wordsmith-cli

Command‑line word lookup tool with multiple sources: formal dictionary (dictionaryapi.dev), Urban Dictionary, Datamuse (synonyms/antonyms), and a Gen Alpha dictionary. Records your lookups to Markdown/JSONL logs and can render the log with glow if available.

Features

• Formal definitions via dictionaryapi.dev
• Slang/colloquial definitions via Urban Dictionary
• Thesaurus lookups (synonyms/antonyms) via Datamuse
• Optional Gen Alpha lookup via gen_alpha_dictionary
• Markdown and JSONL logging with timestamps
• View the log in the terminal (uses glow when installed; falls back to plain text)
• Tilde expansion for --log-dir (e.g., ~/.local/share/...)

Note: There is no configuration file and no offline cache at present.

Installation

cargo install wordsmith-cli

Usage

Word lookup CLI: formal defs, Urban Dict, synonyms/antonyms, logs

Usage: wordsmith-cli [OPTIONS] [WORD]

Arguments:
  [WORD]  The word to define

Options:
      --log                View the log instead of looking up a word
      --formal             Run formal dictionary lookup
      --urban              Run Urban Dictionary lookup
      --thesaurus          Run thesaurus (synonyms/antonyms)
      --gen-alpha          Run Gen Alpha dictionary lookup
      --no-log             Do not record this lookup
      --log-dir <LOG_DIR>  Directory for log.md and log.jsonl [default: ~/.local/share/wordsmith-cli]
  -h, --help               Print help

Behavior

• If no feature flags are provided (no --formal/--urban/--thesaurus/--gen-alpha), the tool runs all lookups that are supported.
• Lookups are logged unless --no-log is provided.
• --log shows the log instead of performing a lookup.

Examples

Run everything (formal, Urban, thesaurus, Gen Alpha if compiled/available):

wordsmith-cli luminous

Formal dictionary only:

wordsmith-cli --formal luminous

Urban Dictionary only:

wordsmith-cli --urban sus

Thesaurus (synonyms/antonyms) only:

wordsmith-cli --thesaurus chaos

Gen Alpha dictionary only:

wordsmith-cli --gen-alpha rizz

Skip logging for a single lookup:

wordsmith-cli --no-log ephemeral

Specify a custom log directory:

wordsmith-cli --log-dir "~/.local/share/wordsmith-cli-test"

View the log (uses glow --width 200 when available, otherwise prints the file):

wordsmith-cli --log

Output & Logging

Lookups print definitions and, when available, an example section plus Synonyms and Antonyms lists.

Two log files are maintained (created as needed) under --log-dir (default: ~/.local/share/wordsmith-cli):

• log.md — Markdown table:

  # Wordsmith Log
  
  | Date | Word | Definition | Synonyms | Antonyms |
  |---|---|---|---|---|
  | 2025-10-21 14:12:10 | luminous | emitting or reflecting light | bright, radiant | dark, dim |
  

• log.jsonl — one JSON object per line, including flags indicating which sources returned results.

Acknowledgements

• gen_alpha_dictionary — additional dictionary source
• glow — pretty Markdown rendering in terminal
• clap — CLI parsing
• reqwest, serde, serde_json — HTTP/JSON plumbing
• chrono — timestamps
• textwrap — tidier text wrapping
• Data/API sources: dictionaryapi.dev, urbandictionary.com, datamuse.com

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome.