---
title: "chat"
description: "Talk with a companion in the terminal, on its configured model."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://clanka.jfa.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# chat

```sh
clanka chat [--budget <tokens>] <soul>
```

Needs a [`[model]`](/configuration/#model) section in `config.toml`. Type a
message and press Enter. Each reply is remembered in the background.

It refuses to start if the persona changed since the companion's memories
were written. Settle the change with [`clanka soul`](/cli/soul/) first.

```sh
clanka chat ~/.config/clanka/souls/<id>.md
```

## Flags

### `--budget <tokens>`

Estimated tokens the memory context may use per turn.

- Default: `6000`

```sh
clanka chat --budget 4000 ~/.config/clanka/souls/<id>.md
```

## In the conversation

### `/sleep`

Ends the conversation and turns it into memories. See
[Sleep](/concepts/sleep-and-dreams/#sleep).

### The doctor token

Sending the soul's `doctor_token` as a whole message freezes the memory and
quits without recording anything. See
[Repairing memory](/guides/repairing-memory/).

### `>>N`

At the start of a message, asks for a reply of about N paragraphs.

```text
you> >>3 Tell me about the cello lesson.
```

### `~~`

As the first message after sleep, starts a
[dream](/concepts/sleep-and-dreams/#dreams). What you write is what happens
to the companion, as "you", and it lives it without knowing it dreams.

```text
you> ~~ You're standing in your mother's kitchen. It is too quiet.
```

### `<<`

In a dream, shows the companion an echo of the past.

```text
you> << >>3 Years ago, in this room, the judge reads the sentence aloud.
```

### `||`

Anywhere in a waking message, text between `||` and `||` is said out of the
companion's earshot. It plays along without hearing it, and never keeps it.

```text
you> Dinner was fine. ||I haven't told her about the job yet.||
```

Source: https://clanka.jfa.dev/cli/chat/index.mdx