dropbits Documentation

LLM chat & API key

Admin → LLM chat opens the Assistant. It uses the same Toolbox tools as the CLI — no parallel write path. Prefer concrete asks about the page you are on.

Ask before apply

  1. Ask what the assistant would change and whether it understands your goal.
  2. Only then ask it to apply.
  3. Save a checkpoint (Safety in chat, or Admin → Checkpoint / backup) before risky batches.
  4. Undo in the chat rolls back the last tool batch — that is not the same as restoring a named checkpoint slot.

API key (bring your own)

Dropbits does not ship or distribute free-tier API keys. You need a Mistral (or compatible) key for chat.

Obtain a key

  1. Create an account at console.mistral.ai.
  2. Open API keys and create a key (typically starts with sk-).
  3. Keep the secret out of git and out of site.db.

Billing and free-trial availability are decided by the provider, not Dropbits.

Browser (editors)

In Assistant settings (API key settings):

  1. Check Use my Mistral API key.
  2. Paste the key → Save key.

The key stays in browser localStorage and is sent only to the server proxy per chat request — never written to the site database.

Server (operators)

First readable non-empty file wins:

PriorityLocation
1DROPBITS_LLM_KEY_FILE (absolute path env override)
2sites/<id>/data/llm-api.key (one line; site-local)
3~/MistralPro.key or ~/Mistral.key (home file)
printf '%s\n' 'sk-…' > sites/minimal/data/llm-api.key
chmod 600 sites/minimal/data/llm-api.key

Do not commit llm-api.key or home key files.

Verify

  • LLM chat / chrome should show a configured server key or BYO status OK.
  • CLI ./bin/site tool-run … does not need an LLM key.

Voice dictation

Where the browser supports the Web Speech API (SpeechRecognition / webkitSpeechRecognition), the chat toolbar Mic button dictation fills the input box. It never auto-sends — edit the text, then Send (ask-before-apply). Works in Chrome; Chromium builds often fail because Web Speech needs Google’s STT backend. Unsupported browsers show the button disabled. Mic audio for this path stays in the browser (no Dropbits cloud STT yet).

Operator-oriented copy also lives in repository docs/LLM-KEY.md.

See also