AiAsk - Minimal GitHub Copilot CLI

A super minimalistic CLI tool for asking questions to GitHub Copilot. Single file, Docker-ready, with persistent authentication and daily logging.

Features

• 🤖 Ask GitHub Copilot - Get quick answers from AI
• 🔐 One-time authentication - GitHub OAuth with persistent token storage
• 📝 Daily logging - Automatic logging of all questions and answers
• 🐳 Docker containerized - Persistent container for fast responses
• ⚡ Minimalistic - Single TypeScript file (~180 lines)

Installation

Prerequisites

• Docker (for containerized setup)
• Node.js 20+ (for direct usage)

Docker Setup (Recommended)

1. Clone and setup:

   git clone <your-repo>
   cd aiask
   ./setup.sh

2. Reload your shell:

   source ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc for zsh users
   # Or simply restart your terminal

Direct Usage (Alternative)

git clone <your-repo>
cd aiask
npm install

Usage

Basic Usage

# Docker setup (after installation)
aiask "your question here"

# Direct usage
npm run ask "your question here"

Example Commands

aiask "list top 5 GDP countries as table"
aiask "explain quantum computing in simple terms" 
aiask "what is the difference between async and sync?"
aiask "write a Python function to sort a list"

Log Management

All interactions are automatically logged with timestamps. Here's how to view them:

List Log Files

docker exec -it aiask-container ls -la /app/data/logs/

View Today's Log

docker exec -it aiask-container cat /app/data/logs/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log

View Specific Date Log

docker exec -it aiask-container cat /app/data/logs/2025-07-09.log

View Last 10 Entries

docker exec -it aiask-container tail -10 /app/data/logs/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log

Follow Live Log Updates

docker exec -it aiask-container tail -f /app/data/logs/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log

Search in Logs

# Search in today's log
docker exec -it aiask-container grep -i "python" /app/data/logs/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log

# Search across all logs
docker exec -it aiask-container grep -r "programming" /app/data/logs/

Copy Logs to Host

# Copy today's log
docker cp aiask-container:/app/data/logs/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log ./

# Copy all logs
docker cp aiask-container:/app/data/logs/ ./logs/

Interactive Log Browsing

docker exec -it aiask-container sh
cd /app/data/logs
ls -la
cat 2025-07-09.log
exit

Log Format

2025-07-09T10:06:44.566Z
INPUT: what is 2+2?
OUTPUT: 4
---

Authentication

On first use, you'll be prompted to authenticate with GitHub:

1. Visit the provided URL
2. Enter the device code
3. Press Enter to continue
4. Token is saved automatically for future use

File Structure

aiask/
├── ask.ts              # Single source file (main application)
├── package.json        # Dependencies and scripts
├── tsconfig.json       # TypeScript configuration
├── Dockerfile          # Docker container setup
├── setup.sh           # Setup script for Docker
├── token              # GitHub token (auto-generated)
├── logs/              # Daily log files
│   └── 2025-07-09.log # Format: YYYY-MM-DD.log
└── dist/              # Built JavaScript (auto-generated)
    └── ask.js

Configuration

The app uses these environment variables (Docker only):

• NODE_NO_WARNINGS - Suppresses Node.js deprecation warnings

System prompt: "Answer shortly as an engineer would."

Logging

All interactions are automatically logged to daily files:

2025-07-09T09:48:30.932Z
INPUT: what is 2+2?
OUTPUT: 4
---

Docker Details

The Docker setup creates:

• Persistent container - aiask-container (faster than creating new containers)
• Data volume - ~/.aiask-data (stores token and logs)
• Auto-restart - Container starts automatically with Docker

Commands

# Setup (one-time)
./setup.sh

# Ask questions
aiask "your question"

# Manual usage
npm run ask "your question"
npm run build                    # Build TypeScript
node dist/ask.js "your question" # Run built version

# Docker management
docker stop aiask-container                           # Stop container
docker start aiask-container                          # Start container
docker exec -it aiask-container node dist/ask.js "q" # Direct container usage

Cleanup

Remove everything:

docker stop aiask-container
docker rm aiask-container
docker rmi aiask
rm ~/.aiask_alias.sh

Dependencies

• @vscode/copilot-api - GitHub Copilot API client
• undici - Fast HTTP client
• typescript + ts-node - TypeScript support

License

MIT