FAQ
Is Bestie just a chatbot wrapper?
Section titled “Is Bestie just a chatbot wrapper?”No. Bestie uses LLM providers, but the product is a local-first companion and controlled action runtime with character files, memory, knowledge graph, Doctor diagnostics, channels, tools, MCP foundations, cron, skills, and permission controls.
What is the new product direction?
Section titled “What is the new product direction?”Bestie is moving toward an Action Inbox and Daily Command Brief: a convenience layer that turns chat, cron reports, memory, knowledge, and tool signals into a small queue of important actions.
The owner should be able to approve, delay, ignore, edit, remember, or mark “never again” without writing long prompts every time.
Is Bestie conscious or human?
Section titled “Is Bestie conscious or human?”No. Do not market it that way. Bestie is software with a designed personality and local memory controls.
Is Bestie a therapist replacement?
Section titled “Is Bestie a therapist replacement?”No. Bestie can provide supportive conversation, but it should not diagnose, treat, or replace professional help.
Is Bestie a romantic companion?
Section titled “Is Bestie a romantic companion?”No. Bestie can be warm and emotionally present, but it should not claim romantic partnership or human love.
Does Bestie store all conversations forever?
Section titled “Does Bestie store all conversations forever?”No. Bestie uses local SQLite memory controls. Users can inspect, pause, resume, edit, forget, export, and clear memory. Sensitive memories should require approval.
Persisted messages and memory exports are still private data and should be handled carefully.
What is the knowledge graph?
Section titled “What is the knowledge graph?”The knowledge graph is a local SQLite extension of memory. It stores entities and relations such as projects, tools, decisions, people, preferences, and workflows. It helps Bestie recall connected facts without treating every memory as a flat note.
Graph writes follow memory policy and should reject secret-like payloads.
Why local SQLite before Zep?
Section titled “Why local SQLite before Zep?”SQLite keeps the first memory layer local, inspectable, and easy to test. Zep can be useful later, but it should not come before basic chat, memory policy, owner controls, and local recovery workflows.
Can Bestie use Telegram?
Section titled “Can Bestie use Telegram?”Yes. Telegram runs locally through long polling and is owner-only by default. It supports slash commands, memory controls, approvals, attachments, progress messages, and channel diagnostics.
Can Bestie use Zalo?
Section titled “Can Bestie use Zalo?”Yes. Zalo currently supports owner-only, text-only local polling, slash commands, memory controls, provider diagnostics, approval prompts, transcript logging, and response-shape capture. Attachments, voice, rich templates, and webhook hosting are not part of the first Zalo adapter.
Can Bestie run scheduled tasks?
Section titled “Can Bestie run scheduled tasks?”Yes. Cron schedules can run isolated Bestie turns for reminders, periodic checks, background reviews, and daily reports. Schedule prompts are stored locally, so keep them narrow and do not put secrets in them.
Can Bestie run in the background?
Section titled “Can Bestie run in the background?”Yes. Use bestie daemon ... for manual detached processes, or bestie service install for user-level startup integration. Bestie supports Linux systemd, macOS launchd, and Windows Startup shortcut flows.
Do not run both for the same target unless you enjoy duplicate polling goblins.
Does Bestie have a local UI?
Section titled “Does Bestie have a local UI?”Yes. bestie ui opens a local web console for status, Doctor, providers, character, memory, channels, approvals, MCP, tools, and settings. It uses the same ~/.bestie/ runtime files as the CLI.
Can Bestie understand voice messages?
Section titled “Can Bestie understand voice messages?”Yes, when voice/transcription is configured. Voice is a shared capability, not only a Telegram feature. Telegram can pass voice/audio attachments into the shared pipeline when enabled.
Can Bestie use tools?
Section titled “Can Bestie use tools?”Yes, cautiously. Bestie supports permission-gated internal tools for local inspection and controlled actions. Risky work such as writes, external actions, destructive operations, public posts, and payment-related actions should require approval.
Can Bestie use MCP?
Section titled “Can Bestie use MCP?”Yes. Bestie has SDK-backed MCP setup, OAuth login, server listing, tool discovery, classification, and classified read calls. Broader MCP execution categories should stay behind explicit classification, logging, and approval.
Which LLM providers can I connect?
Section titled “Which LLM providers can I connect?”Use bestie llm providers to list supported setup paths. Current setup paths include OpenAI/ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Groq, OpenRouter, custom compatible endpoints, Ollama, and Gemini API key. Antigravity appears as a future OAuth provider, but OAuth setup is not implemented yet.
Where do secrets live?
Section titled “Where do secrets live?”Secrets live in ~/.bestie/.env. Config stores env var names such as OPENAI_API_KEY or BESTIE_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, not raw secret values.
Why does Doctor avoid some network checks by default?
Section titled “Why does Doctor avoid some network checks by default?”Doctor should be safe to run locally without unexpectedly calling external services. Explicit flags such as --telegram-connect and --zalo-connect opt into channel network checks.
Can I deploy Bestie as SaaS?
Section titled “Can I deploy Bestie as SaaS?”Hosted/SaaS mode is a future direction, not the current local-first target. Current docs focus on self-hosted local use.