LLM Launcher

Cross-platform CLI launcher for LLM agents (Aider) with support for Ollama (local) and OpenRouter (cloud) models.

Features

- 🚀 Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)
- 🤖 Support for Ollama local models
- ☁️ Support for OpenRouter cloud models
- 🎨 Interactive model selection with nice CLI interface
- ⚙️ Automatic dependency checking
- 🔐 Environment variable support via .env files
- 📦 TypeScript-based for type safety

Prerequisites

- Node.js >= 16
- Aider installed (pip install aider-chat)
- Ollama (optional, for local models)
- OpenRouter API key (optional, for cloud models)

Installation

$3

``bash
npm install -g llm-launcher
`

Then run from anywhere:

`bash
llm


or


llm-launcher
`

$3

`bash
git clone
cd llm-launcher
npm install
npm run build
npm link
`

$3

`bash
npx llm-launcher
`

Usage

$3

Simply run the command and follow the interactive prompts:

`bash
llm
`

The launcher will:
1. Check if Aider is installed
2. Prompt you to select a provider (Ollama or OpenRouter)
3. Show available models and let you select one
4. Launch Aider with your selected model

$3

1. Select "Ollama (Local models)" from the provider menu
2. The launcher will automatically start Ollama if it's not running
3. Select from your locally pulled models
4. Aider will launch with the selected model

First-time Ollama users:

`bash


Pull a model first

ollama pull llama3.3

or

ollama pull qwen2.5-coder

or

ollama pull deepseek-coder
`

$3

1. Select "OpenRouter (Cloud API)" from the provider menu
2. Enter your OpenRouter API key (or set via environment variable)
3. Select from popular models or enter a custom model name
4. Aider will launch with the selected model

Get an OpenRouter API key: https://openrouter.ai

Configuration

$3

Create a .env file in your project directory or set environment variables:

`bash


OpenRouter API key

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Ollama API base (optional, defaults to http://localhost:11434)

OLLAMA_API_BASE=http://localhost:11434
`

$3

#### Ollama
Any model you've pulled locally via ollama pull

#### OpenRouter
- Anthropic Claude (3.5 Sonnet, 3 Opus, 3 Sonnet, 3 Haiku)
- OpenAI GPT (GPT-4 Turbo, GPT-4, GPT-3.5 Turbo)
- Google Gemini (Pro 1.5, Pro)
- Meta Llama (3.1 70B, 3.1 8B)
- Mistral AI (Large, Medium)
- Qwen (2.5 72B)
- Custom models (enter any OpenRouter model identifier)

Development

$3

`bash
npm run build
`

$3

`bash
npm run watch
`

$3

`bash
npm run dev
`

Publishing to npm

$3

1. Create an npm account at https://www.npmjs.com/signup
2. Login to npm from the command line:

`bash
npm login
`

$3

1. Update the version in package.json (or use npm version):

`bash


Patch release (0.1.0 -> 0.1.1)

npm version patch

Minor release (0.1.0 -> 0.2.0)

npm version minor

Major release (0.1.0 -> 1.0.0)

npm version major
`

2. Publish to npm:

`bash
npm publish
`

The prepare script automatically builds the project before publishing.

$3

`bash
npm version prerelease --preid=beta
npm publish --tag beta
`

Users can install beta versions with:

`bash
npm install -g llm-launcher@beta
`

Architecture

`
src/
├── index.ts # Main entry point and provider selection
├── types.ts # TypeScript type definitions
├── utils.ts # Utility functions (process checking, command execution)
├── ollama.ts # Ollama provider implementation
└── openrouter.ts # OpenRouter provider implementation
`

Why TypeScript?

- Type safety catches errors at compile time
- Better IDE support and autocomplete
- Self-documenting code with interfaces
- Easier refactoring and maintenance
- Still compiles to standard JavaScript

Troubleshooting

$3

Install Aider:
`bash
pip install aider-chat
`

$3

Download and install Ollama from: https://ollama.ai

$3

Pull a model first:
`bash
ollama pull llama3.3
``

$3

Make sure you're running in PowerShell or Command Prompt with proper permissions.

License

MIT

Author

Thomas Powell

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.