Access large language models from the command-line
See the code
A CLI tool and Python library for interacting with OpenAI, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, Qwen, Gemma, Kimi, DeepSeek, Mistral, and dozens of other Large Language Models, both via remote APIs and with models that can be installed and run on your own machine.
Watch Language models on the command-line on YouTube for a demo or read the accompanying detailed notes.
With LLM you can:
First, install LLM using pip or Homebrew or pipx or uv:
pip install llm
Or with Homebrew (see warning note):
brew install llm
Or with pipx:
pipx install llm
Or with uv
uv tool install llm
Use LLM to run prompts or start chats against an arbitrary OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions endpoint, such as LM Studio. With uvx, you can do this without installing LLM first:
uvx llm openai endpoint http://localhost:1234/v1 \
-m google/gemma-4-12b \
"What is the capital of France?"
uvx llm openai endpoint http://localhost:1234/v1 \
-m google/gemma-4-12b \
--chat
Add --key your-api-key if the endpoint requires authentication. See Run against an endpoint without configuring it for more options.
If you have an OpenAI API key key you can run this:
# Paste your OpenAI API key into this
llm keys set openai
# Run a prompt (with the default gpt-5.6-luna model)
llm "Ten fun names for a pet pelican"
# Extract text from an image
llm "extract text" -a scanned-document.jpg
# Use a system prompt against a file
cat myfile.py | llm -s "Explain this code"
Run prompts against Gemini or Anthropic with their respective plugins:
llm install llm-gemini
llm keys set gemini
# Paste Gemini API key here
llm -m gemini-3.5-flash 'Tell me fun facts about Mountain View'
llm install llm-anthropic
llm keys set anthropic
# Paste Anthropic API key here
llm -m claude-sonnet-5 'Impress me with wild facts about turnips'
You can also install a plugin to access models that can run on your local device. If you use Ollama:
# Install the plugin
llm install llm-ollama
# Download and run a prompt against the Orca Mini 7B model
ollama pull llama3.2:latest
llm -m llama3.2:latest 'What is the capital of France?'
To start an interactive chat with a model, use llm chat:
llm chat -m gpt-4.1
Chatting with gpt-4.1
Type 'exit' or 'quit' to exit
Type '!multi' to enter multiple lines, then '!end' to finish
Type '!edit' to open your default editor and modify the prompt.
Type '!fragment <my_fragment> [<another_fragment> ...]' to insert one or more fragments
> Tell me a joke about a pelican
Why don't pelicans like to tip waiters?
Because they always have a big bill!
For everything else, see the llm tag on my blog.
(top 24 of 262)
140 followers · starred Jul 2025
1,565 followers · starred Jun 2025
945 followers · starred May 2024
379 followers · starred Apr 2025
Access large language models from the command-line
See the code
A CLI tool and Python library for interacting with OpenAI, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, Qwen, Gemma, Kimi, DeepSeek, Mistral, and dozens of other Large Language Models, both via remote APIs and with models that can be installed and run on your own machine.
Watch Language models on the command-line on YouTube for a demo or read the accompanying detailed notes.
With LLM you can:
First, install LLM using pip or Homebrew or pipx or uv:
pip install llm
Or with Homebrew (see warning note):
brew install llm
Or with pipx:
pipx install llm
Or with uv
uv tool install llm
Use LLM to run prompts or start chats against an arbitrary OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions endpoint, such as LM Studio. With uvx, you can do this without installing LLM first:
uvx llm openai endpoint http://localhost:1234/v1 \
-m google/gemma-4-12b \
"What is the capital of France?"
uvx llm openai endpoint http://localhost:1234/v1 \
-m google/gemma-4-12b \
--chat
Add --key your-api-key if the endpoint requires authentication. See Run against an endpoint without configuring it for more options.
If you have an OpenAI API key key you can run this:
# Paste your OpenAI API key into this
llm keys set openai
# Run a prompt (with the default gpt-5.6-luna model)
llm "Ten fun names for a pet pelican"
# Extract text from an image
llm "extract text" -a scanned-document.jpg
# Use a system prompt against a file
cat myfile.py | llm -s "Explain this code"
Run prompts against Gemini or Anthropic with their respective plugins:
llm install llm-gemini
llm keys set gemini
# Paste Gemini API key here
llm -m gemini-3.5-flash 'Tell me fun facts about Mountain View'
llm install llm-anthropic
llm keys set anthropic
# Paste Anthropic API key here
llm -m claude-sonnet-5 'Impress me with wild facts about turnips'
You can also install a plugin to access models that can run on your local device. If you use Ollama:
# Install the plugin
llm install llm-ollama
# Download and run a prompt against the Orca Mini 7B model
ollama pull llama3.2:latest
llm -m llama3.2:latest 'What is the capital of France?'
To start an interactive chat with a model, use llm chat:
llm chat -m gpt-4.1
Chatting with gpt-4.1
Type 'exit' or 'quit' to exit
Type '!multi' to enter multiple lines, then '!end' to finish
Type '!edit' to open your default editor and modify the prompt.
Type '!fragment <my_fragment> [<another_fragment> ...]' to insert one or more fragments
> Tell me a joke about a pelican
Why don't pelicans like to tip waiters?
Because they always have a big bill!
For everything else, see the llm tag on my blog.
(top 24 of 262)
140 followers · starred Jul 2025
1,565 followers · starred Jun 2025
945 followers · starred May 2024
379 followers · starred Apr 2025