| name | chatchain |
| description | Send questions to other LLM models — GPT-4o, GPT-4, o1, o3, Gemini, Claude (via API), etc. Use this skill whenever the user wants to ask, query, chat with, or get answers from another AI model, including: "ask GPT...", "let Gemini explain...", "what does Claude think about...", "compare answers from different models", "get a second opinion from another LLM", or any request that involves calling OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or Vertex AI models.
|
| allowed-tools | ["Bash(chatchain *)"] |
ChatChain CLI — Agent Skill
ChatChain is a CLI tool for chatting with multiple LLM providers.
Prerequisites
First check if ChatChain is installed:
command -v chatchain
If not installed, install via Homebrew:
brew tap joyqi/tap && brew install chatchain
Or via Go:
go install github.com/joyqi/chatchain@latest
CRITICAL: Discover Providers and Models Before Calling
DO NOT guess or hardcode provider names or model names. Always discover them first using chatchain -l.
Step 1: List available providers
chatchain -l
This shows all built-in providers and any custom aliases configured in ~/.chatchain.yaml. Only use providers that appear in this list.
Step 2: List available models for the chosen provider
chatchain -l <provider>
This queries the provider's API and returns the actual available models. Only use model names that appear in this list. If the user asks for a specific model (e.g. "ask GPT-4o"), find the closest match from the list.
Step 3: Send the message
chatchain <provider> -M <model> -m "<message>"
Key Flags
| Flag | Description |
|---|
-l, --list | List configured providers (no arg), or models for a provider (with arg) |
-M, --model <model> | Specify model — must be a real model from chatchain -l <provider> |
-m, --message <msg> | Non-interactive mode: send a single message and exit (use - to read from stdin) |
-s, --system <prompt> | Set system prompt |
-t, --temperature <val> | Set temperature (0.0–2.0) |
-k, --key <key> | API key (overrides env var) |
-u, --url <url> | Custom API base URL |
-c, --config <path> | Path to config file (default: ~/.chatchain.yaml) |
-v, --verbose | Show raw API responses |
Providers and Environment Variables
| Provider | Subcommand | Env Var | Notes |
|---|
| OpenAI | openai | OPENAI_API_KEY | GPT models |
| Anthropic | anthropic | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Claude models |
| Gemini | gemini | GOOGLE_API_KEY | Gemini models |
| Vertex AI | vertexai | — | Uses Google Cloud ADC |
| OpenAI Responses | openresponses | OPENAI_API_KEY | OpenAI Responses API |
Custom aliases may also be configured in ~/.chatchain.yaml (e.g. deepseek, chatgpt). Always run chatchain -l to see the full list.
Config File
ChatChain supports a YAML config file (~/.chatchain.yaml) for persistent API keys, default models, and custom provider aliases. Priority: CLI flag > env var > config file.
providers:
deepseek:
type: openai
key: sk-deepseek-xxx
url: https://api.deepseek.com/v1
model: deepseek-chat
system: "You are a helpful coding assistant"
With a config like this, chatchain deepseek -m "hello" works as a provider alias.
Usage Examples
Full workflow (recommended)
chatchain -l
chatchain -l openai
chatchain openai -M gpt-4o -m "What is the capital of France?"
With system prompt
chatchain anthropic -M claude-sonnet-4-20250514 -s "You are a helpful coding assistant" -m "Explain async/await in JavaScript"
Pipe content via stdin
echo "Summarize this text" | chatchain gemini -M gemini-2.0-flash -m -
Note: -m - (dash) reads the message from stdin.
With temperature
chatchain openai -M gpt-4o -t 0.7 -m "Write a haiku about programming"
Important Notes
- NEVER guess provider or model names — always run
chatchain -l and chatchain -l <provider> first
- Always use
-m for non-interactive mode (otherwise it opens an interactive TUI)
- Use
-m - to read the message from stdin
- If no
-M is specified, ChatChain will prompt for model selection interactively (avoid this in automation)
- API keys are read from environment variables by default; use
-k only if the env var is not set
