CLI Tools Cheatsheet

🚀 Quick reference for all 120+ CLI tools included in this configuration

This file is auto-generated from the Nix configuration. Do not edit manually.

Navigation & Discovery

# Find what tools are available
ls /run/current-system/sw/bin | grep -v '^[A-Z]' | sort

# Get help for any tool
<tool-name> --help
tldr <tool-name>        # Quick examples
man <tool-name>         # Full manual

# Tool alternatives (when modernTools.enable = true)
ls2, tree2, fzf2, vim2, tmux2, etc.

Tool Categories

Core Development Tools

  • git - https://git-scm.com/doc
  • go_1_24 - https://go.dev/doc/ - Go 1.24 (1.24 coming Feb 2025)
  • rustup - https://rustup.rs/ - Rust toolchain manager (for 1.85+)
  • python313 - https://docs.python.org/3.13/ - Python 3.13 LTS
  • nodejs_22 - https://nodejs.org/docs/latest-v22.x/api/ - Node.js 22 LTS
  • cmake - https://cmake.org/documentation/
  • gnumake - https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/
  • just - https://github.com/casey/just - Modern make alternative
  • ninja - https://ninja-build.org/ - Small build system
  • direnv - https://direnv.net/ - Directory-specific environments
  • nix-direnv - https://github.com/nix-community/nix-direnv - Nix integration for direnv
  • curl - https://curl.se/docs/
  • wget - https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/manual/

CLI Utilities

  • ripgrep - https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep - Fast grep alternative
  • fzf - https://github.com/junegunn/fzf - Fuzzy finder (most popular)
  • bat - https://github.com/sharkdp/bat - Better cat with syntax highlighting
  • eza - https://github.com/eza-community/eza - Modern ls replacement (default choice)
  • fd - https://github.com/sharkdp/fd - Fast find alternative
  • tmux - https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki - Terminal multiplexer
  • neovim - https://neovim.io/doc/ - Modern vim
  • jq - https://jqlang.github.io/jq/manual/ - JSON processor
  • btop - https://github.com/aristocratos/btop - Resource monitor (default choice)
  • erd - https://github.com/solidiquis/erdtree - Modern tree in Rust
  • tealdeer - https://github.com/dbrgn/tealdeer - Fast tldr client (Rust-based)
  • zoxide - https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide - Smarter cd
  • direnv - https://direnv.net/ - Directory-specific environments
  • atuin - https://github.com/atuinsh/atuin - Better shell history (default choice)
  • starship - https://starship.rs/ - Cross-shell prompt
  • ncdu - https://dev.yorhel.nl/ncdu - Disk usage analyzer
  • duf - https://github.com/muesli/duf - Modern df
  • dust - https://github.com/bootandy/dust - Modern du
  • procs - https://github.com/dalance/procs - Modern ps
  • bottom - https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom - System monitor
  • btop - https://github.com/aristocratos/btop - Resource monitor
  • gh - https://cli.github.com/manual/ - GitHub CLI
  • gping - https://github.com/orf/gping - Ping with graph
  • xh - https://github.com/ducaale/xh - Fast HTTP client (Rust-based, default choice)
  • sd - https://github.com/chmln/sd - Intuitive find & replace
  • choose - https://github.com/theryangeary/choose - Human-friendly cut
  • gron - https://github.com/tomnomnom/gron - Make JSON greppable
  • yq - https://github.com/mikefarah/yq - YAML processor
  • delta - https://github.com/dandavison/delta - Better git diffs
  • gitui - https://github.com/extrawurst/gitui - Git TUI
  • lazygit - https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit - Simple Git TUI
  • dog - https://github.com/ogham/dog - Modern dig
  • mtr - https://github.com/traviscross/mtr - Network diagnostic
  • nmap - https://nmap.org/book/
  • p7zip - https://7-zip.org/
  • unzip - https://linux.die.net/man/1/unzip
  • tealdeer - https://github.com/dbrgn/tealdeer - Fast tldr client
  • tokei - https://github.com/XAMPPRocky/tokei - Code statistics
  • hyperfine - https://github.com/sharkdp/hyperfine - Command benchmarking
  • watchexec - https://github.com/watchexec/watchexec - Run commands on file change
  • lsd - https://github.com/lsd-rs/lsd - Next-gen ls (alternative to eza)
  • broot - https://github.com/Canop/broot - Better tree navigation
  • mcfly - https://github.com/cantino/mcfly - Smart shell history (alternative to atuin)
  • sk - https://github.com/lotabout/skim - Fuzzy finder in Rust (alternative to fzf)
  • bandwhich - https://github.com/imsnif/bandwhich - Network utilization by process
  • grex - https://github.com/pemistahl/grex - Generate regex from examples
  • hexyl - https://github.com/sharkdp/hexyl - Hex viewer
  • pastel - https://github.com/sharkdp/pastel - Color manipulation
  • vivid - https://github.com/sharkdp/vivid - LS_COLORS generator
  • lsof - https://github.com/lsof-org/lsof - List open files
  • dtruss - System call tracer (macOS)
  • fs_usage - File system usage (macOS)
  • age - https://github.com/FiloSottile/age - Modern encryption
  • sops - https://github.com/mozilla/sops - Secrets management
  • gpg - GNU Privacy Guard
  • yubikey-manager - https://github.com/Yubico/yubikey-manager - YubiKey management
  • act - https://github.com/nektos/act - Run GitHub Actions locally
  • podman - https://podman.io/ - Container management (rootless)
  • dive - https://github.com/wagoodman/dive - Docker image explorer
  • perf - Performance analysis tools
  • flamegraph - https://github.com/flamegraph-rs/flamegraph - Flame graph profiler
  • mdbook - https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook - Create books from Markdown
  • zellij - https://github.com/zellij-org/zellij - Terminal workspace (tmux alternative)
  • helix - https://github.com/helix-editor/helix - Modern modal editor
  • silicon - https://github.com/Aloxaf/silicon - Code to image generator
  • license-generator - https://github.com/azu/license-generator - Generate LICENSE files

