OpenAI Chat API Workflow for Alfred

🎩 An Alfred 5 Workflow for using the OpenAI Chat API to interact with GPT-4 🤖💬. It also allows image generation 🖼️, image understanding 👀, speech-to-text conversion 🎤, and text-to-speech synthesis 🔈.

📦 Download OpenAI Chat API Workflow (version 3.2.1)

You can execute all the above features using:

• Alfred UI 🖥️
• Selected text 📝
• A dedicated web UI 🌐

The web UI is constructed by the workflow and runs locally on your Mac 💻. The API call is made directly between the workflow and OpenAI, ensuring your chat messages are not shared online with anyone other than OpenAI 🔒. Furthermore, OpenAI does not use the data from the API Platform for training 🚫.

You can export the chat data to a simple JSON format external file 📄, and it is possible to continue the chat by importing it later 🔄.

Installation

1. Install Homebrew
2. Run the following command in a terminal: brew install pandoc mpv sox jq duti
3. Download and run OpenAI Chat API Workflow
4. Set your OpenAI API key
5. Enable accessibility settings for Alfred in System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy → Accessibility

Setup Hotkeys

You can set up hotkeys in the settings screen of the workflow. To set up hotkeys, double-click on the light purple workflow elements.

1. Open Web UI (Recommended)
2. Direct Query
3. Send Selected Text
4. Screen Capture for Image Understanding
5. Speech to Text

Dependencies

• Alfred 5 Powerpack
• OpenAI API key
• Pandoc: to convert Markdown to HTML
• MPV: to play text-to-speech audio stream
• Sox: to record voice input
• jq: to handle chat history in JSON
• duti: to detect the default web browser

To start using this workflow, you must set the environment variable apikey, which you can obtain by creating a new OpenAI account. See also the Configuration section below.

You will also need to install the pandoc and sox programs. Pandoc allows this workflow to convert the Markdown response from OpenAI to HTML and display the result in your default web browser with syntax highlighting enabled (especially useful when using this workflow to generate program code). Sox allows you to record voice audio to convert to text using the Whisper speech-to-text API.

To set up dependencies (pandoc, mpv, sox, jq, and duti), first install Homebrew and run the following command:

brew install pandoc mpv sox jq duti

Change Log

Recent Change Log

• 3.2.1: Fixed URI encoding issue when re-editing prompt
• 3.2.0: Added support for Beta models (o1-preview, o1-mini)

Complete Change Log

Methods of Execution

Here are three methods to run the workflow: 1) Using commands within the Alfred UI, 2) Passing selected text to the workflow, 3) Utilizing the Web UI. Additionally, there’s a convenient method for making brief inquiries to GPT.

Commands within the Alfred UI

You can enter a query directly into Alfred's textbox:

• Method 1: Alfred textbox → keyword (openai) → space/tab → input query → select a command (see below)
• Method 2: Alfred textbox → input query → select fallback search (OpenAI Query)

Passing Selected Text

You can select any text on your Mac and send it to the workflow:

• Method 1: Select text → universal action hotkey → select OpenAI Query
• Method 2: Set up a custom hotkey to Send selected text to OpenAI

Using Web Interface

You can open the web interface:

• Method 1: Alfred textbox → keyword (openai-webui)
• Method 2: Set up a custom hotkey to Open web interface

Using the Default Browser

If your default browser is set to one of the following and the duti command is installed on your system, the web interface will automatically open in your chosen browser. If not, Safari will be used as the default.

• Google Chrome (Stable, Beta, Dev, etc.)
• Microsoft Edge (Stable, Beta, Dev, etc.)
• Brave Browser

Restart the OpenAI Workflow server by executing openai-restart-server in case the web UI does not work as expected after changing the default browser.

Web UI Modes

Switch modes (light/dark/auto) with the Web UI Mode selector in the settings.

Simple Direct Query/Chat

To quickly chat with GPT:

• Method 1: Type keyword gpt → space/tab → input query (e.g., "gpt what is a large language model?")
• Method 2: Set up a custom hotkey to OpenAI Direct Query

Basic Commands

With Direct Query, the input text is sent directly to the OpenAI Chat API as a prompt. You can also create a query by prepending or appending text to the input.

Direct Query

The input text is directly sent as a prompt to the OpenAI Chat API.

Prepend Text + Query

After entering the initial text, you are prompted for additional text. The additional text is added before the initial text, and the resulting text is used as the query.

Append Text + Query

After entering the initial text, you are prompted for additional text. The additional text is added after the initial text, and the resulting text is used as the query.

Generate Image

The DALL-E API (dall-e-3 or dall-e-2) is used to generate images based on the entered prompts. See Image Generation below.

Commands for Specific Purposes

Some of the examples shown on OpenAI's Examples page are incorporated into this Workflow as commands. Functions not prepared as commands can be realized by giving appropriate prompts to the above Basic Commands.

Write Program Code

GPT generates program code and example output based on the entered text. You can specify the purpose of the program, its function, the language, and the technology to be used, etc.

