How to Set Up LLM (Simon Willison): A Practical Guide

# Install pipx if you don't have it
python3 -m pip install --user pipx
python3 -m pipx ensurepath

# Install LLM
pipx install llm

# Verify
llm --version
# Output: llm, version 0.15.0

# OpenAI (GPT-4, etc.)
llm keys set openai
# Paste your key when prompted

# Anthropic (Claude)
llm keys set anthropic

# ~/.llm/config
models:
  - name: gpt4
    model_id: gpt-4-turbo
    api_key: ${OPENAI_API_KEY}
  - name: claude3
    model_id: claude-3-opus-20240229
    api_key: ${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
llm "Summarize this document" --key env

llm "Explain Kubernetes in 3 bullet points"

- Container orchestration platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management
- Uses declarative configuration (YAML) to define desired state
- Components include control plane (API server, scheduler) and worker nodes (kubelet, kube-proxy)

# List available models
llm models

# Use a specific model
llm "Write a Python function to parse JSON" -m claude3

# Ollama (local models)
llm install llm-ollama
llm ollama pull llama3
llm -m ollama-llama3 "Explain LLMs to a 5-year-old"

# Google Gemini
llm install llm-gemini
llm keys set gemini
llm -m gemini-1.5-pro "Analyze this dataset" < data.csv

# List conversations
llm logs

# Resume a conversation
llm continue 123

# Save a prompt template
llm templates add explain "Explain {topic} in simple terms"
llm explain --topic "blockchain"

sqlite3 ~/.llm/logs.db "SELECT prompt, response FROM logs LIMIT 5"

# Analyze a file
llm "Summarize this code" < app.py

# Chain with other tools
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/simonw/llm | llm "Extract top 3 features"

# Generate commit messages
git diff | llm "Write a concise commit message"

llm --no-stream "Analyze this 10MB log file" < server.log

#!/bin/bash
git diff | llm -m claude3 "Review this diff for security issues. Output as markdown."

# Generate docs from docstrings
llm "Write Sphinx documentation for this Python file" < module.py > docs.rst

# Monitor logs for anomalies
tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log | \
  llm "Flag suspicious HTTP requests. Output as CSV with columns: timestamp, ip, reason" \
  > security_alerts.csv