thanhvg / gptel

A no-frills ChatGPT client for Emacs

GPTel: A simple ChatGPT client for Emacs

GPTel is a simple, no-frills ChatGPT client for Emacs.

• Requires an OpenAI API key.
• No external dependencies, only Emacs. Also, it’s async.
• Interaction is in a Markdown (or text) buffer.
• Supports conversations (not just one-off queries) and multiple independent sessions.
• You can go back and edit your previous prompts, or even ChatGPT’s previous responses when continuing a conversation. These will be fed back to ChatGPT.

Installation

Package.el

Clone this repository and run M-x package-install-file.

Installing the markdown-mode package is optional.

Straight

(straight-use-package '(gptel :host github :repo "karthink/gptel"))

Installing the markdown-mode package is optional.

Manual

Install emacs-aio, (M-x package-install⏎ emacs-aio⏎), then clone this repository and load this file:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/gptel/")
(require 'gptel)

Installing the markdown-mode package is optional.

Usage

Procure an OpenAI API key.

Optional: Set gptel-api-key to the key or to a function that returns the key (more secure).

Run M-x gptel to start or switch to the ChatGPT buffer. It will ask you for the key if you skipped the previous step.

Run it with a prefix-arg (C-u M-x gptel) to start a new session.

In the gptel buffer, send your prompt with M-x gptel-send, bound to C-c RET.

That’s it. You can go back and edit previous prompts and responses if you want.

Why another ChatGPT client?

Existing Emacs clients don’t reliably let me use it the simple way I can in the browser. They will get better, but I wanted something for now.

Also, AI-assisted work is a new way to use Emacs. It’s not yet clear what the best Emacs interface to tools like it is.

• Should it be part of CAPF (completions-at-point-functions)?
• A dispatch menu from anywhere that can act on selected regions?
• A comint/shell-style REPL?
• One-off queries in the minibuffer (like shell-command)?
• A refactoring tool in code buffers?
• An org-babel interface?

Maybe all of these, I don’t know yet. As a start, I wanted to replicate the web browser usage pattern so I can build from there – and don’t need to switch to the browser every time. The code is fairly simple right now.

Will you add feature X?

Maybe, I’d like to experiment a bit first.

• Support for Org Mode instead of Markdown, including source blocks etc, is planned.
• I’m experimenting with using it in code buffers.