above \# can be used as an escape sequence to include # as a part of your prompt.
3. #This will be considered as a comment as it contains # at the start of the line itself.

Disabling Comments:

To treat # as normal character and not a special character to mark starting of a comment (which is the default behavior), one can use -i/--ignore flag in your command for Bito CLI.
Using -i/--ignore flag in your command for Bito CLI will let Bito CLI know to not treat # specially and use it as part of the prompt for processing.

Eg. "bito -p prompt.txt -i" will make sure that even if # is present in your prompt file, it won't be considered as a comment and your file will be processed as it is.

Using Macro:

Use {{%input%}} macro in the prompt file to refer to the contents of the file provided via -f option

Example: To check if a file contains JS code or not, you can create a prompt file checkifjscode.txt with following prompt:

Context is provided below within contextstart and contextend
contextstart
{{%input%}}
contextend
Check if content provided in context is JS code.

Examples:

Here are two examples for you to see My Prompt in action:

1. How to Create Git Commit Messages and Markdown Documentation with Ease using Bito CLI My Prompt:

2. How to generate test data using Bito CLI My Prompt:

Bito CLI Configuration

bito config [flags]

• run bito config -l or bito config --list to list all config variables and values.

• run bito config -e or bito config --edit to open the config file in default editor.

Sample Configuration

bito:
 access_key: ""
 email: [email protected]
 preferred_ai_model: ADVANCED
settings:
 auto_update: true
 max_context_entries: 20

Preferred AI Model Type

By default AI Model Type is set to ADVANCED and it can be overridden by running bito -m <BASIC/ADVANCED> Model type is used for AI query in the current session. Model type can be set to BASIC or ADVANCED, which is case insensitive.

"ADVANCED" refers to AI models like GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 3.5, and best in class AI models, while "BASIC" refers to AI models like GPT-4o mini and similar models.

When using BASIC AI models, your prompts and the chat's memory are limited to 40,000 characters (about 18 single-spaced pages). However, with ADVANCED AI models, your prompts and the chat memory can go up to 240,000 characters (about 110 single-spaced pages). This means that ADVANCED models can process your entire code files, leading to more accurate answers.

If you are seeking the best results for complex tasks, then choose ADVANCED AI models.

Bito CLI also prints the model configured and the one used for your current session on standard error for your reference. If you run "bito" then you should see "Model configured" as "BASIC/ADVANCED". This is the model that is configured in your CLI configuration (which can be access via bito config -e).

If you start making queries then depending upon your Bito Billing Plan if you are on a Free plan then the model will automatically switch to BASIC and you shall see "Model in use:" as BASIC getting printed.

If you are on a Paid Plan and haven't exhausted your advanced queries then you shall see "Model in use:" as ADVACNED getting printed.

Access Key

Access Key can be created at Bito Web UI and used in Bito CLI.

To create an access key, do the following:

• Login into your account at: https://alpha.bito.ai
• Once logged in open: https://alpha.bito.ai/home/settings/advanced
• Click on the "Create new key" button under section "Bito Access Key" to create a new key and copy it.
• Make sure to protect your key and do not check it in, into any code to avoid accidental leakage.
• In case you think your key is compromised, you can delete the existing key and create new key anytime.

Access Key is an alternate authentication mechanism to Email & OTP based aunthentication.

Access Key can be persisted in Bito CLI by running bito config -e Such persisted Access Key can be over-ridden by running bito -k <access-key> or bito --key <access-key> for the transient session.

Output Language

By default Bito CLI generates output in English. You can change the output language to your preferred language from here.

As of now it takes 30 mins for the language change to reflect in the CLI when the CLI is in the running mode. For the changes to reflect immeditately you can exit the current CLI session using Ctrl+C and again run the CLI using bito.

FAQs

Enabling unicode For Windows 10 and below:

1. Unicode characters (using other languages) might not be readily supported on command prompt if you are on Windows 10 or below. You can run command chcp 936 in cmd prior to using bito to support unicode characters in Windows 10 or below (To undo the settings done here you can follow this link).
2. IF you are on Windows 11 then you shouldn't encounter any such issues.

License

Copyright (C) 2021, Bito Inc - All Rights Reserved