Command K - AI Command Assistant

Like Cursor's CMD+K, but for your terminal and Neovim. Get AI-powered command and code suggestions with full context awareness.

Features

• Context-aware: Captures terminal content, working directory, git status, shell history
• Follow-ups: Continue conversations without losing context
• Preview first: See the suggestion before inserting
• Smart detection: Knows if you're in vim, a REPL, SSH session, etc.
• Works anywhere: SSH sessions, containers, any terminal — not locked to a specific app
• Use your own AI: Bring Claude Code, Codex, Oh My Pi, or a custom provider
• No account required: No sign-up, no telemetry
• Open source: MIT licensed, fully hackable

Variants

Command K comes in two flavors — choose based on your workflow:

Variant	Best For	Dependencies
tmux plugin	tmux users who want ⌘K in a popup without leaving their session	tmux 3.2+, gum
Standalone CLI	Anyone who wants AI command help in any terminal	gum (bash) or Rust (cmdk-rs)

tmux plugin — Binds to prefix + Ctrl-k, opens in a tmux popup, can insert commands directly into your pane. Context is captured from the active pane.

Standalone CLI — Run cmdk (bash) or cmdk-rs (Rust) from any terminal. Same features, but you copy/paste the result yourself. The Rust version is faster and also powers the Neovim plugin.

Both share the same configuration (~/.command-k/) and conversation history.

Installation

With TPM (recommended)

Install TPM (Tmux Plugin Manager).

Add to ~/.tmux.conf:

set -g @plugin 'alexandernicholson/command-k'

Then press prefix + I (as in, capital I) to install.

Updates are performed with prefix + U (as in, capital U), followed by typing the name of the plugin, command-k and pressing ENTER.

Manual

git clone https://github.com/alexandernicholson/command-k ~/.tmux/plugins/command-k

# Add to ~/.tmux.conf
echo "run-shell ~/.tmux/plugins/command-k/command-k.tmux" >> ~/.tmux.conf

# Reload tmux
tmux source ~/.tmux.conf

Requirements

• AI CLI (one of):
  • Claude Code (claude)
  • Codex CLI (codex)
  • Oh My Pi (omp)
• bash 4+ or zsh
• For tmux plugin: tmux 3.2+ (for display-popup)
• For standalone CLI (bash): gum
• For Rust CLI / Neovim: Rust/Cargo (to build cmdk-rs)

Usage

Standalone CLI (no tmux required)

Bash version (requires gum):

# Add to your PATH
ln -s ~/.tmux/plugins/command-k/cmdk ~/.local/bin/cmdk

# Interactive TUI
cmdk

# Quick query (outputs command directly)
cmdk -q "find files larger than 100MB"

# View current context
cmdk -c

# Privacy settings
cmdk -s

Rust version (faster, no gum dependency):

# Build
cd cmdk-rs && cargo build --release

# Add to your PATH
ln -s ~/.tmux/plugins/command-k/cmdk-rs/target/release/cmdk-rs ~/.local/bin/cmdk-rs

# Same commands as above
cmdk-rs
cmdk-rs -q "find files larger than 100MB"

Neovim Plugin

See docs/NEOVIM.md for full documentation.

Quick setup with lazy.nvim:

{
  "alexandernicholson/command-k",
  build = "cd cmdk-rs && cargo build --release",
  config = function()
    require("cmdk").setup({
      keymap = "<C-k>",  -- Press Ctrl+K to open
    })
  end,
}

Features:

• Opens in floating window (like tmux popup)
• Captures buffer content, filetype, LSP diagnostics
• Insert at cursor, replace line/selection, or copy
• Visual mode support for refactoring selected code

tmux Plugin

1. Press prefix + Ctrl-k (default: C-b C-k)
2. Type what you need: "git command to undo last commit"
3. Review the suggestion
4. Press i to insert, c to copy, f to follow up, q to quit

Commands in the popup

Command	Action
/clear	Reset conversation history
/context	Show captured terminal context
/history	Show conversation history
/settings	Privacy settings menu
/insert	Insert last result
/quit	Exit

Action keys

Key	Action
i	Insert result to terminal
c	Copy to clipboard
f	Follow up (continue conversation)
q	Quit

Configuration

AI Provider

Command K supports Claude, Codex, Oh My Pi, and custom providers. Configure via /settings or edit ~/.command-k/settings.conf:

# Options: auto, claude, codex, omp, custom
ai_provider=auto

# Optional; empty uses the provider default
ai_model=

auto prefers Claude, then Codex, then Oh My Pi. The selected model is passed to every built-in provider; custom providers receive it as COMMAND_K_MODEL.

tmux Options

Add to ~/.tmux.conf before the plugin loads:

# Change keybinding (default: C-k)
set -g @command-k-key 'k'

# Popup size (default: 80% x 70%)
set -g @command-k-width '90%'
set -g @command-k-height '80%'

Privacy Controls

Use /settings in the popup to control what context is sent to Claude. All settings are persistent.

Setting	Description
Terminal content	Last 500 lines of visible output
Shell history	Recent command history
Git status	Branch and modified files
Working directory	Current path
Environment variables	Variable names only (values never sent)
Shell type	bash, zsh, fish, etc.
Terminal size	Dimensions
Current process	Running command

Settings are stored in ~/.command-k/settings.conf.

How It Works

1. Captures context from your current pane (based on privacy settings):

   • Terminal content (last 500 lines)
   • Working directory
   • Current command/process
   • Git status (if in repo)
   • Shell type and environment variable names
   • Recent shell history

2. Sends to Claude Code with conversation history for context

3. Shows response in popup with options:

   • Insert directly to terminal
   • Copy to clipboard
   • Continue conversation (follow-up)

Examples

> git command to squash last 3 commits into one
git rebase -i HEAD~3

> [f] make it non-interactive, use the first commit message
git reset --soft HEAD~3 && git commit --reuse-message=HEAD@{3}

> kubectl command to get all pods with high memory usage
kubectl top pods --all-namespaces | sort -k4 -h | tail -20

> one-liner to find all files modified in last 24h larger than 100MB
find . -type f -mtime -1 -size +100M -ls

Files

• ~/.command-k/ - Conversation history and state
  • session-*.md - Per-pane conversation history (auto-expires after 1 hour)
  • last-result.txt - Most recent response

Tips

• Use follow-ups to refine: "make it recursive" or "add error handling"
• Works great for:
  • Complex git commands
  • One-liners (awk, sed, find, etc.)
  • Docker/kubectl commands
  • Quick scripts
  • Explaining what's on screen
• The context capture helps Claude understand what you're working on

License

MIT