gptel
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 24 Emacs packages by recommenders
Emacs users recommend it for chatting with LLMs from any buffer, with an editable conversation and Org output. Its agentic features are roll-your-own in Elisp.
Emacs users recommend it for chatting with LLMs from any buffer, with an editable conversation and Org output. Its agentic features are roll-your-own in Elisp.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 20 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Editable chat buffer as context
“It has a number of features, but primarily it just gives you a chat buffer you can freely edit at any time.”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “My AI Adoption Journey” “the document is the conversation context, and can be edited and annotated as you like”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “How I use Claude Code: Separation of planning and execution” Chat with LLMs from any buffer
“My favorite feature of gptel is gptel-send - being able to chat with an LLM from just about any buffer is very cool.”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “September 2026 Emacs meetup recap [video]” “What I love about gptel that I can send a request to an LLM from virtually anywhere”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI” “this is very easy (and fun) to do in emacs with gptel as well”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Panel – A research workspace where the agent can build its own panes” Works well with Org mode
“I use gptel and org mode when I was to be really hands on driving the development.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “I have officially retired from Emacs” “I've been using gptel, I'll have it generate org babel blocks I can tangle”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “Emacs 31: An unofficial guide to Markdown-ts-mode” “Just look at gptel and org-mode. Nothing else really even comes close.”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Even More Batteries Included with Emacs” - Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “Org Mode Syntax Is One of the Most Reasonable Markup Languages to Use for Text”
Evaluates Elisp in the active session
“gptel has the built-in tool to eval elisp, prompt the LLM to make changes in the active Emacs session and watch it do it.”
Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “I have officially retired from Emacs” “elisp generated in org mode babel blocks which is instantly executable is a fine way to have gptel improve itself”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI”
Other Emacs packages people recommend
The four most recommended other Emacs packages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evil mode for Emacs | 39 | 7 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| agent-shell | 25 | 6 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| TRAMP for Emacs | 25 | 10 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| gptelThis page | 20 | 1 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| SLIME | 19 | 2 | 90% | 11 | — | Approved |
What people said
All 38 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Doesn't work with my github enterprise with entra sso integration.”
“The biggest value of gptel is its API.”
“which was great for completion-like workflow”
“eca and gptel remain my main "bread-n-butter" atm”
“Just ask Claude or whatever to hook up gptel and eca (or agent-shell).”
“this is very easy (and fun) to do in emacs with gptel as well”
“My favorite feature of gptel is gptel-send - being able to chat with an LLM from just about any buffer is very cool.”
“there are benefits for having specialized gptel buffer, for instance, all my gptel-dedicated buffers get automatically saved”
“eca and gptel remain the bread-and-butter of my workflows”
“I've been using gptel, I'll have it generate org babel blocks I can tangle”
“With gptel, I've been able to really take control of my environment.”
“If you like Emacs, why not make Emacs your harness?”
“gptel is great for this because it can tool call for the docs, be a super search engine like Google used to be”
“Gptel is amazing and the rest of Emacs plays incredibly well with llm development”
“Plus now agent integration (aka GPTEL)”
“Just look at gptel and org-mode. Nothing else really even comes close.”
“I've gotten mild acceleration from using gptel-mode in emacs”
“I use it with Pi and with Gptel”
“gptel has the built-in tool to eval elisp, prompt the LLM to make changes in the active Emacs session and watch it do it.”
“as one of the most popular and robust choices, go with it”
“it's enormously extendable and exploitable”
“I use gptel and org mode when I was to be really hands on driving the development.”
“What I love about gptel that I can send a request to an LLM from virtually anywhere”
“elisp generated in org mode babel blocks which is instantly executable is a fine way to have gptel improve itself”
“an excellent Emacs package for interacting with LLMs”
“because it is just too damn useful”
“the document is the conversation context, and can be edited and annotated as you like”
“It has a number of features, but primarily it just gives you a chat buffer you can freely edit at any time.”
“which I cannot recommend enough”
“I found this better than the 'shell' type packages, since they don't always keep context”
“since gptel streams LLM output as Org (which is good)”
“I've had a lot of success resolving little annoyances I have just lived with for years talking to Claude in gptel.”
“It's been good enough as a memory for me.”
“Of course the agentic capabilities are very much on a roll-your-own-in-elisp basis.”
“ask it quick questions about big functions I don't want to read in emacs”
“using gptel to interact with Anthropic, Google, and Open Ai LLMs”
“There's currently an implosion of different LLM packages for Emacs - gptel, gptel-agent, ECA, agent-shell, claude-code”
“I do a lot in Emacs, especially now that I'm comfortable with GPTel.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.