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Version: Next

chat

Start an interactive or one-shot chat with a model registered in the Spice runtime.

Requirements​

  • Spice runtime must be running
  • At least one model defined in spicepod.yaml and the model is ready

Usage​

Interative Chat: Invoke the command without arguments to open a REPL​

spice chat [flags]

One-shot Chat: Pass a single message as the argument to send a one-shot chat request and print the response​

spice chat [flags] [<message>]

Flags​

  • --cloud Use a Spice Cloud instance for chat. Requires --api-key.
  • --endpoint <endpoint> Specifies the remote Spice instance endpoint. Supports http://, https://, grpc://, or grpc+tls:// schemes. For example, --endpoint http://my-remote-host:8090 (HTTP) or --endpoint grpc://my-remote-host:50051 (Arrow Flight/gRPC).
  • --http-endpoint <endpoint> (Deprecated) Runtime HTTP endpoint. Default: http://localhost:8090.
  • --model <string> Target model for the chat request. When omitted, the CLI uses the single ready model or prompts for a choice if several models are ready.
  • --temperature <float32> Model temperature used for chat request. Default: 1.0.

Examples​

When exactly one model is ready, spice chat opens a REPL that uses that model automatically:

> spice chat
Using model: openai
chat> hello
Hello! How can I assist you today?

Time: 0.57s (first token 0.53s). Tokens: 18. Prompt: 8. Completion: 10 (325.04/s).

Remote and Cloud Examples​

# Chat with Spice Cloud
spice chat --cloud --api-key <your-api-key> --model <model>

# Chat with a remote spiced instance over HTTP
spice chat --endpoint http://my-remote-host:8090 --model <model>

# Chat with a remote spiced instance over Arrow Flight SQL (gRPC)
spice chat --endpoint grpc://my-remote-host:50051 --model <model>

When multiple models are ready, the command prompts for a selection before starting the REPL:

> spice chat
Use the arrow keys to navigate: ↓ ↑ → ←
? Select model:
  ▸ openai
    llama
Using model: openai
chat> hello
Hello! How can I assist you today?

Time: 0.55s (first token 0.43s). Tokens: 18. Prompt: 8. Completion: 10 (80.09/s).

Passing --model skips the prompt and directs the request to the specified model. The flag works both in REPL mode and in one‑shot mode:

# REPL
spice chat --model openai
chat> hello
Hello! How can I assist you today?

Time: 0.61s (first token 0.58s). Tokens: 18. Prompt: 8. Completion: 10 (285.90/s).

Single prompt:

# One‑shot
spice chat --model openai "hello"
Hello! How can I assist you today?

Time: 1.10s (first token 0.80s). Tokens: 18. Prompt: 8. Completion: 10 (33.74/s).