Example Input

Create a command line program that takes an English sentence and returns syntactically parsed output. Provide program code in Python and example usage.

Example Output

Ask in Your Language

You can ask questions in the language set to the variable first_language.

Note: If the value of first_language is not English (e.g., Japanese), the query may result in a less accurate response.

Translate L1 to L2

GPT translates text from the language specified in the variable first_language to the language specified in second_language.

Translate L2 to L1

GPT translates text from the language specified in the variable second_language to the language specified in first_language.

Grammar Correction

GPT corrects sentences that may contain grammatical errors. See OpenAI's description.

Brainstorm

GPT assists you in brainstorming innovative ideas based on any given text.

Create Study Notes

GPT provides study notes on a given topic. See OpenAI's description for this example.

Analogy Maker

GPT creates analogies. See OpenAI's description for this example.

Essay Outline

GPT generates an outline for a research topic. See OpenAI's description for this example.

TL;DR Summarization

GPT summarizes a given text. See OpenAI's description for this example.

Summarize for a 2nd Grader

GPT translates complex text into more straightforward concepts. See OpenAI's description for this example.

Keywords

GPT extracts keywords from a block of text. See OpenAI's description for this example.

Image Generation

Image generation can be executed through one of the above commands. It is also possible to use the web UI. By using the web UI, you can interactively change the prompt to get closer to the desired image.

When the image generation mode is set to dall-e-3, the user's prompt is automatically expanded to a more detailed and specific prompt. You can also edit the expanded prompt and regenerate the image.

Image Understanding

Image understanding can be executed through the openai-vision command. It starts capture mode and lets you specify a part of the screen to be analyzed. Alternatively, you can specify an image file (jpg, jpeg, png, gif) using the "OpenAI Vision" file action. This mode requires the gpt-4o or gpt-4o-mini model to be set in the workflow settings.

Speech Synthesis and Speech Recognition

Most text-to-speech and speech-to-text features are available on the web UI. However, there are certain specific features provided as commands, such as audio file to text conversion and transcription with timestamps.

Text-to-Speech Synthesis

Text entered or response text from GPT can be read out in a natural voice using OpenAI's text-to-speech API.

• Method 1: Press the Play TTS button on the web UI
• Method 2: Select text → universal action hotkey → select OpenAI Text-to-Speech

Speech-to-Text Conversion

The Whisper API can convert speech into text in a variety of languages. Please refer to the Whisper API FAQ for available languages and other limitations.

• Method 1: Press the Voice Input button on the web UI
• Method 2: Alfred textbox → keyword (openai-speech)

Audio File to Text

You can select an audio file in mp3, mp4, flac, webm, wav, or m4a format (under 25MB) and send it to the workflow:

• Select the file → universal action hotkey → select OpenAI Speech-to-Text

Record Voice Audio and Transcribe

You can record voice audio and send it to the Workflow for transcription using the Whisper API. Recording time is limited to 30 minutes and will automatically stop after this duration.

• Alfred textbox → keyword (openai-speech) → Terminal window opens and recording starts

• Speak into the internal or external microphone → Press Enter to finish recording

• Choose processes to apply to the recorded audio:

  • Transcribe (+ delete recording)
  • Transcribe (+ save recording to desktop)
  • Transcribe and query (+ delete recording)
  • Transcribe and query (+ save recording to desktop)
  • Exit (+ delete recording)
  • Exit (+ save recording to desktop)

You can choose the format of the transcribed text as text, srt, or vtt in the workflow's settings. Below are examples in the text and srt formats:

Other Features

Import/Export

You can export your chat data to a straightforward JSON format file and resume your conversation later by importing it back in.

To export data, simply click on Show Entire Chat in the chat window to navigate to the chat history page, then select Export Data. To import data, just click Import Data on either the home page or the chat history page.

Monitor API Usage

To review your token usage for the current billing cycle on the OpenAI Usage Page, type the keyword openai-usage. For more details on billing, visit OpenAI's Billing Overview.

Configuration Parameters

You can set various parameters in the settings panel of this Workflow. Some of the parameters set here are used as default values, but you can make temporary changes to the values on the web UI. You can also access the settings panel by clicking Open Config from the web UI.

Required Settings

• OpenAI API Key: Set your secret API key for OpenAI. Sign up for OpenAI and get your API key at https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys/.
• Base URL: The base URL of the OpenAI Chat API. (default: https://api.openai.com/v1)

Web UI Parameters

• Loopback Address: Either localhost or 127.0.0.1 can be used as the loopback address of the UI server. If the web UI does not work as expected, try the other. (default: 127.0.0.1)
• Stream Output: Show results in the default web browser. If unchecked, Alfred's "Large Type" feature is used to display the result. (default: enabled)
• Hide Speech Buttons: When enabled, the buttons for TTS playback and voice input are hidden on the web UI.
• Web UI Mode: Set your preferred UI mode (light/dark/auto). (default: auto)

Chat Parameters

• Model: OpenAI's chat model used for the workflow (default: gpt-4o-mini). Here are some of the models currently available:

  • gpt-4o-mini
  • chatgpt-4o-latest
  • gpt-4o-2024-08-06
  • gpt-4o

  You may or may not use the following beta models. System prompt and parameter settings are not available for these models. Also, streaming is not supported for these models, and the response time is longer than for other models.

