wtcmddo 0.1.1

Interactive command explainer with risk assessment

wtcmddo

What The Command Do — a lightweight command explainer with guardrails.

Don't just run it — understand it first.

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Overview

wtcmddo is a terminal-native security companion for the command line. Paste any shell command and it calls an LLM to produce a detailed explanation, a color-coded risk assessment, and a reason — then asks for your confirmation before executing. Think of it as a second pair of eyes that reads the command back to you in plain English before anything hits your shell.

Built on the OpenAI-compatible SDK, so it works with OpenRouter, OpenAI directly, local LLMs, or any provider that speaks the same API.

Features

Feature	What it does
Rich TUI	Color-coded panels, animated spinner, and styled prompts powered by rich
Live analysis	A spinner animates while the API thinks, so you always know it's working
Risk levels	Every command is tagged LOW · MEDIUM · HIGH · CRITICAL with matching colors
Detailed explanations	One-to-two sentence breakdowns covering flags, options, and effects — not just a label
Guardrails	Refuses non-commands, never rewrites or suggests alternatives, stays strictly analytical
Confirm before run	Interactive yes/no prompt before anything executes (or skip with --yes)
Setup wizard	A guided --setup flow with masked key entry and a config summary panel
Provider-agnostic	Point --base-url at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint and switch models freely

Installation

pip install wtcmddo
# or
git clone https://github.com/Zaeem20/wtcmddo.git
cd wtcmddo
uv sync          # recommended (uses uv_build)

Configuration

There are two ways to provide your API key.

Option A — Interactive wizard (recommended)

wtcmddo --setup

This launches a guided setup with masked input and a summary panel. Configuration is saved to ~/.wtcmddo/config.json.

Option B — Environment variable

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..."

The env var is used as a fallback when no key is set in the config file.

Free Usage

You can use wtcmddo for free with OpenRouter's free tier — no credit card required.

1. Get a key — Sign up at openrouter.ai/keys and create a free API key.
2. Set the model to one of OpenRouter's free models:

# Use the setup wizard
wtcmddo --setup

# Or set the model directly
wtcmddo --model openrouter/free ls -la

Free models on OpenRouter (as of now) include openrouter/free (routes to the best available free model), (Kimi/DeepSeek/Nemtron/Gemma) and others. You can browse the full list at openrouter.ai/models.

The --base-url defaults to OpenRouter already, so you only need the key and the model:

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..."
wtcmddo --model openrouter/free "curl https://example.com"

Usage

wtcmddo ls -la
whatcmd git status
explain "rm -rf /"
explaincmd --dry-run curl https://example.com

The tool ships under four aliases — wtcmddo, whatcmd, explaincmd, and explain — all pointing to the same entry point.

Example output

┌─ $ rm -rf / ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                            │
│  This command forcefully removes all files and directories from the root   │
│  directory and its subdirectories without prompting for confirmation,      │
│  effectively wiping the entire filesystem.                                 │
│                                                                            │
│  Risk    CRITICAL                                                          │
│  Reason  The command performs a recursive and forceful deletion of all     │
│          files, which can result in total data loss.                       │
│  Type    DATA_DESTRUCTION                                                  │
│                                                                            │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Execute this command [y/N]:

The panel border and risk label are color-coded to the risk level, so dangerous commands grab your attention instantly.

Flags

Flag	Short	Description
--setup		Run the interactive setup wizard
--model		Override the configured model
--base-url		Override the API base URL (any OpenAI-compatible endpoint)
--yes	-y	Skip confirmation and execute immediately
--dry-run	-n	Explain only; never ask to execute

Risk Levels

Level	Color	Meaning
LOW	🟢 Green	Read-only, lists files, shows status, harmless inspection
MEDIUM	🟡 Yellow	Reads sensitive files, sends non-destructive network data, installs packages
HIGH	🔴 Red	Modifies files/system state, deletes data, changes configuration, runs remote scripts
CRITICAL	🟣 Magenta	Wipes storage, recursive deletes, privilege escalation, raw disk writes, mass exfiltration

Command categories

Every command is also classified into one of: FILE · NETWORK · SYSTEM · PRIVACY · DATA_DESTRUCTION · OTHER.

Provider Switching

Because the tool uses the OpenAI SDK with a configurable base URL, you can point it at any compatible endpoint:

# OpenAI directly
wtcmddo --base-url https://api.openai.com/v1 --model gpt-4o-mini ls -la

# A local LLM via LM Studio / Ollama (OpenAI-compatible mode)
wtcmddo --base-url http://localhost:1234/v1 --model local-model ls -la

Defaults: base URL https://openrouter.ai/api/v1, model openai/gpt-4o-mini.

How It Works

 you type a command
        │
        ▼
 ┌─────────────┐    spinner animates     ┌──────────────┐
 │  parse args │ ────────────────────▶  │  LLM analyzes │
 └─────────────┘                         │   the command │
        │                                └──────────────┘
        ▼                                        │
 ┌─────────────┐    color-coded panel            │
 │  display    │ ◀──────────────────────────────┘
 │  explanation│
 └─────────────┘
        │
        ├── --dry-run  →  stop here
        ├── --yes      →  execute immediately
        └── prompt     →  [y/N] confirm before running

The LLM is constrained by a strict system prompt: it only analyzes shell commands, never rewrites them, never answers questions, and always returns a structured four-line response. If the input isn't a command, it says so explicitly.

Project Structure

src/wtcmddo/
├── __init__.py    # CLI entry point & orchestration
├── tui.py         # Rich-based terminal UI (panels, spinner, wizard)
├── explainer.py   # OpenAI-compatible API call & response parsing
├── config.py      # Config file & env-var management
└── prompts.py     # Restricted system prompt (guardrails)

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success or aborted by user
1	Explainer error (API failure, parse error, no command)
2	Input was not recognized as a shell command
127	Command not found at execution time

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Built with Python · Rich · OpenAI SDK