Yachiyo Documentation

Yachiyo is a desktop assistant that runs on your machine, keeps its data in your filesystem, and talks to whichever model provider you point it at. There is no hosted backend, no plugin marketplace, and no MCP layer to configure — skills are plain Markdown files, and everything else lives in two TOML files under ~/.yachiyo.

These docs cover the desktop app, the yachiyo CLI, and the configuration files behind both.

Try asking before reading

Yachiyo can configure itself. It ships with a skill documenting its own CLI and setup procedures, and it has shell access to your machine — so “start yourself when I log in”, “set up a daily digest at 8am”, or “which of these models should I enable?” are complete instructions, not things you look up first.

Treat these pages as the reference for when something breaks, when you want the detail, or when you need it in a script.

Get going

Install Download the app, launch it, and get the CLI on your PATH.

Quickstart Connect a provider and send your first message in about five minutes.

Core concepts Threads, runs, workspaces, skills, memory, channels — the vocabulary.

CLI reference Drive providers, threads, schedules, and channels from a terminal.

What it does

Agentic, not just chat

Yachiyo searches the web, reads and edits files, runs shell commands, recalls memory, and works inside a real workspace directory. Every file it touches is snapshotted so you can diff a run afterwards.

Any provider

Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Vertex AI, or a gateway — configured locally, and switchable per message. Model choice is not a lock-in decision.

Skills are Markdown

A skill is a directory with a SKILL.md in it. No runtime, no manifest, no registration step. Drop it in a workspace and Yachiyo finds it.

One instance, many surfaces

The same local instance serves Telegram, Discord, and QQ with shared context, per-user access control, and usage limits.

Where things live

Everything Yachiyo persists sits under ~/.yachiyo — settings, persona documents, skills, and a SQLite database of every thread. Nothing is uploaded anywhere you did not configure. See Files and paths for the full layout.