Console2Ai-transcript - PowerShell AI Assistant (BETA)

Console2Ai-transcript is a PowerShell script (currently in BETA) that captures your console history using PowerShell's transcript functionality and sends it to an AI assistant. It uses aichat as the backend for AI processing. Transcriptas are stored in %USERPROFILE%\Console2Ai\Transcripts directory. Warning! Make sure you know how Start-Transcript works. It saves your console history to text file with session name and this file stores everything you typed in console - including secrets! This script cleans old files, but you must understand the risks! Store file in safe location(by default it is in your user profile) If you want version that does not store transcript history, there is one that uses only what you see on screenConsole2Ai.

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Core Functionality

• PowerShell Transcript to AI Prompt: The main feature is capturing text from your PowerShell session transcript (the last N lines, you specify, 200 by default) and sending it directly to the AI as part of the prompt. This provides context from your recent commands and their output. Unlike the screen buffer version, this transcript-based approach captures your console history even when it's scrolled out of view, giving you more comprehensive context for AI assistance.
• Alt+C Hotkey: Quick access to AI command suggestion with a simple keyboard shortcut. (What you typed as prompt will be REPLACED with ready to press enter command)
• Alt+S Hotkey: Instantly start a conversational AI session with your console history and current query.
• Context Control: Specify how many lines of console history (1-1999) to include in the AI prompt. Simply type a number before prompt and let it go! like "50 explain the last few commands and suggest an optimization" - number will be automatically picked up and parsed into console history line count.
• Session Logging: Save your recent console lines to a text file for reference.
• Transcript Cleanup: Automatically clean up old transcripts to save space. Transcripts older than 2 days are deleted if not used.

When you press Alt+C, the script analyzes your current input line, captures the specified number of transcript history lines, and sends everything to aichat. The AI response then replaces your current input line in the console. Aichat is free and open source application.

📋 Prerequisites

Quick recap: you will need this script loaded in powershell, and backend app "aichat.exe" which uses the AI API (which you will also need, this is like a key to your AI service). So you will have to install both - and guide below will explain every step that you need to take, and if somethign is not easy to understand, ask me in discussion! - Installation: Visit the aichat GitHub releases page and download the appropriate binary for your operating system (e.g., aichat-*--x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip ). - Link to repo if you need help: https://github.com/sigoden/aichat

🛠️ Installation & Configuration

Follow these steps to get Console2Ai up and running, (I've tried to make most detailed manual for every step, actual process does not take long):

1. Install and Configure aichat a. Download aichat: Grab the latest release from here. For Windows, you'll likely want the ...windows-x86_64.exe file.

   b. Add aichat to your PATH: For Console2Ai-transcript to find aichat.exe, it needs to be in your system's PATH. - Create a dedicated folder for CLI tools, e.g., C:\Tools\bin - Rename the downloaded aichat executable to aichat.exe and move it to this folder. - Add this folder to your PATH. You can do this via Windows GUI or via PowerShell:

For User PATH :

$CurrentUserPath = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User")
$AichatPath = "C:\Tools\bin" # Change this to your actual folder
if (-not ($CurrentUserPath -split ';' -contains $AichatPath)) {
    [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$CurrentUserPath;$AichatPath", "User")
    Write-Host "Added '$AichatPath' to User PATH. Please restart PowerShell."
} else {
    Write-Host "'$AichatPath' is already in User PATH."
}

For System PATH (requires Admin, affects all users):

$SystemPath = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "Machine")
$AichatPath = "C:\Tools\bin" # Change this to your actual folder
if (-not ($SystemPath -split ';' -contains $AichatPath)) {
    [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$SystemPath;$AichatPath", "Machine")
    Write-Host "Added '$AichatPath' to System PATH. Please restart PowerShell."
} else {
    Write-Host "'$AichatPath' is already in System PATH."
}

Verify: Open a new PowerShell terminal and type aichat --version. You should see the version information.

c. Configure aichat Model & API Key: aichat needs to know which AI model to use and requires an API key for that service (e.g., OpenAI, OpenRouter, Ollama, Gemini, etc.). Configuration instructions are here aichat configuration example. But to quickly get you started you may need only these steps: Create or edit a config.yaml file. For Windows, this file should be put in youur user profile at: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\aichat\config.yaml (replace Username with your Windows username). You can quickly open this folder by typing explorer %APPDATA%\aichat in PowerShell. You don't need to have everything, here is my config that works: Example configuration file for OpenRouter with Claude:

    model: openrouter:anthropic/claude-3.7-sonnet
    clients:
    - type: openai-compatible
      name: openrouter
      api_base: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
      api_key: sk-or-v1-a96_YOUR_API_KEY_PASTE_IT_HERE_AND_KEEP_IT_SECRET

Test aichat from your terminal after configuration:

    aichat "What is PowerShell?"

This will make sure the base application for this script is working.

2. Install Console2Ai-transcript.ps1

   1. Download Console2Ai-transcript.ps1 from this repository and place it in a convenient folder (e.g., C:\Users\YourUser\Documents\PowerShell\Scripts\Console2Ai-transcript.ps1 or C:\Scripts\Console2Ai-transcript.ps1).

   2. Open your PowerShell profile for editing:

      notepad $PROFILE

   3. Copy and paste the following snippet into your profile (adjust the path as needed):

      # Import-Module PSReadLine  # Uncomment if needed
      . C:\Users\YourUser\Documents\PowerShell\Scripts\Console2Ai-transcript.ps1  # Adjust path if needed

   4. Save the profile and restart PowerShell.

🚀 How to Use Console2Ai-transcript (BETA)

Once installed, you have a few ways to interact with Console2Ai-transcript:

1. The Alt+C Hotkey (Command Suggestion) 🔥 This will replace your current text that you have typed in the console with AI's suggestion after a while. (Your text will be deleted and a command that resembles your text will appear instead)

   a. Standard Query: Type your question, command fragment, or error message into the PowerShell prompt.