  • o1-preview
  • o1-mini

• Max Tokens: Maximum number of tokens to be generated upon completion (default: 2048). If this parameter is set to 0, null is sent to the API as the default value (the maximum number of tokens is not specified). See OpenAI's documentation.

• Temperature: See OpenAI's documentation. (default: 0.3)

• Top P: See OpenAI's documentation. (default: 1.0)

• Frequency Penalty: See OpenAI's documentation. (default: 0.0)

• Presence Penalty: See OpenAI's documentation. (default: 0.0)

• Memory Span: Set the number of past utterances sent to the API as context. Setting 4 for this parameter means 2 conversation turns (user → assistant → user → assistant) will be sent as context for a new query. The larger the value, the more tokens will be consumed. (default: 10)

• Max Characters: Maximum number of characters that can be included in a query (default: 50000).

• Timeout: The number of seconds (default: 10) to wait before opening the socket and connecting to the API. If the connection fails, reconnection (up to 20 times) will be attempted after 1 second.

• Add Emoji: If enabled, the response text from GPT will contain emoji characters appropriate for the content. This is realized by adding the following sentence at the end of the system content. (default: enabled)

  Add emojis that are appropriate to the content of the response.

• System Content: Text to send with every query sent to the API as general information about the specification of the chat. The default value is as follows:

  You are a friendly but professional consultant who answers various questions, makes decent suggestions, and gives helpful advice in response to a prompt from the user. Your response must be concise, suggestive, and accurate.

Image Understanding Parameters

• Max Size for Image Understanding: The maximum pixel value (512 to 2000) of the larger side of the image data sent to the image understanding API. Larger images will be resized accordingly. (Default: 512)

Image Generation Parameters

• Image Generation Model: dall-e-3 and dall-e-2 are available. (default: dall-e-3)
• Image Size (for dall-e-3): Set the size of images to generate to 1024x1024, 1024x1792, or 1792x1024. (default: 1024x1024)
• Quality (for dall-e-3): Choose the quality of the image from standard and hd. (default: standard)
• Style (for dall-e-3): Choose the style of the image from vivid and natural. (default: vivid)
• Number of Images (for dall-e-2): Set the number of images to generate in image generation mode from 1 to 10. (default: 1)
• Image Size (for dall-e-2): Set the size of images to generate to 256x256, 512x512, or 1024x1024. (default: 256x256)

Text-to-Speech Parameters

• Text-to-Speech Model: One of the available TTS models: tts-1 or tts-1-hd. (default: tts-1)
• Text-to-Speech Voice: The voice to use when generating the audio. Supported voices are: alloy, echo, fable, onyx, nova, and shimmer. (default: alloy)
• Text-to-Speech Speed: The speed of the generated audio. Select a value from 0.25 to 4.0. (default: 1.0)
• Automatic Text to Speech: If enabled, the results will be read aloud using the system's default text-to-speech language and voice. (default: disabled)

Speech-to-Text Parameters

• Transcription Format: Set the format of the text transcribed from the microphone input or audio files to text, srt, or vtt. (default: text)

• Processes after Recording: Set the default choice of what processes follow after audio recording finishes. (default: Transcribe [+ delete recording]).

  • Transcribe [+ delete recording]
  • Transcribe [+ save recording to desktop]
  • Transcribe and query [+ delete recording]
  • Transcribe and query [+ save recording to desktop]

• Audio to English: When enabled, the Whisper API will transcribe the input audio and output text translated into English. (default: disabled)

Other Settings

• Your First Language: Set your first language. This language is used when using GPT for translation. (default: English)
• Your Second Language: Set your second language. This language is used when using GPT for translation. (default: Japanese)
• Sound: If checked, a notification sound will play when the response is returned. (default: disabled)
• Save File Path: If set, the results will be saved in the specified path as a markdown file. (default: not set)

Environment Variables

Environment variables can be accessed by clicking the [x] button located at the top right of the workflow settings screen. Normally, there is no need to change the values of the environment variables.

• http_keep_alive: This workflow starts an HTTP server when the web UI is first displayed. After that, if the web UI is not used for the time (in seconds) set by this environment variable, the server will stop. (default: 7200 = 2 hours)
• http_port: Specifies the port number for the web UI. (default: 80)
• http_server_wait: Specifies the wait time from when the HTTP server is started until the page is displayed in the browser. (default: 2.5)
• websocket_port: Specifies the port number for websocket communication used to display responses in streaming on the web UI. (default: 8080)

Author

Yoichiro Hasebe (yohasebe@gmail.com)

License

The MIT License

Disclaimer

The author assumes no responsibility for any potential damages arising from the use of this software.