GPT CLI (Rust)

A lightweight command-line interface for chatting with AI models (OpenAI and Anthropic), written in Rust.

This is a Rust rewrite of the original Python gptCLI, providing the same functionality with improved performance and memory safety.

Features

• Multi-provider support - Works with both OpenAI and Anthropic models
• Session persistence - Conversations are automatically saved and can be resumed later
• Model switching - Change models on the fly with interactive selection
• Web search - Enable web search tool for OpenAI models (when supported)
• Reasoning summaries - Enable reasoning summaries for compatible OpenAI models
• Interactive commands - Full set of slash commands for session management
• Cross-platform - Runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows

Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70 or later
• API keys for the providers you want to use:
  • OPENAI_API_KEY for OpenAI models
  • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY for Anthropic models

Build from source

git clone <repository-url>
cd gpt-cli-rust
cargo build --release

The binary will be available at target/release/gpt-cli-rust.

Usage

# Run with default session and model
./target/release/gpt-cli-rust

# Start with a specific session
./target/release/gpt-cli-rust --session my-session

# Start with a specific model
./target/release/gpt-cli-rust --model claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022

# Combine options
./target/release/gpt-cli-rust --session work --model gpt-4o

Supported Models

OpenAI

• gpt-4.1
• gpt-4.1-mini
• gpt-4o
• gpt-5 (default)
• gpt-5-chat-latest
• o1
• o3
• o4-mini
• o3-mini

Anthropic

• claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
• claude-3-5-haiku-20241022
• claude-3-opus-20240229
• claude-3-sonnet-20240229
• claude-3-haiku-20240307

Commands

Chat Commands

• Type normally to chat with the AI
• Use /help to see all available commands

Session Management

• /list - List all saved sessions
• /new <name> - Create a new session
• /switch [name] - Switch to another session (interactive picker if no name)
• /delete [name] - Delete a session (interactive picker if no name)
• /clear - Clear current conversation

Model Management

• /model [name] - Switch model (interactive picker if no name)
• /models - List all supported models

Features (OpenAI only)

• /tool websearch on|off - Enable/disable web search
• /reasoning on|off - Enable/disable reasoning summaries
• /effort [low|medium|high] - Set reasoning effort level (GPT-5 only)

Other

• /help - Show help
• /exit - Exit the CLI

Environment Variables

• OPENAI_API_KEY - Your OpenAI API key (required for OpenAI models)
• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY - Your Anthropic API key (required for Anthropic models)
• OPENAI_BASE_URL - Custom base URL for OpenAI API (optional, for proxies)
• DEFAULT_MODEL - Default model if not specified (default: gpt-5)

Session Storage

Sessions are stored as JSON files in ~/.chat_cli_sessions/. Each session contains:

• Conversation history
• Current model
• Feature settings (web search, reasoning)
• Metadata (last updated time)

Differences from Python Version

While functionally equivalent, this Rust version offers:

• Better performance - Faster startup and lower memory usage
• Enhanced safety - Rust's type system prevents many common errors
• Improved error handling - More detailed error messages and recovery
• Modern UI - Better terminal colors and interactive selection
• Cross-platform - Single binary that works across platforms

Development

Project Structure

src/
├── main.rs           # Entry point and CLI argument parsing
├── cli.rs            # Main CLI loop and command handling
├── core/
│   ├── mod.rs        # Core module exports
│   ├── session.rs    # Session management and persistence
│   ├── client.rs     # API clients for OpenAI and Anthropic
│   └── provider.rs   # Provider definitions and model lists
└── utils/
    ├── mod.rs        # Utility module exports
    ├── display.rs    # Terminal display and formatting
    └── input.rs      # Input handling and interactive prompts

Building

# Development build
cargo build

# Release build (optimized)
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

# Run with debug output
RUST_LOG=debug cargo run

# Format code
cargo fmt

# Check for issues
cargo clippy

License

This project maintains the same license as the original Python version.