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aicf · intro · ≈ 8 min · 4 steps

Run your first AICF chat

Use `animica chat` to pay an AICF worker for a real LLM response, then verify the settlement on-chain.

Pre-flight checks

animica chat is an AICF-paid REPL: every prompt is dispatched to a worker that returns streamed tokens, and the cost is debited from your wallet on settlement. Before opening it, confirm the AICF endpoint is reachable and you have a funded wallet:

animica aicf status
animica wallet show me

aicf status prints the configured endpoint and a per-tier health summary. If you don’t have a funded wallet, complete the wallet basics tutorial first.

Mark this step complete once aicf status reports at least one healthy tier and your wallet has a non-zero balance.

Open the chat REPL

Launch the REPL. It picks your default wallet automatically.

animica chat

You’ll see a banner with the resolved AICF endpoint, network, and the wallet that will pay for jobs, followed by a prompt:


The first turn estimates the cost and asks you to confirm. To skip that confirmation step (useful once you trust the pricing), restart with animica chat --yolo.

Mark this step complete once the prompt appears.

Send your first prompt

Type a short question and press Enter:

› Explain post-quantum signatures in two sentences.

The client:

  1. Quotes a price for the job.
  2. Submits the AICF job to a worker.
  3. Streams tokens back as they’re generated.
  4. Settles the cost on-chain after the stream completes.

Watch the streaming output, then exit with /quit (or Ctrl-D).

Mark this step complete after you’ve received at least one streamed response.

Verify the settlement on-chain

Each chat turn settles on-chain. The transcript prints a settlement line when the stream ends — something like:

[settled] job=0xab12… tx=0x9ce1… block=18234

To see network-wide AICF activity in real time:

animica aicf watch --interval 5 --max-duration 60

This polls the pool’s summary RPC and prints any change to credit balances, paying-out activity, and worker counts.

For your wallet’s incoming AICF earnings (relevant once you run a worker — see the next tutorial), use:

animica aicf miner-credits anim1...your-address

Paste the settlement tx hash from the chat transcript into the explorer to confirm the on-chain record.

Mark this step complete after you’ve located the settlement transaction.

Stuck? File an issue on GitHub — every tutorial is reproducible from the CLI source it documents.
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