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Quick Start Tutorial

Learn OWL basics in 5 minutes.

Step 1: Install OWL​

Not Yet Public

OWL is currently in development. This tutorial is for demonstration purposes.

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kavinps/owl/master/install.sh | bash

This installs everything you need: Ollama, models, and OWL.

Step 2: Start OWL​

From any directory:

owl

The daemon starts automatically. You should see:

  (o,o)
  /)_)   OWL - A wise AI with a growing soul
  " "

Type /help for commands, or just chat!

Step 3: Basic Conversation​

Just type to chat:

you: Hello! What can you do?

owl: Hello! I'm OWL, your coding assistant. I can:
- Read and explore your codebase
- Write and edit files
- Search for patterns in code
- Remember your preferences
- Learn about your projects

What are you working on?

Step 4: Set a Project​

Navigate to your project and run owl, or set it manually:

/project ~/my-project

OWL auto-detects projects with common markers (.git, package.json, pyproject.toml, etc.)

Step 5: Explore Code​

Ask OWL to explore:

you: What's the structure of this project?

● List(.)
  ⎿  12 items

owl: This appears to be a Python project with:
- src/: Main source code
- tests/: Test files
- pyproject.toml: Project configuration
...

Step 6: Read Files​

you: Show me the main entry point

● Read(src/main.py)
  ⎿  45 lines

owl: Here's src/main.py:
[file contents with explanation]

Step 7: Remember Preferences​

Teach OWL your preferences:

/remember I prefer pytest for testing
/remember Use type hints in all Python code
/remember Format with black, lint with ruff

Verify they're saved:

/memory

Step 8: Ask for Help​

you: Can you add a test for the login function?

● Read(src/auth.py)
  ⎿  32 lines
● List(tests/)
  ⎿  3 items
● Write(tests/test_auth.py)
  ⎿  wrote 28 lines

owl: I've created tests/test_auth.py with tests for the login function.
The tests follow pytest conventions as you prefer.

Step 9: Check Status​

/status
Daemon Status
  Model: llama3.2
  Session: abc123
  Project: /home/user/my-project
  Conversation: 14 messages
  Learnings: 3

Step 10: Exit​

/quit

Or Ctrl+D. The daemon continues running in background.

To stop the daemon:

owl stop

What's Next?​