Show HN: Chie – a cross-platform, native, and extensible desktop client for LLMs (opens in new tab)

(chie.app)

67 pointszcbenz2y ago23 comments

I'm submitting this before going to bed, so by the time it hits front page (if it does at all) I'll likely be asleep, so I won't be able to answer questions in time.

23 comments

steeve2y ago

I advise you not to look up what it means in french.

zcbenzOP2y ago

I actually asked ChatGPT what chie might mean in other languages, for multiple times, but it did not tell me this :(

cbenz2y ago

Sorry, too late, I'm french.

iamjackg2y ago

Looks great! Very excited to try this out. At first glance I have one concern and one suggestion:

Concern: you mention it supports the actual ChatGPT Web API -- isn't this against their terms of service? I'd be wary of publishing something that hits internal APIs.

Suggestion: I would rename what you call the "ChatGPT" (non-web) part of the backend to "OpenAI API" instead. There is already enough confusion in the world between ChatGPT and API access to the underlying GPT models.

capableweb2y ago

> Concern: you mention it supports the actual ChatGPT Web API -- isn't this against their terms of service? I'd be wary of publishing something that hits internal APIs.

There seems to be two extensions, one called "chatgpt" and one called "chatgpt-web" (https://github.com/chieapp/chie/tree/main/src/extensions). The latter seems to be using https://chat.openai.com/backend-api/conversation which is OpenAI's private API for ChatGPT. Using this (as a user) seems to be able to get you banned, as far as I can tell by some reddit posts as of late.

However, the extension called "chatgpt" seems to correctly use the right endpoint: https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions, but it's not ChatGPT anymore when you use it, so the naming is a bit confusing as you said.

buu7002y ago

I haven't read the terms of service, but would headless browser automation be a safer solution?

1 more reply

pjmlp2y ago

Kudos for taking the effort of not being yet another Electron app.

clarkmcc2y ago

Shameless plug for my version of this, also written in Rust: https://github.com/clarkmcc/chitchat

qwerty4561272y ago

Hi. This is the first time I'm trying an external app. I created an ChatGPT API key and configured it in Chie.

Once I tried asking ChatGPT it immediately replied "You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details" which I can't believe is the case.

I then tried to press the copy button over this reply to paste it here but that raises an error: "TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'content') at #copyTextAt (chieapp.exe\asar\dist\view\chat-view.js:1:11362).

nickthegreek2y ago

Your 'future plan' section says you want provide a subscription plan for gpt-4. Why would I pay a subscription to access my other subscription, especially when its a feature you currently offer for free. I feel like a one time fee to unlock access to premium models could be a better option. You will need to differentiate from your main free competition, chatboxai, to get a meaningful userbase like you have stated you want.

ricklamers2y ago

The UI toolkit it uses is Yue which I hadn’t heard of: https://libyue.com/docs/latest/js/

iFire2y ago

GPL3 License https://github.com/chieapp/chie/blob/main/LICENSE

homarp2y ago

Chie is currently licensed under the GPLv3, it will be relicensed to the MIT license on March 20th, 2028 (5 years after the first commit). I take this approach to discourage closed-source software from taking advantage of my work before it gets enough impacts.

Due to the future relicense, contributors will be asked to sign an agreement.

https://github.com/chieapp/chie#license

epylar2y ago

The agreement doesn't mention that it's just for relicensing to MIT.

stavros2y ago

This looks nice! It says it's not an Electron app, but GitHub says it's written in TypeScript, so what UI toolkit does it use?

EDIT: Never mind this is mentioned in the technical details link, thanks!

hedgehog2y ago

I tried it and got the error "You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details."

Oranguru2y ago

Great job!

In the future, would you add support for local LLMs, such as LLaMa?

broast2y ago

I like how it's now a feature to not be an electron or webview app.

nateb20222y ago

That was kind of a lie, however.

> NOT a webview wrapper of web pages.

but further down the page:

> The chat messages are rendered in a system webview. To minimize performance penalty the webview only renders a static HTML page with very limited JavaScript code.

cchance2y ago

would be cool if there was a plugin for petals (https://petals.dev/)

chillbill2y ago

so it is in a large part a web view

> The chat messages are rendered in a system webview.

zcbenzOP2y ago

I would argue it is not a large part a webview. The webview related code is 900 lines vs the whole project 10k lines.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

23 comments

steeve2y ago

I advise you not to look up what it means in french.

zcbenzOP2y ago

I actually asked ChatGPT what chie might mean in other languages, for multiple times, but it did not tell me this :(

cbenz2y ago

Sorry, too late, I'm french.

iamjackg2y ago

Looks great! Very excited to try this out. At first glance I have one concern and one suggestion:

Concern: you mention it supports the actual ChatGPT Web API -- isn't this against their terms of service? I'd be wary of publishing something that hits internal APIs.

capableweb2y ago

> Concern: you mention it supports the actual ChatGPT Web API -- isn't this against their terms of service? I'd be wary of publishing something that hits internal APIs.

buu7002y ago

I haven't read the terms of service, but would headless browser automation be a safer solution?

1 more reply

pjmlp2y ago

Kudos for taking the effort of not being yet another Electron app.

clarkmcc2y ago

Shameless plug for my version of this, also written in Rust: https://github.com/clarkmcc/chitchat

qwerty4561272y ago

Hi. This is the first time I'm trying an external app. I created an ChatGPT API key and configured it in Chie.

Once I tried asking ChatGPT it immediately replied "You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details" which I can't believe is the case.

nickthegreek2y ago

ricklamers2y ago

The UI toolkit it uses is Yue which I hadn’t heard of: https://libyue.com/docs/latest/js/

iFire2y ago

GPL3 License https://github.com/chieapp/chie/blob/main/LICENSE

homarp2y ago

Due to the future relicense, contributors will be asked to sign an agreement.

https://github.com/chieapp/chie#license

epylar2y ago

The agreement doesn't mention that it's just for relicensing to MIT.

stavros2y ago

This looks nice! It says it's not an Electron app, but GitHub says it's written in TypeScript, so what UI toolkit does it use?

EDIT: Never mind this is mentioned in the technical details link, thanks!

hedgehog2y ago

I tried it and got the error "You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details."

Oranguru2y ago

Great job!

In the future, would you add support for local LLMs, such as LLaMa?

broast2y ago

I like how it's now a feature to not be an electron or webview app.

nateb20222y ago

That was kind of a lie, however.

> NOT a webview wrapper of web pages.

but further down the page:

> The chat messages are rendered in a system webview. To minimize performance penalty the webview only renders a static HTML page with very limited JavaScript code.

cchance2y ago

would be cool if there was a plugin for petals (https://petals.dev/)

chillbill2y ago

so it is in a large part a web view

> The chat messages are rendered in a system webview.

zcbenzOP2y ago

I would argue it is not a large part a webview. The webview related code is 900 lines vs the whole project 10k lines.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse