g4f-go

A small, self-contained Go launcher for gpt4free. Unlike the original design, the CPython runtime is not embedded in the binary: g4f-go is a few MB, and downloads the correct CPython for the host platform on first run (with live progress feedback), then installs g4f into it. No system Python required.

g4f-go client "What is gpt4free?"
g4f-go api --port 8080

How it works

1. The binary embeds only a small manifest (runtime.json) that pins the CPython archive URL, size, and sha256 per platform (pbs install-only tarballs for desktop, the official python.org Android package for Termux).
2. On first run g4f-go picks the entry for its host OS/arch, downloads the archive into ~/.g4f/python-embed/ (or the app dir on Android), printing a \r progress line (percent, bytes, throughput, ETA), verifies the sha256, and extracts it.
3. It then bootstraps pip (ensurepip), installs g4f[slim] into the interpreter, writes a .installed stamp, and finally runs your command.
4. Subsequent runs skip straight to step 3 — the runtime is cached until the pinned version changes.

Downloads go to:

G4F_PYTHON_ONLY=1 g4f-go --version prints the downloaded interpreter path without running gpt4free (useful for wrapping the runtime from other tools).

Building

go build -o g4f-go .        # linux host build (fast iteration)
./build-all.sh              # cross-compile + zip releases for all targets
./build-all.sh android      # only the android target
./fetch-python.sh           # optional: re-pin sizes + sha256 in runtime.json

The manifest is embedded via go:embed runtime.json; the binary builds without network access.

Usage

g4f-go <g4f args...>        run gpt4free (e.g. g4f-go client "hello")
g4f-go api --port 8080      start the OpenAI-compatible API server
g4f-go gui                  launch the web GUI
g4f-go status               show runtime download/install status
g4f-go install g4f          (re)install the g4f package (network)
g4f-go help                 show help

Supported platforms

Android note: the python.org Android package ships libpython3.14.so + stdlib but no python executable. g4f-go detects Termux (pm list packages), merges the tarball into the app dir, and compiles a tiny C runner with Termux's clang that dlopens libpython — the same technique as CPython's own android testbed.

Layout after first run (~/.g4f/python-embed/)

python-home/bin/python     interpreter (pbs layout)
python-home/lib/python3.14 stdlib + site-packages (g4f installed here)
python (launcher)          shell wrapper that sets PYTHONHOME/PYTHONPATH
.g4f-runtime/.runtime-ok   stamp: download+extract complete
.g4f-runtime/.installed    stamp: g4f pip-installed

Limitations

• The runtime is materialized on disk (CPython cannot run a 100%-in-memory interpreter reliably); first run downloads ~50–800 MB depending on platform.
• macOS builds must be signed/notarized by the distributor for Gatekeeper.
• Android builds need Termux installed to compile the dlopen runner on device.