cli-dev-tip

A terminal tool that helps developers learn continuously by showing bite-sized technical tips — right in the terminal, between commands.

What it does

• Shows tips periodically during your shell session (every N commands or M minutes)
• First tip appears immediately when you open a terminal
• Covers general IT topics by default — Python, Git, Docker, Linux, Kubernetes, and more
• Filters by topic or difficulty level
• Remembers what you've seen so you don't get repeats
• Optional AI-powered tip generation via Gemini or OpenRouter (free, no extra packages needed)
• Zero prompt latency — all periodic logic runs as pure shell code, Python only invoked when showing a tip
• Pause/resume tips without removing the hook

Installation

uv tool install cli-dev-tip

Also works with pip or pipx:

pip install cli-dev-tip
# or
pipx install cli-dev-tip

This makes dev-tip available globally from any terminal.

Upgrading

uv tool install cli-dev-tip --upgrade
# or
pip install cli-dev-tip --upgrade

Quick start

The recommended setup — AI-generated tips covering general IT topics, appearing every 15 commands or 30 minutes:

dev-tip enable --provider gemini --key YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY

Get a free Gemini API key at https://aistudio.google.com or a free OpenRouter key at https://openrouter.ai/keys.

More examples:

# Static tips only (125 built in, works offline)
dev-tip enable

# AI tips, focused on Python, advanced level
dev-tip enable --provider gemini --key YOUR_KEY --topic python --level advanced

# Show tips more frequently — every 5 commands or every 10 minutes
dev-tip enable --provider gemini --key YOUR_KEY --every-commands 5 --every-minutes 10

# Quiet mode — body only, no header/emoji
dev-tip enable --quiet

# Disable
dev-tip disable

enable options

Option	Short	Description	Default
--provider	-p	AI provider (gemini, openrouter)	None (static tips)
--key	-k	API key for the AI provider	Config or env var
--topic	-t	Filter tips by topic	General IT topics
--level	-l	Filter tips by difficulty	All levels
--every-commands		Show a tip every N commands	15
--every-minutes		Show a tip every N minutes	30
--quiet	-q	Show tip body only, no header	false

Tips appear when either threshold is reached — whichever comes first. The first tip always shows immediately on shell startup.

Usage

One-off tips from the command line:

# Show a random tip (general IT topics, all levels)
dev-tip

# Filter by topic
dev-tip --topic python
dev-tip -t git

# Filter by difficulty level
dev-tip --level beginner
dev-tip -l advanced

# Combine filters
dev-tip --topic docker --level intermediate

# Quiet mode — body only, no header
dev-tip --quiet

# Use AI provider for a one-off tip
dev-tip --provider gemini --key YOUR_KEY

One-off options

Option	Short	Description	Default
--topic	-t	Filter tips by topic	General IT topics
--level	-l	Filter tips by difficulty	All levels
--provider	-p	AI provider (gemini, openrouter)	None
--key	-k	API key for the AI provider	Config or env var
--quiet	-q	Show tip body only, no header	false

Unknown topics produce a warning when using static tips (AI can handle any topic). Unknown levels always warn.

Available topics

Topic	Count
python	15
git	15
docker	15
sql	15
linux	15
kubernetes	10
vim	10
javascript	10
terraform	10
rust	10

125 tips built in. With AI enabled, any topic works and tips are generated fresh.

Difficulty levels

Level	Description
beginner	Fundamentals and common patterns
intermediate	Deeper concepts and useful tricks
advanced	Expert techniques and edge cases

Commands

dev-tip pause / dev-tip resume

Temporarily stop tips without removing the hook:

This creates/removes a .paused file in ~/.dev-tip/. The shell hook checks for it with a fast [ -f ] test — no Python invoked when paused.

dev-tip status

Show current configuration and diagnostics:

Displays hook state, pause status, config values, AI provider info, cache stats, and tip history count.

dev-tip clear-cache

Clear cached AI tips to force fresh generation:

dev-tip clear-cache

AI-powered tips

Generate fresh tips dynamically instead of using the built-in collection. Both providers are free.

Provider	Default model	Free key
gemini	gemini-2.0-flash	https://aistudio.google.com
openrouter	google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free	https://openrouter.ai/keys

How it works

• Generates 10 tips per API call and caches them locally (~/.dev-tip/ai_cache.json)
• Cache never expires — use dev-tip clear-cache to force refresh
• Cache is keyed by topic+level combination
• Falls back to static tips silently on any error (bad key, network failure, rate limit)

Configuration

Settings are stored in ~/.dev-tip/config.toml:

# topic = "python"
# level = "beginner"
# ai_provider = "gemini"
# ai_model = "gemini-2.0-flash"
# every_commands = 15
# every_minutes = 30
# quiet = false

Values passed via dev-tip enable flags are saved here automatically. Comments in the config file are preserved when values are updated.