BibiGPT CLI (bibi)

Summarize videos, audio, and podcasts from the terminal using the BibiGPT API.

Installation

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install --cask jimmylv/bibigpt/bibigpt

Windows

Download the installer from: https://bibigpt.co/download/desktop

winget install BibiGPT --source winget

Verify installation

bibi --version

Authentication

After installing, the user must log in via the desktop app at least once. The CLI reads the saved session automatically from the desktop app's settings.

Alternatively, set an API token:

export BIBI_API_TOKEN=<token>

On Windows (PowerShell):

$env:BIBI_API_TOKEN="<token>"

Commands

Summarize a URL

Important: URLs containing ? or & must be quoted to avoid shell glob errors.

# Basic summary (Markdown output to stdout)
bibi summarize "<URL>"

# Async mode — recommended for long videos (>30min)
bibi summarize "<URL>" --async

# Chapter-by-chapter summary
bibi summarize "<URL>" --chapter

# Fetch subtitles/transcript only (no AI summary)
bibi summarize "<URL>" --subtitle

# Full JSON response
bibi summarize "<URL>" --json

# Combine flags
bibi summarize "<URL>" --subtitle --json

Supported URL types: YouTube, Bilibili, podcasts, audio files, and any URL supported by BibiGPT.

Authentication

# Check current auth status
bibi auth check

# Open browser to log in
bibi auth login

# Show how to set API token
bibi auth set-token <TOKEN>

Updates

# Check if a new version is available
bibi check-update

# Download and install the latest version
bibi self-update

Output Format

• Default: Markdown summary text sent to stdout. Progress info goes to stderr.
• --json: Complete API response as pretty-printed JSON to stdout.

This means you can pipe the output:

bibi summarize "<URL>" > summary.md
bibi summarize "<URL>" --json | jq '.summary'

Error Handling

Exit Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Error (auth missing, API error, timeout, etc.)

HTTP Status	User Action
401	Token expired — run bibi auth login or re-login in desktop app
402/403	Quota exceeded — visit https://bibigpt.co/pricing
429	Rate limited — wait and retry

Usage Tips

• For very long videos, use --async to avoid HTTP timeout.
• Use --subtitle to get raw subtitles/transcript without AI summarization.
• Use --json when you need structured data (e.g., sourceUrl, htmlUrl, detail).
• The --chapter flag provides section-by-section summaries, useful for lectures or tutorials.
• The CLI does NOT open any GUI window — all output goes to the terminal.
• Run bibi check-update periodically to get new features and bug fixes.