GUI Applications (via Homebrew)

Common Usage Patterns

File Operations

# Modern file listing
eza --icons --long --git         # Detailed view with git status
eza --tree --level=2             # Tree view, 2 levels deep

# File searching  
fd pattern                       # Find files by name
rg "search term" --type rust     # Search in files by type

System Monitoring

# Process monitoring
btop                            # Interactive process viewer
procs                           # Modern ps with colors

# Disk usage
duf                            # Disk usage overview
dust                           # Directory sizes
ncdu                           # Interactive disk usage

Development

# Git operations
lazygit                        # Interactive git TUI
delta                          # Better git diffs (auto-configured)

# HTTP testing
xh httpbin.org/get             # Fast HTTP requests
gh api user                    # GitHub API calls

# Performance
hyperfine "command"            # Benchmark commands
flamegraph -- ./my-program    # Profile performance

Text Processing

# JSON/YAML
echo '{"key": "value"}' | jq .
cat file.yaml | yq .key

# Text manipulation  
echo "hello world" | sd "world" "universe"
echo "a,b,c" | choose 1        # Select field (like cut)

Network & Security

# Network diagnostics
dog example.com                # Modern dig
gping google.com              # Ping with graph
bandwhich                     # Network usage by process

# Security
age -e -r recipient file.txt   # Encrypt file
sops -e secrets.yaml          # Edit encrypted secrets

Environment Variables

Control tool behavior with these environment variables:

# Tool preferences
export PREFERRED_TOP="btop"     # btop, bottom, or htop
export HIST_TOOL="atuin"        # atuin or mcfly
export BAT_OVERRIDE_LESS=1      # Enable bat as less replacement

# Modern tool aliases (requires modernTools.enable = true)
# Automatically set when enabled in configuration

Configuration Files

Most tools can be configured via dotfiles:

  • Starship: ~/.config/starship.toml
  • Bat: ~/.config/bat/config
  • Zellij: ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl
  • Helix: ~/.config/helix/config.toml
  • Atuin: ~/.config/atuin/config.toml

Getting Help

  • Most tools support --help and --version
  • Use tldr <tool> for quick examples
  • Check tool websites (linked in Nix files) for full documentation
  • Many tools have excellent man pages

Generated from Nix configuration - run ./generate-cli-docs.sh to update