ai-cli

Sub-5ms streaming AI assistant & autonomous agent for Unix terminals with Rich markdown rendering and session memory.

Compatible with any OpenAI-compatible provider: Ollama, vLLM, LM Studio, Groq, OpenRouter, Together AI, OpenAI, and Antigravity / OMP.

⚡ Why ai-cli?

Most AI command-line tools (sgpt, llm, open-interpreter) pull in dozens of heavy Python packages (requests, pydantic, openai, click), resulting in 200ms–400ms startup latency before sending a single byte over the network.

ai-cli is engineered for speed, minimalism, and true Unix ergonomics:

• ⚡ Instant Startup (< 5ms) — starts and begins execution immediately.
• 🤖 Autonomous Agent Mode (Default) — equipped with 5 essential tools (bash, read_file, write_file, search_web, fetch_web_page).
• 🎨 Rich Terminal Markdown — syntax-highlighted code blocks, auto-aligned tables, blockquotes, and task checkboxes rendered cleanly in your terminal.
• 🧠 Per-Terminal Session Memory — preserves conversation context automatically within the same terminal tab/session (scoped by shell Process ID).
• 🌐 Zero-Key Web Search — live Google/Startpage + DuckDuckGo search integration without requiring third-party search API keys.
• 🚀 Heavy Harness Handoff (-H) — hand off active conversation context to omp, claude, codex, or pi when a task outgrows a lightweight CLI.
• 🚰 Pure Unix Pipelines — seamlessly handles stdin, trailing instructions, and outputs clean raw text when piped to files or other CLI tools.

📦 Installation

1. Recommended: Install via mise

mise use -g pipx:ai-flow-cli
# or via python backend:
mise use -g pip:ai-flow-cli

2. Install via PyPI (pip / pipx / uv)

# Standard pip install:
pip install --user ai-flow-cli

# Isolated global CLI with pipx:
pipx install ai-flow-cli

# Fast install with uv:
uv tool install ai-flow-cli

3. One-Line Script Install

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Codder13/ai-cli/main/install.sh | bash

🛠️ Usage

💡 No quotes required: You can type your prompts directly without quotation marks across all flags and commands!

1. Direct Asking & Autonomous Tasks (Default)

ai runs in agent mode by default, choosing when to search the web, read files, or execute commands to give you an accurate, grounded answer:

# Autonomous research & web searching
ai search the latest zig release and summarize changes

# Local codebase inspection & execution
ai inspect package.json and run the build script

# General knowledge
ai what is the biggest crater on the moon

2. Sandbox Security & Modification Bypass (-s / --no-sandbox)

By default, all command executions and file operations are protected in a strict read-only Bubblewrap (bwrap) sandbox:

• 🔒 Read-Only System: Root (/), /etc, /usr, and project files cannot be accidentally modified.
• 🔒 Isolated Secrets: ~/.ssh, ~/.gnupg, and ~/.aws are masked with empty filesystems.

To allow creating files, modifying code, or running system commands, pass -s (unquoted):

# Create files without quotes:
ai -s create this and that

# Write code and scripts:
ai -s create a python script that tests database connections

# Install system packages:
ai -s install ripgrep with pacman

3. Pure No-Tools Streaming (-n / --no-tools)

If you want instant, direct token streaming without tool execution:

ai -n explain quantum computing in 3 bullets

4. Unix Pipelines & Stdin

Pipe terminal output directly into ai with or without trailing instructions:

# Summarize git changes
git diff | ai summarize these changes in 3 bullet points

# Explain log errors
cat /var/log/nginx/error.log | tail -n 20 | ai explain these errors

# Pipe output cleanly to file (automatically strips ANSI formatting)
ai -n generate a json array of 5 fruits > fruits.json

5. Terminal Session Memory (Automatic)

ai automatically preserves conversation history within the same terminal tab/session:

❯ ai what is the largest file in this project
# ... Inspects directory and lists the largest file ...

❯ ai how can I optimize it
# ... Automatically remembers the file from the previous turn!

# Clear conversation memory for the current tab:
❯ ai -C    # or ai --clear

6. Handoff to Heavy Harnesses (-H / --handoff)

When a simple task evolves into a large-scale refactor, codebase overhaul, or multi-file debugging session, hand off your entire conversation session context to a full workspace agent:

# Handoff conversation to Oh My Pi / Hermes (default):
❯ ai -H Refactor all affected modules and run test suite

# Handoff to Claude Code:
❯ ai -H claude Fix all broken unit tests across the whole workspace

# Supported harnesses: omp, claude, codex, pi

7. Interactive Tool Approvals (-c / --confirm)

By default, ai executes safe tools autonomously. If you prefer human-in-the-loop confirmation before each action:

ai -c clean up temp and cache files in this directory

⚙️ Configuration Cascade

ai-cli resolves configuration in the following order:

1. CLI Flags: -m, -u, -k, -s
2. Environment Variables: AI_MODEL, AI_BASE_URL, AI_API_KEY
3. Config File: ~/.config/ai/config.json
4. OMP / AGM Config: ~/.omp/agent/models.yml (auto-detected)

Initialize a config template:

ai --init-config

This generates ~/.config/ai/config.json:

{
  "base_url": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
  "api_key": "your-api-key",
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "system_prompt": "You are a concise, helpful terminal assistant.",
  "temperature": 0.7,
  "require_approval": false
}

📖 CLI Reference

usage: ai [-h] [-n] [-c] [-y] [-m MODEL] [-u BASE_URL] [-k API_KEY]
          [-s SYSTEM] [-t TEMPERATURE] [--max-turns MAX_TURNS] [--init-config]
          [-v] [-C] [-H [HARNESS]]
          [prompt ...]

positional arguments:
  prompt                User prompt or instruction

options:
  -h, --help            Show this help message and exit
  -n, --no-tools        Disable tools and run in fast direct streaming completion mode
  -c, --confirm         Require manual confirmation for each tool action
  -y, --yes             Bypass confirmation and auto-approve all tool actions
  -m, --model MODEL     Model identifier (default: gemini-3.7-flash-high or config)
  -u, --base-url BASE   OpenAI-compatible API base URL
  -k, --api-key KEY     API authorization key
  -s, --system SYSTEM   Custom system prompt
  -t, --temperature T   Sampling temperature (0.0 - 2.0)
  --max-turns N         Maximum tool execution turns in agent mode (default: 25)
  --init-config         Create a default config template at ~/.config/ai/config.json
  -v, --version         Show version
  -C, --clear           Clear conversation memory for the current terminal session
  -H, --handoff [NAME]  Handoff session context to a heavy agent harness (omp, claude, codex, pi; default: omp)

📄 License

MIT