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Create a btw-enhanced ellmer chat client

Source: R/btw_client.R, R/btw_client_app.R
btw_client.Rd

Creates an ellmer::Chat client, enhanced with the tools from btw_tools(). Use btw_client() to create the chat client for general or interactive use at the console, or btw_app() to create a chat client and launch a Shiny app for chatting with a btw-enhanced LLM in your local workspace.

Project Context

You can keep track of project-specific rules, guidance and context by adding a btw.md file, AGENTS.md, or CLAUDE.md in your project directory. See use_btw_md() for help creating a btw.md file in your project, or use path_btw to tell btw_client() to use a specific context file. Note that CLAUDE.md files will have their YAML frontmatter stripped but not used for configuration.

btw_client() will also include context from an llms.txt file in the system prompt, if one is found in your project directory or as specified by the path_llms_txt argument.

Client Settings with User-Level Fallback

Client settings in client and tools from a project-level btw.md or AGENTS.md file take precedence. If a project file doesn't specify a setting, btw will fall back to settings in a user-level btw.md file. This is ~/btw.md if present, otherwise ~/.btw/btw.md, ~/.config/btw/btw.md, or tools::R_user_dir("btw"), in that order. See ?btw-config for the complete list of user-level locations. Project-level btw tool options under the options key are merged with user-level options, with project-level options taking precedence.

Project-specific instructions from both files are combined with a divider, allowing you to maintain global guidelines in your user file and project-specific rules in your project file.

Client Options

The following R options are consulted when creating a new btw chat client and take precedence over settings in a btw.md file:

  • btw.client: The ellmer::Chat client or a provider/model string (see ellmer::chat()) to use as the basis for new btw_client() or btw_app() chats.

  • btw.tools: The btw tools to include by default when starting a new btw chat, see btw_tools() for details.`

Multiple Providers and Models

You can configure multiple client options in your btw.md file. When btw_client() is called interactively from the console, you'll be presented with a menu to choose which client to use. In non-interactive contexts, the first client is used automatically.

Array format (unnamed list):

client:
  - anthropic/claude-sonnet-4
  - openai/gpt-4.1
  - aws_bedrock/us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-20250514-v1:0

Alias format (named list):

client:
  haiku: aws_bedrock/us.anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0
  sonnet:
    provider: aws_bedrock
    model: us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929-v1:0

With aliases, you can select a client by name in the interactive menu or pass the alias directly: btw_client(client = "sonnet").

Usage

btw_client(
  ...,
  client = NULL,
  tools = NULL,
  path_btw = NULL,
  path_llms_txt = NULL
)

btw_app(
  ...,
  client = NULL,
  tools = NULL,
  path_btw = NULL,
  messages = list(),
  model_choices = c("auto", "btw_md", "provider", "none")
)

Arguments

...

In btw_app(), additional arguments are passed to shiny::shinyApp(). In btw_client(), additional arguments are ignored.

client

An ellmer::Chat client, or a provider/model string to be passed to ellmer::chat() to create a chat client, or an alias to a client setting in your btw.md file (see "Multiple Providers" section). Defaults to ellmer::chat_anthropic(). You can use the btw.client option to set a default client for new btw_client() calls, or use a btw.md project file for default chat client settings, like provider and model. We check the client argument, then the btw.client R option, and finally the btw.md project file (falling back to user-level btw.md if needed), using only the client definition from the first of these that is available.

tools

A list of tools to include in the chat, defaults to btw_tools(). Join btw_tools() with additional tools defined by ellmer::tool() to include additional tools in the chat client. Alternatively, you can use a character values to refer to specific btw tools by name or by group. For example, use tools = "docs" to include only the documentation related tools, or tools = c("env", "docs") to include the environment and documentation tools, and so on. You can also refer to btw tools by name, e.g. tools = "btw_tool_docs_help_page" or alternatively in the shorter form tools = "docs_help_page". Finally, set tools = FALSE to skip registering btw tools with the chat client.

