ShellGPT
A command-line AI assistant that generates shell commands, code snippets and documentation from prompts.
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About ShellGPT
ShellGPT (sgpt) brings a large language model into the terminal. You can ask questions, have it generate shell commands for your system, write code snippets and documentation, or keep a chat session going, without leaving the command line.
It is written in Python, is open source, and suits developers and administrators who spend most of their time in a terminal and want quick answers instead of searching the web.
Strengths
- Generates shell commands from plain-language requests
- Chat and code generation in the terminal
- Lightweight Python tool
- Open source
Limitations
- Needs an API key or a configured model backend
- Generated commands should be checked before running
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree and open source; you pay the model provider for API usage.
- License
- MIT
- Developer
- TheR1D
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Best suited for
- Terminal users who want AI help with commands and code
- Categories
- CLI tools, AI assistants, AI coding
- Last verified
- Added
- Sources
Alternatives to ShellGPT
Compare allSoftware that can replace ShellGPT for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
AIChat
A command-line tool for chatting with language models, with a shell assistant, RAG and agents.
AIChat is an MIT or Apache-2.0 command-line tool with a shell assistant, RAG and agents, working with many providers and local models through Ollama, configured via YAML.
tgpt
A cross-platform command-line tool for chatting with AI models in the terminal without API keys.
tgpt is a single Go binary for terminal chat that works without an API key, but relies on third-party providers that can change or stop working.
LLM
A command-line tool and Python library for prompting remote and locally installed language models.
LLM is a command-line tool and Python library that logs prompts and responses to SQLite and adds models through plugins, with local models needing an extra plugin.
oterm
A terminal chat client for Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic and other language model providers.
oterm is an MIT terminal chat client for local Ollama models and hosted providers, installed with one uvx command, focused on chat rather than shell command generation.
Elia
A keyboard-driven terminal app for chatting with cloud and local large language models.
Elia is a keyboard-driven open-source terminal chat app for cloud and local models on macOS and Linux, aimed at conversation rather than generating shell commands.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
llamafile
Packages a language model and the code to run it into one executable file that works on several operating systems without installation.
OpenRouter
A unified API and chat interface that routes requests to hundreds of AI models across many providers.
LM Studio
A polished desktop app for downloading, running and chatting with local language models, with an OpenAI-compatible server built in.
PyGPT
An open-source desktop AI assistant that works with cloud model APIs and local Ollama models.
