🛟 HelpMe CLI

Turn plain-English requests into precise, copy‑pasteable shell commands.

What you can do

• One‑shot: helpme "<request>" → prints a command, copies it to the clipboard, and exits.
• Resume chat: helpme --interactive (or run with no args) → ask follow‑ups; no auto‑copy; exit with Ctrl+C.

🚀 Install from GitHub (global)

# Repo: [harris-boyce/helpme-cli](https://github.com/harris-boyce/helpme-cli)
# optionally pin a ref with @main or @v0.1.0
npm install --global github:harris-boyce/helpme-cli@main

# now run anywhere
helpme "use git to pull the latest changes"
helpme --interactive

▶️ Run via npx (GitHub)

# optionally pin a branch or tag with @main
npx --yes github:harris-boyce/helpme-cli helpme "use git to pull the latest changes"

# interactive/resume mode (no argv request)
npx --yes github:harris-boyce/helpme-cli helpme --interactive

Notes:

• Requires Node 18+. The command downloads the repo tarball, installs deps in a temp dir, and runs the helpme bin.
• Configure providers via environment (export) or a .env in your current working directory before running npx.

🧑‍💻 Local install (dev)

cd helpme-cli
npm install
# optional: create a global symlink so `helpme` runs from any terminal
npm link

🕹️ Usage

# One‑shot examples (auto‑copy + auto‑exit)
helpme "use git to pull the latest changes"         # returns: git pull
helpme "list all running processes"                 # returns: ps aux (or similar)
helpme "what is the capital of New York?"           # returns: Albany.

# Force interactive mode (no argv request)
helpme --interactive

# Options
helpme --no-copy                    # skip clipboard (one‑shot only)
helpme --provider gemini            # force provider (gemini | ollama)

🔌 Unlink / remove the global command

# remove the global symlink created by `npm link`
npm unlink -g helpme-cli

If your terminal does not recognize helpme after linking, open a new terminal window or ensure your global npm bin is on PATH (e.g., $(npm bin -g)).

⚙️ Env / Config (root project dir)

Create a .env file in the directory where you run helpme:

HELPME_PROVIDER=gemini      # or: ollama
OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:11434
HELPME_OLLAMA_MODEL=llama3.2
GOOGLE_API_KEY=...
GOOGLE_MODEL=gemini-2.5-flash  # or: gemini-1.5-pro

ℹ️ Notes

• Supports both command suggestions and concise factual answers. The model chooses based on your question.
• If misconfigured, HelpMe shows clear setup instructions on first run.
• To switch providers quickly per‑run:

  HELPME_PROVIDER=ollama HELPME_OLLAMA_MODEL=llama3.2 helpme "show current git branch"
  HELPME_PROVIDER=gemini GOOGLE_API_KEY=... helpme "create and checkout a branch named feature/login"