Commands as AI Conversations
Diomidis Spinellis (Athens University of Economics and Business, TU Delft - Software Engineering)
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Abstract
Developers and data scientists often struggle to write command-line inputs, even though graphical interfaces or tools like ChatGPT can assist. The solution? "ai-cli,"an open-source system inspired by GitHub Copilot that converts natural language prompts into executable commands for various Linux command-line tools. By tapping into OpenAI's API, which allows interaction through JSON HTTP requests, "ai-cli"transforms user queries into actionable command-line instructions. However, integrating AI assistance across multiple command-line tools, especially in open source settings, can be complex. Historically, operating systems could mediate, but individual tool functionality and the lack of a unified approach have made centralized integration challenging. The "ai-cli"tool, by bridging this gap through dynamic loading and linking with each program's Readline library API, makes command-line interfaces smarter and more user-friendly, opening avenues for further enhancement and cross-platform applicability.