path_btw

A path to a btw.md, AGENTS.md, or CLAUDE.md project context file. If NULL, btw will find a project-specific context file by walking up the parents of the current working directory, preferring btw.md, then AGENTS.md, then CLAUDE.md, with fallback to a user-level btw.md file if no project file is found. See ?btw-config for the complete list of locations. Set path_btw = FALSE to create a chat client without using a btw.md file.

path_llms_txt

A path to an llms.txt file containing context about the current project. By default, btw will look for an llms.txt file in the your current working directory or its parents. Set path_llms_txt = FALSE to skip looking for an llms.txt file.

messages

A list of initial messages to show in the chat, passed to shinychat::chat_mod_ui(). With shinychat >= 0.5.0 the messages are replayed into the chat when the app session starts.

model_choices

Can be one of "btw_md" (model choices from your path_btw configuration), "provider" (models from the provider API), "auto" (uses path_btw if client comes from path_btw, otherwise falling back to provider), or "none" (don't show model choices).

Value

Returns an ellmer::Chat object with additional tools registered from btw_tools(). btw_app() returns the chat object invisibly, and the chat object with the messages added during the chat session.

Functions

  • btw_client(): Create a btw-enhanced ellmer::Chat client

  • btw_app(): Create a btw-enhanced client and launch a Shiny app to chat

Conversation History

With shinychat >= 0.5.0, conversations in btw_app() are kept in a chat history that you can revisit from the app's history drawer. When the RSQLite package is installed, conversations are stored locally in a SQLite database in btw's user cache directory (tools::R_user_dir("btw", "cache")), keyed by project directory: the directory containing the closest DESCRIPTION or .git marker, or the working directory otherwise. If RSQLite is not installed, shinychat's default history storage is used instead.

User (global) locations

btw's user-level home is the ~/.btw/ directory. Skills and btw-style agents live there (and in two additional directories), while the user-level btw.md configuration file may also live directly in your home directory.

The user-level directories, in decreasing order of priority, are:

  1. ~/.btw/ (recommended)

  2. ~/.config/btw/

  3. The platform-specific R user config directory, tools::R_user_dir("btw")

Skills are discovered in the skills/ subdirectory of each (e.g. ~/.btw/skills/), and btw-style agents are discovered both as agent-*.md files directly inside each (e.g. ~/.btw/agent-my_agent.md) and as *.md files in an agents/ subdirectory of each (e.g. ~/.btw/agents/my_agent.md).

The user-level btw.md configuration file is searched for in a slightly different order: a btw.md directly in your home directory (~/btw.md) takes precedence, followed by btw.md in each of the directories above (~/.btw/btw.md, ~/.config/btw/btw.md, tools::R_user_dir("btw")/btw.md). ~/btw.md remains a first-class location; use_btw_md("user") creates new configuration in the recommended ~/.btw/ directory. If more than one user-level btw.md exists, the highest-priority one is used and btw warns once per session.

On Windows, R's notion of your home directory (fs::path_home_r(), typically your Documents folder) can differ from your user profile directory (fs::path_home()); btw searches both.

Project locations

Project-level configuration is discovered by walking up from the current working directory to the project root, where the project root is identified by the presence of a DESCRIPTION, .git, .vscode, .here, or *.Rproj file.

  • Config file: the nearest btw.md file, or if none is found, the nearest AGENTS.md file, or if neither is found, the nearest CLAUDE.md file. (btw.md > AGENTS.md > CLAUDE.md)

  • btw-style agents: .btw/agents/*.md or .btw/agent-*.md

  • Skills: .btw/skills/ or .agents/skills/

Examples

if (FALSE) { # rlang::is_interactive()
withr::local_options(list(
  btw.client = ellmer::chat_ollama(model="llama3.1:8b")
))

chat <- btw_client()
chat$chat(
  "How can I replace `stop()` calls with functions from the cli package?"
)
}