codewhale/docs/RLM.md

RLM Mode

RLM mode (“Recursive Language Model” mode) is DeepSeek CLI’s long-context workflow: it stores large context externally (Aleph-style external memory) and provides REPL-like tools to explore and query it without stuffing everything into the model’s context window.

If you’re curious about the research inspiration and implementation notes, see:

• docs/rlm-paper.txt
• docs/rlm_gap_analysis.md

When To Use It

RLM mode is best for:

• “Analyze this large file / doc”
• “Summarize the whole repository”
• “Search for every occurrence of X and explain it”
• Big pasted blocks of text

The UI may auto-switch to RLM for large file requests, “largest file”, explicit “RLM” requests, and large pastes.

How To Use It

Switch modes

• Press Tab until you reach RLM
• Or type /rlm (or /aleph) to jump directly into RLM mode

Load context

In RLM mode, /load loads external context (in other modes, /load loads a saved chat JSON):

/load @path/to/file.rs

@path is workspace-relative.

Inspect and query

• /status shows which contexts are loaded and basic usage totals.
• /repl toggles expression input mode.

Typical REPL helpers include:

• lines(1, 80) (show a slice of the context)
• search("pattern")
• chunk(2000) (create fixed-size chunks for later querying)

Under the hood, the model uses tools like rlm_load, rlm_exec, rlm_status, and rlm_query.

Cost and Safety Notes

• rlm_query can be expensive because it triggers additional model calls. Prefer batching related questions.
• RLM mode auto-approves tools; keep --workspace scoped to the repo you want it to access.