Prompting LLMs in Bash scripts

In plain words

Prompting LLMs in Bash scripts is a developer tool that enables users to integrate large language models into bash scripts. It provides a straightforward way to call LLMs directly from the command line, making it useful for developers who want to automate tasks or add AI capabilities to shell-based workflows. The tool is designed for developers comfortable working in bash environments who need quick LLM integration without complex setup.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Of course it's that easy.

I’ve been ex­per­i­ment­ing with us­ing LLMs lo­cally for gen­er­at­ing datasets to test Harper against. I might write a blog post about the tech­nique (which I am grandiosely call­ing “ LLM-assisted fuzzing”), but I’m go­ing to make you wait. I’ve writ­ten a lit­tle tool called ofc that lets you in­sert Ollama into your bash scripts . I think it’s pretty neat, since it (very eas­ily) lets you do some pretty cool things. #!/bin/bash subreddits=( "r/vscode" "r/neovim" "r/wallstreetbets" ) # Loop over each item in the list for subreddit in " ${subreddits[@]} " ; do echo "++++++++ BEGIN $subreddit ++++++++" ofc --system-prompt "Assume the persona of a commenter of $subreddit " "What is your…from elijahpotter.dev

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  Bash4LLM+ – A lightweight, dependency-free Bash wrapper for LLM APIsJun 2026 · github.com · ▲60

  Bash4LLM is a single-file Bash wrapper for interacting with LLMs from the terminal. I created it because I wanted something simple that worked without installing Python, Node, or any other runtime. It uses only Bash, curl, and jq. You can send prompts, start a small chat, process files line by line, stream output, and save session metadata in JSON format. I tried to make it safe and predictable: no use of the system /tmp, no use of eval. Groq is supported by default, and other providers can be added with dedicated Bash scripts in the extras/providers/ folder. Example: echo…

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  Ell – A command-line interface for LLMs written in Bash2024 · github.com · ▲214

  Hi HN! I've created a CLI tool called "ell" that allows you to interact with LLMs directly from your terminal. Designed with the Unix philosophy in mind, ell is simple, modular, and extensible. You can easily pipe input and output to integrate with other tools. Its templates and hook-based plugins enable you to customize and extend its functionality to suit any needs. Check out the README for usage instructions and examples. I developed this tool because existing solutions often felt too heavy, with many dependencies, or they weren't friendly to piping and customization. I, on the contrary,…

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  My LLM CLI tool can run tools now, from Python code or plugins2025 · simonwillison.net · ▲529

  LLM 0.26 is out with the biggest new feature since I started the project: support for tools. You can now use the LLM CLI tool—and Python library—to grant LLMs from …

• AP
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  Llm2sh – Translate plain-language requests into shell commands2024 · github.com · ▲67

  This is my take on the common "use llms to generate shell commands" utility. Emphasis is placed on good CLI UX, simplicity, and flexibility. `llm2sh` supports multiple LLM providers and lets LLMs generate multi-command sequences to handle complex tasks. There is also limited support for commands requiring `sudo` and other basic input. I recommend using Groq llama3-70b for day-to-day use. The ultra-low latency is a game-changer - its near-instant responses helps `llm2sh` integrate seamlessly into day-to-day tasks without breaking you out of the 'zone'. For more advanced tasks, swapping to…

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  Recursive LLM Prompts2023 · github.com · ▲97

  I've been playing with the idea of an LLM prompt that causes the model to generate and return a new prompt. https://github.com/andyk/recursive_llm The idea I'm starting with is to implement recursion using English as the programming language and GPT as the runtime. It’s kind of like traditional recursion in code, but instead of having a function that calls itself with a different set of arguments, there is a prompt that returns itself with specific parts updated to reflect the new arguments. Here is a prompt for infinitely generating Fibonacci numbers: > You are a…

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