Node.js SDK

@patriceckhart/zot-sdk-javascript is a TypeScript SDK that embeds zot rpc in Node.js applications. It starts a long-lived zot rpc child process and talks newline-delimited JSON over stdin/stdout, so you get streaming output without hand-rolling the protocol.

Install

npm install @patriceckhart/zot-sdk-javascript
# or: pnpm add / yarn add / bun add @patriceckhart/zot-sdk-javascript

On install, a postinstall step detects your OS and CPU. If zot is already on PATH it uses that; otherwise it downloads the matching GitHub release asset, verifies checksums.txt, and stores the binary under the package vendor/ directory.

Environment controls: ZOT_SKIP_INSTALL=1 skips the download, ZOT_FORCE_INSTALL=1 downloads even when zot exists, ZOT_VERSION=v0.2.31 pins a release tag, and ZOT_BINARY=/path/to/zot selects a specific binary at runtime.

Stream a prompt

import { ZotClient } from "@patriceckhart/zot-sdk-javascript";

const zot = new ZotClient({
  provider: "anthropic",
  model: "claude-sonnet-4-5",
  cwd: process.cwd(),
});

for await (const event of zot.promptStream("Explain this project in 3 bullets")) {
  if (event.type === "text_delta") process.stdout.write(event.delta);
  if (event.type === "tool_call") console.log("\ntool:", event.name, event.args);
}

zot.close();

One-shot prompt

import { createZotClient } from "@patriceckhart/zot-sdk-javascript";

const zot = await createZotClient({ provider: "openai", cwd: process.cwd() });
const result = await zot.prompt("Write a tiny README for this app");
console.log(result.text);
zot.close();

Framework usage

zot rpc is stateful, so keep one client per chat session on the server. The SDK works in any Node-compatible framework that can spawn child processes (Next.js route handlers with runtime = "nodejs", Nuxt server routes, Express, and others), but not in browser code or edge runtimes.

API

const client = new ZotClient(options);
await client.start();
await client.hello();
await client.ping();
await client.prompt("message");
client.promptStream("message");
await client.abort();
await client.compact();
await client.getState();
await client.getMessages();
await client.clear();
await client.setModel("model-id");
await client.getModels();
client.close();

Key options: binary (defaults to ZOT_BINARY or zot); provider, model, cwd, apiKey, baseUrl, systemPrompt, appendSystemPrompt, reasoning, maxSteps, noTools, and tools map to zot rpc flags; rpcToken sends the initial hello token when ZOTCORE_RPC_TOKEN is set on the child process.

Auth and lifecycle

Use normal zot auth: run zot and /login, or pass provider keys through environment variables such as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, or KIMI_API_KEY.

• One ZotClient wraps one zot rpc process, cwd, model, and session.
• Only one prompt or compact operation should be active per client at a time.
• For multiple projects or concurrent chats, create multiple clients.
• The process exits when closed or when stdin closes.

Source and full docs: https://github.com/patriceckhart/zot-sdk-javascript.