AI Assistant Plugin for DankMaterialShell

An integrated AI chat assistant plugin for DankMaterialShell with support for multiple AI providers, streaming responses, and markdown rendering.

Features

• Multiple AI Provider Support: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, and custom OpenAI-compatible APIs
• Streaming Responses: Real-time streaming of AI responses with proper cancellation support
• Markdown Rendering: Full markdown support with syntax highlighting for code blocks
• Persistent Chat History: Conversations are saved and restored across sessions
• Flexible Configuration: Per-provider settings for model, temperature, max tokens, and more
• API Key Management: Store API keys securely or use environment variables
• Session-based Keys: Option to use in-memory API keys that don't persist to disk
• Monospace Font Option: Toggle monospace rendering for technical discussions

Screenshots

Chat Interface	Settings Panel

Requirements

• DankMaterialShell: Latest version with plugin toggle support
• Qt/QML: Qt 6.x with QtQuick support (provided by Quickshell)
• Dependencies: curl for HTTP requests, wl-copy for clipboard operations

Installation

Via Plugin Directory

1. Clone this repository to your DMS plugins directory:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins
   cd ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins
   git clone https://github.com/devnullvoid/dms-ai-assistant.git AIAssistant

2. Restart DankMaterialShell:

   dms restart

3. Enable the plugin:

   • Open DMS Settings → Plugins
   • Find "AI Assistant" in the list
   • Toggle it to enabled

Configuration

Provider Setup

The plugin supports multiple AI providers. Configure your preferred provider in the settings panel:

Note: Model names change frequently as providers release new versions. Check official provider documentation for the latest available models:

• OpenAI Models
• Anthropic Models
• Google Gemini Models

OpenAI

Provider: openai
Base URL: https://api.openai.com
Model: gpt-5.2 (or gpt-5.2-chat-latest, gpt-5.2-2025-12-11, gpt-5.2-codex, etc.)
API Key: Your OpenAI API key

Anthropic (Claude)

Provider: anthropic
Base URL: https://api.anthropic.com
Model: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 (or claude-haiku-4-5-20251001, etc.)
API Key: Your Anthropic API key

Google Gemini

Provider: gemini
Base URL: https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com
Model: gemini-2.5-flash (production) or gemini-3-flash-preview (experimental)
API Key: Your Google API key

Custom Provider

For any OpenAI-compatible API (LocalAI, Ollama, LM Studio, etc.):

Provider: custom
Base URL: http://localhost:1234/v1 (your API endpoint)
Model: Your model name
API Key: Optional (leave empty for local APIs)

API Key Options

1. Store in Settings (Remember API Key toggle ON)

   • API key is saved to ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugin_settings.json
   • Persists across restarts
   • More convenient but stored on disk

2. Environment Variable (Recommended for security)

   • Set API Key Env Var field (e.g., OPENAI_API_KEY)
   • API key read from environment variable
   • Not stored in settings files
   • More secure

3. Session-only (Remember API Key toggle OFF)

   • Enter API key each session
   • Stored in memory only
   • Cleared on restart

Model Parameters

• Temperature (0.0 - 2.0): Controls randomness in responses

  • Lower (0.0-0.5): More focused and deterministic
  • Higher (1.0-2.0): More creative and varied

• Max Tokens (128 - 32768): Maximum response length

  • Adjust based on your needs and model limits
  • Higher values = longer responses but more API cost

Usage

Opening the Assistant

The AI Assistant can be triggered via:

1. IPC Command:

   dms ipc call plugins toggle aiAssistant

2. Keybind: Configure in your compositor configuration

# Niri example:
Mod+A { spawn "dms" "ipc" "call" "plugins" "toggle" "aiAssistant"; }

# Hyprland example:
bind = SUPER, A, exec, dms ipc call plugins toggle aiAssistant

Chat Interface

• Send Message: Type your message and press Ctrl+Enter or click "Send"
• Stop Generation: Click "Stop" while streaming
• Clear History: Click trash icon to clear conversation
• Copy Response: Use overflow menu → "Copy last reply"
• Retry: If a request fails, use overflow menu → "Retry"

Keyboard Shortcuts (when focused on input)

• Ctrl+Enter: Send message
• Escape: Close assistant

Settings Reference

All settings are stored in ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugin_settings.json under the aiAssistant key.

Example configuration:

{
  "aiAssistant": {
    "enabled": true,
    "provider": "custom",
    "baseUrl": "https://api.example.com/v1",
    "model": "glm-4.7",
    "apiKeyEnvVar": "PROVIDER_API_KEY",
    "saveApiKey": false,
    "useMonospace": true,
    "temperature": 0.7,
    "maxTokens": 4096
  }
}

Session Data

Chat history is saved to ~/.local/state/DankMaterialShell/plugins/aiAssistant/session.json:

• Automatically saved after each message
• Limited to last 50 messages (configurable in code)
• Cleared when chat history is manually cleared
• Invalidated when provider settings change

Troubleshooting

Settings Not Persisting

If settings don't persist after restart:

• Check ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugin_settings.json exists and is writable
• Ensure DMS has write permissions to config directory

API Errors

• 401 Unauthorized: Check API key is correct
• 404 Not Found: Verify base URL and model name
• Connection Failed: Check internet connection and API endpoint
• Timeout: Increase timeout setting or check network latency

Markdown Not Rendering

• Ensure code blocks use triple backticks with language specifier
• Check if markdown2html.js is present in plugin directory

Development

File Structure

AIAssistant/
├── plugin.json              # Plugin manifest
├── AIAssistantDaemon.qml    # Main daemon/slideout controller
├── AIAssistant.qml          # Chat interface UI
├── AIAssistantService.qml   # Backend service (API calls, state)
├── AIAssistantSettings.qml  # Settings panel UI
├── AIApiAdapters.js         # Provider-specific API adapters
├── markdown2html.js         # Markdown to HTML conversion
├── MessageBubble.qml        # Individual message component
└── MessageList.qml          # Message list container

Adding Custom Providers

To add a new provider, edit AIApiAdapters.js:

1. Add provider configuration to PROVIDER_CONFIGS
2. Implement request formatting in formatRequest()
3. Implement response parsing in parseStreamChunk()

Example:

PROVIDER_CONFIGS: {
    myProvider: {
        name: "My Provider",
        streamEndpoint: "/v1/chat/completions",
        authHeader: "Authorization",
        authPrefix: "Bearer ",
        supportsStreaming: true
    }
}

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly with DMS
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Credits

• Author: Jon Rogers - devnullvoid
• DankMaterialShell: DankMaterialShell Project
• QML/Qt: Qt Project

Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests:

• Open an issue on GitHub

Roadmap

• Multi-turn conversation context management
• Conversation branching/forking
• Export conversations to markdown
• Custom system prompts
• Conversation templates/presets