Setup & Configuration

Welcome to Askimo Desktop! This guide will help you set up the application and configure AI providers including OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, xAI, and local models via Ollama.

First Launch

After installing Askimo Desktop, launch the application. On first run, you’ll need to configure your AI provider to start using the app.

Quick Start Checklist

1. ✅ Launch Askimo Desktop
2. ✅ Choose an AI provider
3. ✅ Configure API key or local server
4. ✅ Test connection
5. ✅ Start your first conversation

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Accessing Provider Settings

From Menu

1. Click on the menu bar
2. Select “Settings”
3. Navigate to the “AI Providers” tab

Keyboard Shortcut

• macOS: ⌘ + , then click “AI Providers”
• Windows/Linux: Ctrl + , then click “AI Providers”

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Configuring AI Providers

OpenAI

API Configuration

• API Key: Your OpenAI API key (required)
  • Get your key from platform.openai.com/api-keys
• Organization ID: (Optional) For team accounts
• Default Model: Choose from:
  • gpt-4o - Most capable, multimodal
  • gpt-4o-mini - Fast and affordable
  • gpt-3.5-turbo - Legacy, cost-effective
• Base URL: (Advanced) Custom endpoint for proxies
  • Default: https://api.openai.com/v1
• Timeout: Request timeout in seconds (default: 60s)

Setting Up Your API Key

1. Visit OpenAI Platform
2. Sign in or create an account
3. Click “Create new secret key”
4. Copy the key (you won’t see it again!)
5. Paste it into Askimo’s OpenAI API Key field
6. Click “Test Connection” to verify

Free Trial

New OpenAI accounts get free credits to try the API. Check your usage dashboard for current balance.

Anthropic Claude

API Configuration

• API Key: Your Anthropic API key (required)
  • Get your key from console.anthropic.com
• Default Model: Choose from:
  • claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022 - Most capable, balanced
  • claude-3-5-haiku-20241022 - Fast and efficient
• API Version: API version (default: 2023-06-01)
• Timeout: Request timeout in seconds (default: 60s)

Setting Up Your API Key

1. Visit Anthropic Console
2. Sign in or create an account
3. Navigate to “API Keys”
4. Click “Create Key”
5. Copy the key
6. Paste it into Askimo’s Claude API Key field
7. Click “Test Connection” to verify

Context Window

Claude models support very large context windows (up to 200K tokens), making them ideal for long documents and extended conversations.

Google Gemini

API Configuration

• API Key: Your Google AI API key (required)
  • Get your key from aistudio.google.com/app/apikey
• Default Model: Choose from:
  • gemini-2.0-flash-exp - Latest experimental model
  • gemini-1.5-pro - Most capable, multimodal
  • gemini-1.5-flash - Fast and efficient
• Region: Select closest region for better latency
  • Auto (default), US, Europe, Asia
• Timeout: Request timeout in seconds (default: 60s)

Setting Up Your API Key

1. Visit Google AI Studio
2. Sign in with your Google account
3. Click “Create API Key”
4. Copy the generated key
5. Paste it into Askimo’s Gemini API Key field
6. Click “Test Connection” to verify

Free Tier

Gemini offers a generous free tier for API usage. Check pricing details for limits.

xAI (Grok)

API Configuration

• API Key: Your xAI API key (required)
  • Get your key from console.x.ai
• Default Model: Choose from:
  • grok-2-latest - Latest Grok model
  • grok-2-vision-latest - Multimodal capabilities
• Timeout: Request timeout in seconds (default: 60s)

Setting Up Your API Key

1. Visit xAI Console
2. Sign in with your account
3. Navigate to API Keys
4. Create a new API key
5. Copy the key
6. Paste it into Askimo’s xAI API Key field
7. Click “Test Connection” to verify

Ollama (Local)

Server Configuration

• Server URL: Ollama server endpoint
  • Default: http://localhost:11434
  • For remote servers: http://your-server:11434
• Timeout: Connection timeout (default: 120s)
• Auto-pull Models: Automatically download models when selected
• Available Models: Detected automatically from your Ollama installation

Setting Up Ollama

1. Install Ollama from ollama.ai
2. Start the Ollama service
3. Pull a model: ollama pull llama2
4. Askimo will automatically detect your local Ollama server
5. Select a model from the dropdown
6. Click “Test Connection” to verify

Privacy & Performance

Ollama runs models locally on your machine. All conversations stay private, but performance depends on your hardware (GPU recommended for better speed).

Installing Models

Popular models you can use with Ollama:

• llama2 - Meta’s Llama 2 model
• mistral - Mistral 7B
• codellama - Code-specialized Llama
• phi - Microsoft’s Phi model

Install any model via terminal:

ollama pull mistral

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Your First Conversation

Once you’ve configured at least one provider, you’re ready to start!

Starting a Chat

1. Click “New Chat” or press ⌘/Ctrl + N
2. Type your first message in the input area
3. Press Enter to send

Example Prompts to Try

General Questions:

Give me ideas for the trip to San Francisco next week

Code Assistance:

Can you help me write a Python function to calculate fibonacci numbers?

Writing Help:

Help me write a professional email to request time off

DevOps Tasks:

Explain how to set up a CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions