Abstract

Vern is a minimalist command-line interface for interacting with OpenAI's API, designed with developers and power users in mind. It enables persistent, scriptable conversations directly from the terminal, with features like session recall, customizable prompts, and seamless integration into shell workflows. Vern supports both interactive use and automation, making it ideal for rapid prototyping, debugging, or simply chatting with an AI assistant without leaving the command line. By storing and managing conversation history, vern bridges the gap between ephemeral terminal use and long-form AI interaction.

Methodology

vern is built as a Python-based command-line application that interfaces with OpenAI’s API using HTTP requests. It maintains a local session history by storing each prompt and response in structured text files, allowing users to recall, review, and resume previous conversations. Sessions are timestamped and organized in project directories for clarity and reuse.

The CLI is designed to be lightweight and dependency-minimal, supporting both interactive use and scripted input. Users can pass prompts via arguments, pipe text from files or other commands, and specify voice options or output formats for future integrations like text-to-speech.

Vern handles API interaction asynchronously where possible, and provides customization through configuration files or command-line flags. By focusing on composability and shell-native design, vern fits naturally into terminal workflows and promotes automation.

Results

vern supports a wide range of use cases that demonstrate its versatility as a command-line tool for interacting with OpenAI’s models. Users can start interactive conversations, create named sessions with persistent context, and apply predefined system roles such as:

Recipe Generator – Produces LaTeX-formatted recipes based on ingredients provided by the user.

Code Generator – Outputs raw, executable code in response to developer prompts.

Code Commentor – Annotates source code with detailed explanations, line by line.

Modern Translator – Translates historical or archaic English into natural, modern English.

In practical examples, vern has been used to:

Generate bash scripts based on natural-language descriptions.

Comment Bitcoin’s pow.cpp with readable, inline explanations.

Translate the Prologue of The Canterbury Tales into modern English.

Create scalable recipe PDFs using LaTeX, including adjusted ingredient proportions.

Session history enables seamless follow-up prompts, preserving conversational flow and context. Interactive and scripted usage modes are both supported.

For complete examples, including inputs, outputs, and demo files, visit the vern GitHub repository at https://github.com/rpgrimm/vern/, or browse detailed results in the output_samples folder at https://github.com/rpgrimm/vern/tree/main/demos/output_samples.