Run your first SLM query

Prerequisites

• The local SLM service and Doorman running and reachable (see Run local SLM inference)
• curl, or the reference script at service-slm/scripts/slm-chat.sh if you have it available
• Your module identifier for the X-Foundry-Module-ID header

Purpose

Submit a first inference request and get a response back — under a minute once Doorman is up. This is not a console task: F9 in os-console is a read-only health dashboard with no way to type or submit a query, so the real path is a direct HTTP call to Doorman.

Procedure

1. Confirm Doorman is reachable. The default local address is http://127.0.0.1:9080, though your deployment may differ.

2. Send a request to the chat-completions endpoint:

   curl -s -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -H "X-Foundry-Module-ID: <your-module-id>" \
     -d '{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello in one sentence."}]}' \
     http://127.0.0.1:9080/v1/chat/completions
   

   Headers are forgiving in development: Doorman generates safe defaults when they're absent, specifically so ad-hoc curl probes like this one work without extra setup. Still, set X-Foundry-Module-ID explicitly once you're doing real work — it's how the platform attributes usage to your module.

3. Read the response. It arrives as a single JSON payload, not a stream — the whole reply lands in one content field once the model finishes, not token by token.

   Note: a reference REPL script exists at service-slm/scripts/slm-chat.sh that wraps this same call in a loop, so you can keep a conversation going without retyping headers each time. Despite what an older internal note claims, that script does not stream either — it's the same one blocking call per turn, just looped.

Expected outcome

A JSON response containing the model's reply in its content field, returned as one complete payload.

Verification

Confirm the response's content field holds a real, on-topic reply rather than an error body. An HTTP error status or a JSON error field means Doorman couldn't complete the request — check that the local SLM service is actually running before retrying.

Note: you don't need any specific inference tier "up" for this to work. Doorman defaults ordinary requests to the local tier; a higher tier only comes into play for requests explicitly marked high-complexity, and even then it falls back to the local tier automatically on failure rather than failing your request.

Rollback

Nothing to roll back — a query is read-only against your own conversation history. Sending another request doesn't require undoing the last one.

Next steps

• Read the command ledger — read platform activity history via its own real HTTP API
• Use the F-key cartridge model — what F9 actually shows, now that you know it isn't where queries go

See also

• Run local SLM inference — start the local SLM service and Doorman on a new deployment
• Doorman protocol — Doorman's routing and circuit-breaker model
• SLM Rust stack architecture — the full inference stack and tier definitions