From: Anderson A. Giacomolli <agiacomolli@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2026 13:13:51 +0000 (-0300)
Subject: Open the chat when no command is given
X-Git-Url: http://git.giacomolli.uk/onechat/commitdiff_plain/459656ed8c15847d325f07758e4a775935411c3d

Open the chat when no command is given

onechat with no command opens the terminal chat, as onechat chat does,
because the chat is the command of daily use once the daemon runs as a
service. A start of the daemon stays explicit, so a second daemon does
not start by accident. onechat help, --help, and -h print the commands,
and an unknown command prints the error and the same help. The install
check runs onechat help in place of the bare command.
---

diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 09e048c..9b9c489 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -73,7 +73,10 @@ Start the daemon, and then the client in another terminal:
 .. code:: console
 
    onechat daemon
-   onechat chat
+   onechat
+
+``onechat`` with no command is the same as ``onechat chat``. ``onechat
+help`` lists the commands.
 
 The daemon owns the root agent in ``agent/`` in the data directory and
 listens on the Unix socket ``onechat.sock`` there. In the client, each
@@ -192,7 +195,7 @@ the service:
    systemctl --user daemon-reload
    systemctl --user enable --now onechat.service
    systemctl --user status onechat.service
-   ONECHAT_DIR=DATA_DIR ./result-service/bin/onechat chat
+   ONECHAT_DIR=DATA_DIR ./result-service/bin/onechat
    journalctl --user -u onechat.service -f
 
 After a pull, update the package and unit with:
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index f2c263d..04b0677 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -9,6 +9,19 @@ import (
 	"syscall"
 )
 
+// usage is the help text of the command.
+const usage = `Usage: onechat [COMMAND]
+
+Commands:
+  chat                     talk to the agent in this terminal (default)
+  daemon                   run the agent, Telegram, and WhatsApp
+  login                    log in to ChatGPT with a device code
+  probe LOG COUNT [BUILDS] measure the compactor on a log, with real calls
+  help                     show this help
+
+Chat needs a running daemon. ONECHAT_DIR sets the data directory.
+`
+
 func main() {
 	err := run()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -23,8 +36,8 @@ func run() error {
 
 	args := os.Args[1:]
 	switch {
-	case len(args) == 0:
-		_, err := fmt.Println("onechat")
+	case len(args) == 1 && (args[0] == "help" || args[0] == "--help" || args[0] == "-h"):
+		_, err := fmt.Print(usage)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -37,7 +50,7 @@ func run() error {
 	// result does not include ctx.Err().
 	case len(args) == 1 && args[0] == "daemon":
 		return daemon(ctx, os.Stdout)
-	case len(args) == 1 && args[0] == "chat":
+	case len(args) == 0 || len(args) == 1 && args[0] == "chat":
 		return terminal(ctx, os.Stdin, os.Stdout)
 	case len(args) > 0 && args[0] == "probe":
 		err := probe(ctx, args[1:], os.Stdout)
@@ -45,7 +58,7 @@ func run() error {
 			return err
 		}
 	default:
-		return fmt.Errorf("unknown command %q", strings.Join(args, " "))
+		return fmt.Errorf("unknown command %q\n\n%s", strings.Join(args, " "), strings.TrimSuffix(usage, "\n"))
 	}
 
 	return ctx.Err()
diff --git a/nix/package.nix b/nix/package.nix
index 729cf53..b38dcc0 100644
--- a/nix/package.nix
+++ b/nix/package.nix
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ buildGoModule {
   doInstallCheck = true;
   installCheckPhase = ''
     runHook preInstallCheck
-    test "$("$out/bin/onechat")" = onechat
+    [[ "$("$out/bin/onechat" help)" == "Usage: onechat "* ]]
     runHook postInstallCheck
   '';
 
diff --git a/terminal.go b/terminal.go
index 45a1a69..876986a 100644
--- a/terminal.go
+++ b/terminal.go
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@ const terminalResultLines = 10
 // errTerminalDaemonClosed tells that the daemon closed the connection.
 var errTerminalDaemonClosed = errors.New("the daemon closed the connection")
 
-// terminal runs "onechat chat": the terminal client of the daemon. Each line of
-// input is a user message, the line /stop interrupts the running turn, the line
-// /stop NAME stops the subagent NAME, and a line that starts with /whatsapp is
-// a WhatsApp command. The client shows the replies, the tool calls, and their
-// results as they happen. It ends at the end of the input or when the daemon
-// closes the connection.
+// terminal runs "onechat" and "onechat chat": the terminal client of the
+// daemon. Each line of input is a user message, the line /stop interrupts the
+// running turn, the line /stop NAME stops the subagent NAME, and a line that
+// starts with /whatsapp is a WhatsApp command. The client shows the replies,
+// the tool calls, and their results as they happen. It ends at the end of the
+// input or when the daemon closes the connection.
 func terminal(ctx context.Context, in io.Reader, out io.Writer) error {
 	dir, err := dataDir()
 	if err != nil {