howto

Use AI to quickly find commands within the terminal.

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Features • Install • Usage • Configuration • Development • Troubleshooting

howto is a TypeScript CLI that turns a natural-language question into up to three executable command candidates. It never runs AI output directly: you choose a command in the terminal, fill any placeholders, review the final command, and confirm before execution.

Important

howto is an assistant for generating shell commands, not a sandbox. Review every command before running it, especially commands that modify files, install packages, change permissions, or use elevated privileges.

Features

• Natural language to commands - ask for a task and get concise shell command candidates.
• Tool-constrained mode - use howto use <command> to require candidates around a specific CLI tool.
• Interactive review flow - select a candidate, resolve placeholders, and confirm the final command before execution.
• Non-interactive print mode - use --print to output candidates without TTY interaction or command execution.
• OpenAI and Gemini support - configure either provider from CLI flags, environment variables, or ~/.howto/config.json.
• Local validation first - AI JSON output, placeholder references, use <command> candidates, and obvious dangerous commands are checked locally.

Install

Install the CLI package globally:

npm install -g @unscientificjszhai/howto

Or run it from a cloned repository:

npm install
npm run build
npm link

You can then call the executable as howto.

Getting Started

Initialize your AI provider configuration:

howto --init

The initializer writes a user-level config file at ~/.howto/config.json.

Note

OpenAI API keys may be empty for local OpenAI-compatible services. Gemini requires a non-empty API key.

Ask for a command:

howto "find files modified in the last 7 days" .

Limit candidates to a specific tool:

howto use git "show commits from last week"

Print command candidates without entering the interactive UI:

howto --print "list the largest files" /var/log

Usage

howto [options] [use <command>] <question> [<argument>...]
howto --init

Examples:

howto "find package.json under the current directory"
howto use find "find a filename" package.json
howto "explain this option" -- --force
howto --ai-provider openai --print "show listening ports"

Options:

• --init - start interactive provider setup and save ~/.howto/config.json.
• --print - print validated command candidates and exit without executing.
• --ai-provider <openai|gemini> - select the AI provider.
• --gemini-api-key <key> - provide a Gemini API key.
• --gemini-model <model> - override the Gemini model.
• --openai-api-url <url> - use a custom OpenAI-compatible base URL.
• --openai-api-key <key> - provide an OpenAI API key.
• --openai-model <model> - override the OpenAI model.

Argument Parsing

question is one shell argument. Quote it when it contains spaces:

howto "find recently changed files" /tmp

Everything after the question is passed to the AI as argument[]. Use -- when an argument starts with --:

howto "explain this flag" -- --force

Configuration

Configuration is resolved in this order:

1. CLI options
2. Environment variables
3. ~/.howto/config.json
4. Built-in defaults

For each setting, the first configured source in that order wins:

• --ai-provider / HOWTO_AI_PROVIDER / aiProvider - openai or gemini; no default.
• --gemini-api-key / HOWTO_GEMINI_API_KEY / geminiApiKey - Gemini API key; required for Gemini.
• --gemini-model / HOWTO_GEMINI_MODEL / geminiModel - Gemini model; default gemini-3.1-flash-lite.
• --openai-api-url / HOWTO_OPENAI_API_URL / openaiApiUrl - OpenAI-compatible base URL; defaults to the OpenAI SDK default.
• --openai-api-key / HOWTO_OPENAI_API_KEY / openaiApiKey - OpenAI API key; defaults to an empty string for local services.
• --openai-model / HOWTO_OPENAI_MODEL / openaiModel - OpenAI model; default gpt-5.4-mini.

Example:

HOWTO_AI_PROVIDER=openai \
HOWTO_OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-5.4-mini \
howto --print "show current branch"

Safety Model

howto treats AI output as untrusted data. Before anything reaches execution, the CLI checks that:

• the AI response is valid JSON matching the required command schema;
• the response contains between one and three candidates;
• all placeholders use {{name}} syntax and are declared consistently;
• use <command> candidates clearly start with the requested tool after conservative prefix handling;
• obvious dangerous patterns require typing EXECUTE before they can run.

Dangerous-command detection currently covers high-risk patterns such as recursive destructive rm, disk and filesystem operations, broad recursive permission changes, downloaded scripts piped into a shell, high-impact package manager operations, and service changes.

Warning

A command not flagged as dangerous is not guaranteed to be safe. The local checks add friction for known high-risk patterns; they do not prove command safety.

Development

This project is built with TypeScript, React, Ink, OpenAI SDK, Gemini GenAI SDK, and Node's built-in test runner.

npm install
npm run build
npm test
npm run lint
npm run format:check

Useful paths:

• src/index.tsx - CLI orchestration and execution flow.
• src/cli.ts - argument parsing.
• src/config.ts - config merging and provider validation.
• src/prompt.ts - prompt and AI output contract.
• src/validation/ - AI response and command-tool validation.
• src/safety/ - dangerous command rules.
• src/ui/ - Ink-based terminal UI.
• tests/unit/ - unit tests for CLI, config, validation, execution, UI, and safety logic.

Troubleshooting

AI provider is not configured

Run:

howto --init

For --print, initialization is intentionally skipped. Configure the provider first or pass the relevant CLI flags/environment variables.

Non-interactive terminal error

The default mode needs an interactive TTY for selection and confirmation. Use --print in scripts or CI:

howto --print "show disk usage"

Gemini key is required

Gemini cannot run without an API key. Set HOWTO_GEMINI_API_KEY, pass --gemini-api-key, or rerun howto --init.