ask
A CLI tool that answers command-line questions using an OpenAI-compatible LLM API.
Requirements
- Go 1.26+ (to build)
- Runtime tools:
tldr,man/col -b,glow,less
Installation
git clone <repo> && cd ask
go build -o ask .
Or place the binary somewhere on your PATH.
Usage
ask [options] <question>
| Flag | Mode | Description |
|---|---|---|
| default | Generates a runnable shell command (uses TLDR + man page context) | |
-q |
question | Answers general command-line questions (rendered with glow) |
-H |
history | Answers questions about your shell history (last 200 lines) |
-p |
paginate | Pipes output through less -R |
-h |
help | Prints help text |
Examples
ask how to find large files
ask -q how does rsync work
ask -H what command did I use for docker yesterday
ask -p how to compress a directory
Configuration
Environment variables:
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
OPENAI_BASE_URL |
http://10.0.2.145:8090/v1 |
API endpoint |
OPENAI_API_KEY |
— | API key (optional) |
OPENAI_MODEL |
gpt-4o-mini |
Model name |
Tests
./test_ask.sh