Quick Start

Quick Start Guide

Get started with ALICE in 5 minutes!

Prerequisites

Make sure you have:

• ✅ ALICE installed (see Installation Guide)
• ✅ LM Studio or Ollama running locally
• ✅ A downloaded LLM model

Step 1: Start ALICE

Open your terminal and run:

alice

You'll see the startup banner:

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  AI-Powered CLI Assistant

Step 2: Your First Conversation

Simply type your question:

> You: Hello! What can you do?

Alice: Hi! I'm ALICE, your AI assistant. I can help you with:

- Answering questions and having conversations
- Reading and searching files in your project
- Checking the current time and date
- Viewing Git repository information
- Executing system commands (with your permission)
- And much more!

What would you like help with today?

Step 3: Try Using Tools

ALICE can automatically use tools to complete tasks:

Example 1: Check Time

> You: What time is it?

[⏰ getCurrentDateTime] Executing...
[✅ getCurrentDateTime] Success

Alice: It's currently February 10, 2026, 10:15 PM, Tuesday.
The timezone is Asia/Shanghai (UTC+8).

Example 2: Search Files

> You: How many TypeScript files are in this project?

[🔍 searchFiles] Searching for **/*.ts...
[✅ searchFiles] Found 25 files

Alice: This project contains 25 TypeScript files, distributed across:
- src/core/: 5 files
- src/cli/: 8 files  
- src/tools/: 7 files
- src/utils/: 3 files
- src/types/: 2 files

Example 3: Read File

> You: What's in package.json?

[📄 readFile] Reading package.json...
[✅ readFile] File read successfully (1024 bytes)

Alice: Your project is called "alice-cli", version 0.2.0.
It's described as "AI-powered office assistant CLI with Function Calling support".

Key dependencies include:
- ink: ^4.4.1 (CLI UI framework)
- axios: ^1.6.5 (HTTP client)
- ajv: ^8.17.1 (Schema validation)

Step 4: Explore Commands

ALICE has built-in commands for quick actions:

# Show help
> /help

# View current configuration
> /config

# Clear chat history
> /clear

# Quit ALICE
> /quit

Step 5: Work with Your Project

ALICE understands your workspace:

# Check Git status
> You: What's the current Git branch?

[🌿 getGitInfo] Fetching Git information...
[✅ getGitInfo] Success

Alice: You're currently on the "master" branch.
Recent commits:
- eba23ee: docs: add v0.2.0 release notes
- a65ad43: chore: prepare for v0.2.0 release
- 6ba256b: feat: integrate tool system into main UI

Common Tasks

Task: Find Something

> You: Find all markdown files

[🔍 searchFiles] Searching for **/*.md...
[✅ searchFiles] Found 8 files

Alice: Found 8 markdown files:
- README.md
- CONTRIBUTING.md
- RELEASE_v0.2.0.md
...

Task: Check Directory

> You: Where am I?

[📂 getCurrentDirectory] Getting current directory...
[✅ getCurrentDirectory] Success

Alice: You're in D:\projects\Alice
Platform: Windows (win32)

Task: Execute Command

> You: Show me the disk usage

[🔧 executeCommand] Preparing to execute: du -sh .

⚠️  This command will be executed. Continue? (y/N): y

[🔧 executeCommand] Executing...
[✅ executeCommand] Command completed

Alice: The current directory size is 156M.

Tips for Best Results

1. Be Specific

❌ "Check files" ✅ "How many JavaScript files are in the src folder?"

2. Ask Naturally

You don't need to memorize commands. Just ask naturally:

• "What's in package.json?"
• "List TypeScript files"
• "Show me the Git status"

3. Use Tools Safely

ALICE will ask for confirmation before:

• Deleting files
• Executing potentially dangerous commands
• Making system changes

4. Navigate History

• Press ↑ to recall previous inputs
• Press ↓ to go forward in history

Next Steps

Now that you're familiar with the basics:

1. Learn All Tools - Explore all 7 builtin tools
2. Configure ALICE - Customize settings
3. Add More Models - Set up multiple LLM backends
4. Understand Safety - Learn about dangerous command protection

Need Help?

• Type /help in ALICE
• Check FAQ
• Visit Troubleshooting
• Open an issue

Happy chatting! 🎉