Encoding Error: `'ascii' codec can't encode character '\xe0' in position 41: ordinal not in range(128)`

Description

When attempting to use the llm command-line interface (CLI) on Windows, I encounter an encoding error related to the ASCII codec. Despite setting environment variables to enforce UTF-8 encoding, the issue persists. Additionally, configuring models results in errors indicating that certain models are unknown or not recognized.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set Up the Environment:

   • Operating System: Windows 10
   • PowerShell Version:
     Name : ConsoleHost
     Version : 5.1.22621.4111
     InstanceId : e0d61ad7-8a35-4d6f-9199-74f95ce5a7e9
     UI : System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostUserInterface
     CurrentCulture : en-US
     CurrentUICulture : en-GB
     PrivateData : Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost+ConsoleColorProxy
     DebuggerEnabled : True
     IsRunspacePushed : False
     Runspace : System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalRunspace
   • Python Version: 3.11
   • Poetry Version: Poetry (version 1.8.2)
   • llm Version: 0.16

2. Configure Environment Variables:

   $Env:PYTHONIOENCODING = "utf-8"
   $Env:PYTHONUTF8 = "1"
   

3. Activate Poetry Virtual Environment:

   • Navigate to a project directory (ensure it's not within site-packages):

     mkdir C:\Users\samue\llm-project
     cd C:\Users\samue\llm-project
     poetry init --no-interaction
     poetry add llm
     poetry shell
     

4. Run the llm Command with ASCII Input:

   llm 'hi'
   

   Expected Behavior: The command should execute without encoding errors and return a response from the language model.

   Actual Behavior:

   Error: 'ascii' codec can't encode character '\xe0' in position 41: ordinal not in range(128)
   

5. Run the llm Command with Non-ASCII Input:

   llm 'Café'
   

   Actual Behavior:

   Error: 'ascii' codec can't encode character '\xe0' in position 41: ordinal not in range(128)
   

6. Attempt to Add and Set a Model:

   llm models add groq-llama3.1-70b --path "C:\Path\To\groq-llama3.1-70b"
   llm models set default groq-llama3.1-70b
   

   Actual Behavior:

   Error: Unknown model: groq-llama3.1-70b
   

7. List Available Models:

   llm models list
   

   Actual Output:

   Available models:
   - groq-llama3.1-70b
   

8. Attempt to Use the Default Model:

   llm 'hi'
   

   Actual Behavior:

   Error: 'groq-llama3.1-70b' is not a known model
   

Expected Behavior

• The llm command should handle both ASCII and non-ASCII inputs without encountering encoding errors.
• Adding and setting models should recognize and configure valid models without errors.

Actual Behavior

• Encountering an encoding error when using non-ASCII characters, specifically:

  Error: 'ascii' codec can't encode character '\xe0' in position 41: ordinal not in range(128)
  

• Errors related to unrecognized models when attempting to add or set a default model:

  Error: 'groq-llama3.1-70b' is not a known model
  

Environment

• Operating System: Windows 10
• PowerShell Version: [
  Name : ConsoleHost
  Version : 5.1.22621.4111
  InstanceId : e0d61ad7-8a35-4d6f-9199-74f95ce5a7e9
  UI : System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostUserInterface
  CurrentCulture : en-US
  CurrentUICulture : en-GB
  PrivateData : Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost+ConsoleColorProxy
  DebuggerEnabled : True
  IsRunspacePushed : False
  Runspace : System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalRunspace]
• Python Version: 3.11
• Poetry Version: [Please provide the output of poetry --version]
• llm Version: 0.16
• Installation Path: C:\Users\samue\AppData\Roaming\pypoetry\venv\Lib\site-packages\llm\
• Virtual Environment Path: C:\Users\samue\AppData\Roaming\pypoetry\venv\Lib\site-packages\llm\llm-test\.venv

Environment Variables

$Env:PYTHONIOENCODING = "utf-8"
$Env:PYTHONUTF8 = "1"

Additional Context

• Attempted Solutions:

  • Set PowerShell's output encoding to UTF-8.
  • Configured Python environment variables (PYTHONIOENCODING and PYTHONUTF8) to enforce UTF-8 encoding.
  • Activated the Poetry virtual environment within a separate project directory.
  • Tried adding and setting different models, including a local model (groq-llama3.1-70b), which resulted in errors.

• Error Messages:

  Error: 'ascii' codec can't encode character '\xe0' in position 41: ordinal not in range(128)
  

  Error: 'groq-llama3.1-70b' is not a known model
  

• Commands Run:

  llm 'hi'
  llm 'Café'
  llm models add groq-llama3.1-70b --path "C:\Path\To\groq-llama3.1-70b"
  llm models set default groq-llama3.1-70b
  llm models list
  llm 'hi'
  

• Attempts to Use llm-cmd:

  llm-cmd hi
  

  Result:

  llm-cmd : The term 'llm-cmd' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that
  the path is correct and try again.
  

• Notes:

  • Attempting to run poetry shell within the site-packages\llm directory results in an error due to the absence of a pyproject.toml file.
  • The issue persists even after setting environment variables within the Poetry shell.

Start by reproducing the Windows PowerShell commands for llm 'hi', llm 'Café', and the model-management commands, then inspect the installed package under C:\Users\samue\AppData\Roaming\pypoetry\venv\Lib\site-packages\llm\. Separate the encoding failure from the unknown-model behavior and identify which command path produces each error. Done means the reported commands handle the documented inputs and model configuration without those errors.