   PS C:\> Get-ChildItem -Path C:\NonExistentFolder -Recurse # You see an error after this
   PS C:\> Retry with correct path # Now press Alt+C
   

   It will send this to aichat, and replace your query with the AI's suggested command or explanation.

   b. Specify Line Count for History: ✨ If you want to provide more or less context from your console history: - Start your typed line with a number (1-1999) followed by a space, then your query.

        ... lots of previous output ...
       PS C:\> 50 explain the last few commands and suggest an optimization # Press Alt+S
   

   Console2Ai-transcript will capture the last 50 lines of transcript history along with your query. If you only type a number (e.g., 30) and press Alt+C, it will use that many lines of history and a generic prompt for the AI.

2. The Alt+S Hotkey (Conversational Chat) 💬 Start a conversational AI session with your transcript history as context and your current query. Unlike Alt+C, Alt+S is focused on back-and-forth conversation, not just command suggestions. Your text is not deleted.

   • How it works:
     • Type your question or message into the PowerShell prompt.
     • Press Alt+S.
     • Console2Ai-transcript will capture the last 200 lines of transcript history (by default) plus your typed query, then open a conversational AI session using aichat.
     • The AI will reply conversationally, focusing on explanations, troubleshooting, or general answers (not just commands).
   • Example Usage:
     • To ask why your script is running slowly, type your query and press Alt+S:

       PS C:\> from this dir, which files are needed for funciton and which are temporary files? # Press Alt+S

       This will start a response from AI including recent console history as context.
     • To specify a different number of history lines (e.g., 40) works with both Alt+C and Alt+S:

       PS C:\> 40 ok, all files you mentioned - delete them with Regex # Press Alt+C

   • Under the hood, Alt+S calls the Invoke-Console2AiConversation function. And Alt+C calls Invoke-AIConsoleHelp function.

3. Using the PowerShell Functions ⚙️ Console2Ai-transcript also provides standard PowerShell functions if you prefer:

   a. Invoke-AIConsoleHelp Manually trigger AI assistance.

   # Get help based on the last 200 lines of transcript history
   Invoke-AIConsoleHelp
   
   # Get help with more context and a specific prompt
   Invoke-AIConsoleHelp -LinesToCapture 25 -UserPrompt "What does this error mean and how to fix it?"
   

   b. Invoke-Console2AiConversation Manually start a conversational AI session (same as Alt+S):

   Invoke-Console2AiConversation -UserQuery "Explain this error" -LinesToCapture 20
   

   c. Save-ConsoleHistoryLog 💾 Save recent console output to a file.

   # Save the last 100 lines (default) to .\Console2Ai_ManualLog.txt
   Save-ConsoleHistoryLog
   
   # Save the last 30 lines to a custom file
   Save-ConsoleHistoryLog -LinesToCapture 30 -LogFilePath "C:\temp\session_details.txt"
   

4. Getting Help Within PowerShell ❓ You can use PowerShell's built-in help system:

   Get-Help Invoke-AIConsoleHelp -Full
   Get-Help Invoke-Console2AiConversation -Full
   Get-Help Save-ConsoleHistoryLog -Full
   

🔧 Customization (Optional)

You can modify Console2Ai-transcript.ps1 directly to change:

• $Global:Console2Ai_AIChatExecutable: If aichat.exe is named differently or you want to use a full path.
• $Global:Console2Ai_CommandMode_AIPromptInstruction: The default instruction template sent to the AI for Alt+C (command suggestion).
• $Global:Console2Ai_ConversationMode_AIPromptInstruction: The default instruction template sent to the AI for Alt+S (conversational chat).
• $Global:Console2Ai_DefaultLinesFromTranscriptForHotkey: The default number of transcript lines to capture for Alt+C/Alt+S hotkeys if not specified (default: 200).
• $Global:Console2Ai_TranscriptBaseDir: Directory where transcripts are stored.
• $Global:Console2Ai_TranscriptMaxAgeDays: Maximum age of transcript files in days before cleanup (default: 2).

Troubleshooting

Alt+C doesn't work

• Ensure PSReadLine module is loaded. (It usually is by default in modern PowerShell).
• Check your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE) to ensure Console2Ai-transcript.ps1 is being dot-sourced correctly and after PSReadLine might be imported.
• Ensure no other Alt+C binding is overriding it.
• Verify that transcription is working properly by checking the transcript directory.

AI Errors (❌ Console2Ai-transcript AI Error...)

• Verify aichat.exe is in your PATH and working (aichat --version).
• Check your aichat configuration (%APPDATA%\aichat\config.yaml). Is the model correct? Is your API key valid and correctly configured (e.g., OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable)?
• Check your internet connection.

"No history captured" or transcript error

• Check the transcript directory ($Global:Console2Ai_TranscriptBaseDir) to ensure transcripts are being created.
• This can happen if the transcript file is not accessible or if the transcript functionality hasn't been properly initialized.
• Make sure the transcript directory exists and is writable.

License

Do whatever you want just mention me if you can

My other projects:

• AivoRelay: AI Voice Relay for Windows
• OneClickPrompts: Your Quick Prompt Companion for Multiple AI Chats!
• Console2Ai: Send PowerShell buffer to AI
• AI for Complete Beginners: Guide to LLMs
• Ping-Plotter the PowerShell only Ping Plotting script

Warranties

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! No warranties! If something does not work or you need help, please contact me here, and I will try to help.