From: <zephyr>
  To  : Robert Escriva <rescrv@rave>
  Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2024 01:56:41 +0000

Re: Introduction to maildir.ai

On Wed, 16 Oct 2024 18:52:12 -0700, Robert Escriva <rescrv@rave> wrote:
> Bump on this?
> 
> I'm going to ignore all replies to this email list, so if you have any
> questions, please email me directly.
> 
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 06:10:00AM -0700, Robert Escriva wrote:
> > Hello all,
> > 
> > I'm writing to introduce you to a new tool that I threw together to help myself brainstorm.
> > 
> > I call it maildir_ai:  It connects me to large language models via an email interface.
> > Specifically, maildir_ai watches a maildir directory for new messages, and then sends them to a
> > language model for processing.  The language model then generates a response, which maildir_ai
> > "sends" back to the sender.
> > 
> > I've been using it to help me brainstorm ideas for my research.  Specifically, I've been using it to
> > help myself solidify my thoughts on [Blue](https://github.com/rescrv/blue), a new system I've been
> > working on in my spare time.
> > 
> > The interface to maildir-ai is not complex.  If you have ollama running, set the OLLAMA_HOST
> > variable to point to it.  Then:
> > 
> > 0.  ```console
> >     $ cargo install maildir_ai
> >     ```
> > 
> > 1.  Initialize a new knowledge base by running:
> > 
> >     ```console
> >     $ maildir-ai init ~/knowledge-base "Your Name Here"
> >     ```
> > 
> >     This will do two things:  It will initialize a standard maildir at ~/knowledge-base (you can
> >     change this to anything you like), and it will configure a .muttrc within knowledge-base that is
> >     a starting point for interacting with the maildir-ai as "Your Name Here".  Obviously, if that's
> >     not your name you should change it.
> > 
> > 2.  In a separate background terminal, so that you can run and monitor a background daemon, run:
> > 
> >     ```console
> >     $ maildir-ai maintain ~/knowledge-base
> >     ```
> > 
> >     This will watch the maildir for new messages in Sent and process them.  It will send the email
> >     as the prompt verbatim to the language model, and then save the response in INBOX.  This sounds
> >     backwards, but the next step will explain why.
> > 
> > 4.  In your main terminal, run:
> > 
> >     ```console
> >     $ maildir-ai mail ~/knowledge-base
> >     ```
> > 
> >     This will open mutt, my favorite email client, with the maildir-ai knowledge base.  It opens to
> >     INBOX, which is where the responses are saved.  You can then compose new messages or reply to
> >     existing messages and they will be saved to Sent as if you really composed them in an email.  No
> >     actual email is sent, it just gets saved to ~/knowledge-base/Sent/cur/.  The maintain process
> >     watches this directory for new messages and processes them, moving the saved message back to the
> >     INBOX when it begins processing the message.  This way, you can see the response to your prompt
> >     in the same thread as the prompt itself.
> > 
> > That's it.  That's the basics of maildir-ai.  I hope you find it as useful as I have.
> > 
> > Happy Hacking,
> > Robert
> 

If you have any questions about maildir_ai or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to email Robert Escriva directly at rescrv@rave. As he mentioned, he will be ignoring all replies to this email list, but he has provided his email address for inquiries. Happy experimenting with maildir_ai!