gptcli

gptcli is a terminal-based, agentic coding assistant. It wraps LLMs behind an ncurses TUI (thread menu + per-thread chat view) and exposes a curated set of tools (file ops, command execution, web retrieval, etc.) with a user-approval gate for potentially dangerous actions.

Conversations are stored as local “threads” on disk, so you can resume work across multiple executions.

Key features

• Ncurses terminal UI

  • Thread list/menu with search
  • Per-thread chat view with scrollable history and multi-line input

• Threads (persistent conversations/tasks)

  • Stored locally and loaded on startup
  • Archive/unarchive threads
  • Search across current + archived thread
  • Multiple threads can be running (interacting with the LLM) concurrently

• Agentic toolset

  • Run OS-level commands
  • File manipulation: create, append, patch, read, delete
  • Directory + environment operations
  • Web retrieval with best-effort JavaScript rendering for SPA
  • Nested prompting (the agent can spawn sub-agents for decomposition of complex tasks)

• Safety / approvals / audit

  • Most tool actions require explicit user approval
  • Approval decisions can be persisted to an on-disk policy store
  • Optional audit log of prompts/tool usage

Installation

Install a prebuilt binary

Precompiled binaries are published for Linux on the releases page.

Example (downloads the latest release asset named gptcli):

mkdir -p "$HOME/bin"

GPTCLI_URL=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/mikeb26/gptcli/releases/latest \
  | grep browser_download_url \
  | cut -f4 -d\" \
  | head -n 1)

wget "$GPTCLI_URL" -O "$HOME/bin/gptcli"
chmod 755 "$HOME/bin/gptcli"

# add $HOME/bin to your PATH if not already present

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/mikeb26/gptcli.git
cd gptcli
make

Usage

Run:

gptcli

Notes:

• gptcli requires a real TTY (it uses ncurses); it is not designed for non-interactive piping.
• On first run (or when config is missing), gptcli will prompt you to choose an LLM vendor/model and enter an API key.
• When a newer version is available, gptcli may prompt to upgrade on startup.

Key bindings (thread menu)

• Navigate: ↑/↓, PgUp/PgDn, Home/End
• Open selected thread: Enter
• New thread: n
• Search threads (case-sensitive): / (ESC exits search)
• Archive/unarchive selected thread: a / u
• Configure vendor/model/API key: c
• Quit: ESC

Key bindings (thread view)

• Navigate: ↑/↓, PgUp/PgDn, Home/End
• Switch focus between history/input: Tab
• Send prompt: Ctrl-D
• Return to menu: ESC

Configuration & storage

gptcli stores state under:

~/.config/gptcli/

Key files/directories:

• .<vendor>.key — API key for the selected vendor
• prefs.json — User preferences
• threads/ — active threads (JSON)
• archive_threads/ — archived threads (JSON)
• approvals.json — Persisted approval policy decisions
• logs/audit.log — Optional audit log

LLM vendors & models

Supported vendors are currently: OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

Exact model names are selectable in the in-app config UI.

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome at https://github.com/mikeb26/gptcli

For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

AGPL3