Brief is a terminal OpenAI ChatGPT interface for fast, keyboard-first chat and tool use. It includes a slash-command palette, local tool execution (e.g., live weather), and supports OpenAI-compatible providers.
Built with tui4j.
Canonical repo: https://github.com/WilliamAGH/brief
Made by William Callahan.
Brief is a terminal-first chat client with a slash-command palette, local tool execution (e.g., live weather API), and OpenAI chat completion integration. Persistence and broader provider support are not implemented yet.
Brief is a showcase of what's possible in modern Java in 2026, and the interface library used (tui4j) is a Java port of the popular Go library called BubbleTea from Charm.
brew install williamagh/tap/briefOr install nightly (latest from main):
brew install --head williamagh/tap/briefThen run brief — the app will prompt you for your API key on first launch and save it to ~/.config/brief/config.
briefFor alternative providers (OpenRouter, Ollama, LMStudio) or advanced configuration, see the setup guide.
Download the latest release zip:
curl -L -o brief.zip https://github.com/WilliamAGH/brief/releases/latest/download/brief.zip
unzip brief.zip
cd brief-*/
./bin/briefWindows (PowerShell):
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://github.com/WilliamAGH/brief/releases/latest/download/brief.zip -OutFile brief.zip
Expand-Archive brief.zip -DestinationPath .
cd brief-*
.\bin\brief.batRequires Java 25. The app will prompt you for your API key on first launch.
- Java 25
- Gradle 9.x
- OpenAI API key (or compatible provider)
git clone https://github.com/WilliamAGH/brief.git
cd brief
cp .env-example .env # edit with your API key (development only)
make runNote: The
.envfile is for local development withmake run, and only for users who cloned this repository from GitHub. End users installing via Homebrew should use the in-app prompt or setOPENAI_API_KEYin their shell. See the setup guide for all options.
make run # Build and run
make build # Build only
make clean # Clean build artifactsPersistence is not implemented yet.
Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub. Contributions and feedback are welcome, and Pull Requests (PRs) are encouraged!
Currently building an implementation for aVenture.vc — a research tool that makes it possible to research any private company in seconds and get full details, all from the command line.