hChat

A lightweight desktop chat client for local LLMs. Built in Rust with egui for a minimal, fast UI.

Connects to any OpenAI API-compatible endpoint. Defaults to Ollama at localhost:11434.

Features

• Streaming token display with stop/regenerate controls
• Markdown rendering in AI responses (code blocks, bold, lists)
• Model selector auto-populated from your endpoint
• Conversation history with SQLite persistence
• Sidebar with conversation list, search, and export
• System prompt, temperature, and max tokens settings
• Multiple saved API endpoints with per-endpoint API key support
• Works with OpenRouter, LM Studio, vLLM, and any OpenAI-compatible API
• Edit and resend previous messages
• Copy button on messages
• Token usage display
• Dark/light theme toggle
• Persistent settings via TOML config (~/.config/hchat/config.toml)
• Configurable font sizes and UI scale
• Cross-platform (Linux, macOS)

Install

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases.

macOS (Homebrew)

brew tap heath0xFF/tap
brew install hchat

To update to the latest release:

brew update && brew upgrade hchat

macOS (manual)

# Binary
tar xzf hchat-macos-arm64.tar.gz
mv hchat /usr/local/bin/

# Or use the .app bundle
unzip hChat.app.zip -d /Applications

Debian/Ubuntu

sudo dpkg -i hchat_*.deb

Arch Linux

# From the repo's pkg/arch directory
makepkg -si

Build from source

Requires the Rust toolchain.

cargo run --release

Launch

Make sure your local LLM server is running first:

ollama serve

Then launch hChat:

# Linux: run detached so it doesn't tie up your terminal
hchat &disown

# macOS: open the .app bundle, or run detached
open /Applications/hChat.app
# or
hchat &disown

hChat connects to http://localhost:11434/v1 by default. You can change the endpoint in the top bar.

Using OpenRouter or other remote APIs

1. Click + next to the endpoint selector in the top bar
2. Enter the API base URL (e.g. https://openrouter.ai/api/v1) and your API key
3. Click Add, then select the new endpoint from the dropdown
4. Models auto-populate from the remote API

Or configure it directly in config.toml — see example.config.toml for all options.

Configuration

Settings are stored in ~/.config/hchat/config.toml and persist across sessions. You can edit the file directly or use the settings panel in the app (gear icon). See example.config.toml for a fully commented example of all options.

All fields are optional. Missing fields use defaults, so existing configs won't break on upgrade.

Custom fonts

Set font_family and mono_font_family to any font installed on your system. hChat looks up fonts by name using your platform's font system (fontconfig on Linux, Core Text on macOS). Leave empty to use egui's built-in fonts. Font changes take effect on save and restart.

API keys

API keys are stored per-endpoint in config.toml. Endpoints that don't need authentication (like local Ollama) simply omit the api_key field. Keys are sent as Authorization: Bearer headers.

Keybindings

Key	Action
Enter	Send message
Shift+Enter	New line
Ctrl+N	New conversation