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#ollama #coding-assistant #pair-programming #tui

bin+lib mermaid-cli

Open-source AI pair programmer with agentic capabilities. Local-first with Ollama, native tool calling, and beautiful TUI.

13 releases

Uses new Rust 2024

new 0.3.9 Feb 8, 2026
0.3.8 Feb 8, 2026
0.2.2 Dec 19, 2025
0.2.0 Nov 17, 2025

#272 in Development tools

MIT/Apache

565KB
12K SLoC

Mermaid

An open-source AI coding assistant for the terminal. Local/cloud models via Ollama, native tool calling, and a clean TUI.

Features

  • Local & Cloud Models via Ollama - run locally or use cloud models with no hardware cost
  • Native Tool Calling - read, write, edit, execute commands, search the web, manage git
  • Image Paste - Ctrl+V to attach images for vision models (X11/Wayland)
  • Thinking Mode - toggle extended reasoning with Alt+T
  • Session Persistence - conversations auto-save and resume with --continue
  • Message Queuing - type while the model generates, messages send in order

Quick Start

# Install
cargo install mermaid-cli

# Or from source
git clone https://github.com/noahsabaj/mermaid-cli.git
cd mermaid-cli
cargo install --path .
mermaid                        # Start fresh session
mermaid --continue             # Resume last session
mermaid --model qwen3-coder:30b  # Use specific model
mermaid list                   # List available models

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key Action
Enter Send message
Esc Stop generation / clear input
Ctrl+C Quit
Alt+T Toggle thinking mode
Ctrl+V Paste image or text from clipboard
Ctrl+O Preview attached image
Ctrl+Click Open image from chat history
Up/Down Navigate input history / scroll chat
Page Up/Down Scroll chat

Commands

Type : followed by a command:

Command Description
:model <name> Switch model
:clear Clear chat history
:save Save conversation
:load Load conversation
:list List saved conversations
:help Show all commands
:quit Exit

Tools

The model uses these autonomously:

Tool Description
read_file Read files (text, PDF, images)
write_file Create or overwrite files
edit_file Targeted text replacement with diff
delete_file Delete files (with backup)
create_directory Create directories
execute_command Run shell commands
git_status Check repository status
git_diff View file changes
git_commit Create commits
web_search Search the web
web_fetch Fetch URL content as markdown

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/mermaid/config.toml

last_used_model = "ollama/qwen3-coder:30b"

[ollama]
host = "localhost"
port = 11434
# cloud_api_key = "your-key"

Access cloud models and web search via Ollama Cloud:

export OLLAMA_API_KEY=your-key
mermaid --model kimi-k2.5:cloud

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0

Built with Ratatui and Ollama. Inspired by Aider and Claude Code.

Dependencies

~52–78MB
~1.5M SLoC