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Using PAI

This page covers day-to-day use: what you see on screen, how to navigate the desktop, and how to get the most out of the AI interface.

The desktop at a glance

PAI runs Sway, a tiling Wayland compositor. The screen has two zones:

  • Waybar — a thin status bar along the top edge
  • Workspace — everything else; windows tile automatically

At first boot, Firefox opens to localhost:8080 (Open WebUI). That's your primary AI interface.

PAI desktop — Sway + waybar + Open WebUI

Waybar

The top bar is laid out left-to-right:

Left side
PAI logo Click to open the app launcher
🌐 Browser Firefox ESR
💻 Terminal foot terminal emulator
📁 Files Thunar file manager
📝 Editor Mousepad text editor
Ollama indicator Green = model loaded and responding; yellow = idle; red = not running
Right side
Media player Currently playing track (artist – title)
BTC / XMR Live crypto prices (fetched via Tor when privacy mode is on)
Network Wi-Fi signal %, or Ethernet, or Disconnected
CPU % Processor load
RAM % Memory used
HH:MM Clock
⚙ Settings Opens the PAI settings menu

Click any left-side icon to launch that application. The Ollama indicator updates every five seconds.

Keyboard shortcuts

PAI uses Alt (not Super) as the modifier key to avoid conflicts with X11 applications running under XWayland.

Windows and workspaces

Shortcut Action
Alt + Return Open terminal
Alt + D App launcher (wofi)
Alt + F4 Close focused window
Alt + L Lock screen
Alt + S PAI settings menu
Alt + Shift + E Shutdown menu
Alt + ← / → / ↑ / ↓ Move focus between windows
Alt + Shift + ← / → / ↑ / ↓ Move focused window
Alt + 1 / 2 / 3 Switch to workspace
Alt + Shift + 1 / 2 / 3 Move window to workspace
Alt + R Enter resize mode (arrow keys to resize, Esc to exit)

Screenshots

Shortcut Action
Print Screenshot of full screen (saved to ~/Screenshots/)
Shift + Print Select a region to capture

Media keys

Volume, brightness, and media playback keys on your keyboard work as expected.

Open WebUI

Open WebUI (localhost:8080) is the primary interface for chatting with local models.

Open WebUI chat

Selecting a model

The model selector is in the top-left corner of the chat view. PAI ships with Llama 3.2 and Mistral pre-pulled. To add more, see models.md.

Starting a conversation

Type in the message box at the bottom and press Enter (or click the send button). The response streams token-by-token from the local Ollama server — no network request leaves your machine.

No login required

PAI disables authentication in Open WebUI (WEBUI_AUTH=False). There is no login screen. This is intentional — the service only listens on localhost, so no other machine on the network can reach it.

Clearing history

Conversations are stored in RAM only. They disappear when you shut down PAI, unless you have persistence enabled. To clear history within a session, use the New Chat button or delete individual conversations from the sidebar.

The terminal

Open a terminal with Alt + Return. The default shell is bash.

Key PAI commands available in the terminal:

Command What it does
ollama list Show downloaded models
ollama pull <model> Download a new model
ollama run <model> Chat with a model in the terminal
sudo pai-privacy on Enable Tor transparent proxy
sudo pai-privacy off Disable Tor
pai-settings Open the settings menu

See models.md for a full list of available models and RAM requirements.

PAI settings

Press Alt + S or click the ⚙ icon in waybar to open the settings menu. It's a two-level menu — pick a category on the top level to open a submenu. Cancel a submenu (Escape) to return to the top.

System

  • Date & Time — timezone picker, manual clock set, NTP toggle (pai-settings-datetime).
  • Keyboard — layout picker (us, gb, de, fr, es, it, pt, ru, jp, dvorak, colemak). Writes ~/.config/sway/config.d/10-keyboard.conf and reloads sway.
  • Mouse & Touchpad — tap-to-click, natural scroll, pointer speed.
  • Power — screen-off / lock timeouts and lid-close behaviour via swayidle.
  • Display — wdisplays GUI for resolution and arrangement.
  • Sound — pavucontrol.
  • About — PAI version, kernel, CPU, RAM, GPU, disk, uptime.

Network

  • Wi-Fi / Wired — nm-connection-editor.
  • Bluetooth — blueman-manager.
  • Firewall status — sudo ufw status verbose in a terminal.
  • Tor / Privacy mode — front door to pai-privacy.

Privacy & Security

  • Privacy mode — MAC spoof + Tor toggle.
  • Passwords — KeePassXC.
  • Encryption — Kleopatra (GPG).
  • Persistence — wraps pai-persistence.

AI / Ollama

  • Pick default model — pai-recommend-model.
  • Pull a model — curated list plus free-form entry (pai-settings-pull-model).
  • Open Web UI — opens http://localhost:8080.
  • GPU / status — pai-status in a terminal.

Appearance

  • GTK theme — lxappearance.
  • Wallpaper — pick from /usr/share/backgrounds/ or choose a file.

Apps & Defaults

  • Browse installed apps — wofi --show drun.
  • Default apps — set default browser, mail, editor, file manager, image, video, audio, PDF handlers (pai-settings-default-apps).
  • Accessibility — cursor size, high-contrast theme, magnifier, sticky-keys hint.

Storage & Devices

  • Disks — GNOME Disks.
  • Printers — system-config-printer (CUPS).
  • Files — Thunar.

Users & Login

  • Change the live user's password. On a live system without persistence the change is lost at reboot — the dialog says so.

Updates

  • On a live-only boot: explains updates can't persist.
  • With persistence active: apt update / apt upgrade in a foot terminal.

Advanced

  • Processes — lxtask.
  • Terminal — foot.

Screen locking

The screen locks automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity (swaylock). The display turns off after 15 minutes. Press any key or move the mouse to wake it.

To lock manually: Alt + L.

There is no password set by default on the live system. If you want a lock-screen password, set one with passwd in the terminal before locking.