AI Shell is a CLI tool that brings the power of artificial intelligence directly to your command line! Designed to help you get command assistance from various AI assistants, AI Shell is a versatile tool to help you become more productive in the command line. We call these various AI assistant providers agents. You can use agents to interact with different generative AI models or other AI/ML/assistant providers in a conversational manner.
AI Shell is a command-line interface (CLI) tool designed to integrate the power of artificial intelligence directly into your command-line environment. It enables users to interact with various AI-powered assistance providers, known as agents, to enhance productivity and streamline tasks in the terminal.
README
AI Shell
Welcome to the AI Shell repository! AI Shell is a CLI tool that brings the power of artificial
intelligence directly to your command line! Designed to help you get command assistance from various
AI assistants, AI Shell is a versatile tool to help you become more productive in the command line.
We call these various AI assistant providers agents. You can use agents to interact with different
generative AI models or other AI/ML/assistant providers in a conversational manner. This repo
contains the code of the AI Shell engine, agents and details on how to create your own agent.
You may have seen this project previously as Project Mercury. This was the code name that was
used before we created the AI Shell brand. We are now in the process of transitioning to the new
brand. The code name may still be used in some places, but the product name is now AI Shell.
This project is currently in a very early public preview state. Expect many significant changes
to the code as we experiment and refine the user experiences of this tool. We appreciate your
feedback and patience as we continue our development.
New to AI Shell?
To learn more about AI Shell, we recommend you check out the overview page of the AI Shell
documentation.
Usage
There are two modes to use AI Shell, standalone and a side-by-side, integrated experience with
PowerShell 7. For more information see,
Real-time command assistance from multiple AI models.
Support for diverse agents, including OpenAI GPT and Azure AI services.
Interactive chat interface with markdown rendering capabilities.
Feedback mechanisms like /like and /dislike to refine responses.
Cross-platform compatibility, optimized for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for developers, IT professionals, and anyone working in command-line environments who seek efficient, AI-driven assistance. By leveraging AI Shell, users can increase productivity, reduce errors, and explore innovative ways to interact with AI models directly from the terminal. Available via winget for easy installation.
Standalone experience
Getting AI Shell
AI Shell is supported on Windows, MacOS and Linux, however the best experience you can have is with
Windows, PowerShell 7 and Windows Terminal. For more information see,
Installing AI Shell.
Clone this repository, git clone https://github.com/PowerShell/AIShell
Import the build.psm1 module by running import-module ./build.psm1
Run the Start-Build command (You can specify which agents build with the -AgentsToInclude
parameter)
After the build is complete, you can find the produced executable aish in the out\debug\app
folder within the repository's root directory. You can add the location to the PATH environment
variable for easy access. The full path is copied to your clipboard after successful build.
AI Agents
AI Shell provides a framework for creating and registering multiple AI Agents. The agents are
libraries that you use to interact with different AI models or assistance providers. AI Shell
releases with two agents, the openai-gpt and azure agent. However there are additional ones
supported if you locally build the project:
When you run aish, you are prompted to choose an agent. For more details about each agent, see the
README in the each agent folder.
To learn more about how to create an agent for yourself please see, Creating an Agent.
In order to use the openai-gpt agent you will need a valid Azure OpenAI service or a public OpenAI
key. For more information on how to get an Azure OpenAI service, see
Deploying Azure OpenAI Service.
Chat commands
By default, aish provides a base set of chat / commands used to interact with the responses from
the AI model. To get a list of commands, use the /help command in the chat session.
Name Description Source
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
/agent Command for agent management. Core
/cls Clear the screen. Core
/code Command to interact with the code generated. Core
/dislike Dislike the last response and send feedback. Core
/exit Exit the interactive session. Core
/help Show all available commands. Core
/like Like the last response and send feedback. Core
/refresh Refresh the chat session. Core
/render Render a markdown file, for diagnosis purpose. Core
/retry Regenerate a new response for the last query. Core
Also, agents can implement their own commands. For example, the openai-gpt agent register the
command /gpt for managing the GPTs defined for the agent. Some commands, such as /like and
/dislike, are commands that sends feedback to the agents. It is up to the agents to consume the
feedback.
Key bindings for commands
AI Shell supports key bindings for the /code command. They are currently hard-coded, but custom
key bindings will be supported in future releases.
Key bindings
Command
Functionality
Ctrl+d, Ctrl+c
/code copy
Copy all the generated code snippets to clipboard
Ctrl+\
/code copy
Copy the n-th generated code snippet to clipboard
Ctrl+d, Ctrl+d
/code post
Post all the generated code snippets to the connected application
Ctrl+d, \
/code post
Post the n-th generated code snippet to the connected application
Configuration
Currently, AI Shell supports very basic configuration. One can creates a file named config.json
under ~/.aish to configure AI Shell, but it only supports declaring the default agent to use at
startup. This way you do not need to select agents every time you run aish.exe
Configuration of AI Shell will be improved in future releases to support custom key bindings, color
themes and more.
AI Shell does not capture, collect, store, or process any personal data or personally identifiable
information (PII). All data interactions are limited to the scope of the functionality provided by
the tool and do not involve any form of personal data collection.
Some agents integrated with AI Shell may collect telemetry data to improve performance, enhance user
experience, or troubleshoot issues. We recommend that you refer to the individual agent’s README or
documentation for more information on the telemetry practices and data collection policies for each
agent.
We're still in development and value your feedback! Please file issues in this repository for
bugs, suggestions, or feedback. If you would like to give more candid feedback and sign up for testing future versions and features before they are released, please fill out this form.
