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Wilson Xu
Wilson Xu

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54 CLI Tools I Built with Node.js — Sorted by Usefulness

#opensource #cli #node #javascript

54 CLI Tools I Built with Node.js — Sorted by Usefulness

I built 54 command-line tools with Node.js over the past year. Some solve real problems I hit daily. Others were 2 AM rabbit holes I never returned to. Here they are, ranked honestly from "I'd be lost without this" to "I can't believe I spent four hours on that."

Every tool is on npm. Every install command works. And I've tagged each one with the tier it actually deserves.

Tier S — Must-Have (Top 5)

These are the tools I actually use every single day. If my machine got wiped, these get reinstalled before VS Code.

1. envcheck-cli

Validate .env files against .env.example — catch missing variables before production does.

npm install -g @chengyixu/envcheck-cli
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envcheck --source .env --template .env.example
# Missing: DATABASE_URL, REDIS_HOST
# Extra: OLD_API_KEY (not in template)
# Empty: SMTP_PASSWORD (defined but blank)
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I built this after deploying to staging with a missing STRIPE_SECRET_KEY and watching the checkout page throw 500s for an hour. It now runs in my CI pipeline on every push. The --ci flag exits with code 1 on any mismatch, so the build fails before bad config ever reaches a server.

2. depcheck-ai

Smart dependency auditing — find outdated, vulnerable, and deprecated packages with risk scoring.

npm install -g @chengyixu/depcheck-ai
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depcheck-ai --audit --score
# lodash        4.17.20 → 4.17.21  [SECURITY] Prototype pollution  Risk: HIGH
# left-pad      1.3.0              [DEPRECATED] Use String.padStart  Risk: LOW
# express       4.18.2  → 4.21.0  [OUTDATED] 6 months behind        Risk: MEDIUM
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This combines npm audit, npm outdated, and deprecation checks into one command with a risk score. The --score flag ranks every dependency by how urgently you should deal with it. The difference between this and npm audit alone: this actually tells you what to do about each finding.

3. filewatch-cli

Watch files and run commands on change. Zero dependencies. Glob support. Process restart.

npm install -g @chengyixu/filewatch-cli
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filewatch "src/**/*.ts" --run "npm test" --debounce 500
# Watching 47 files...
# [changed] src/utils/parser.ts
# Running: npm test
# ✓ 23 tests passed
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Yes, nodemon exists. Yes, chokidar exists. But this is 400 lines of code with zero dependencies, and it does exactly what I need: watch a glob, run a command, debounce intelligently, and restart long-running processes cleanly. It starts in under 50ms where nodemon takes 200-300ms on my machine.

4. dotenv-vault-cli

Encrypt .env files so you can commit them safely. Share secrets without Slack DMs.

npm install -g @chengyixu/dotenv-vault-cli
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dotenv-vault encrypt .env --key my-team-passphrase
# Encrypted → .env.vault (safe to commit)

dotenv-vault decrypt .env.vault --key my-team-passphrase
# Decrypted → .env (19 variables restored)
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Every team has the "how do we share .env files" problem. Slack DMs? Google Drive? 1Password? This encrypts the file with AES-256 using a shared passphrase. New developer joins? Give them the passphrase, they run decrypt, done. The diff command compares two vault files without decrypting them fully, so you can see what changed in a PR.

5. gitpulse

Instant health check for any GitHub repo — activity score, bus factor, response times.

npm install -g @chengyixu/gitpulse
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gitpulse facebook/react
# Health Score: 92/100
# Bus Factor: 14 (healthy)
# Avg Issue Response: 4.2 hours
# Last Commit: 2 hours ago
# Verdict: Actively maintained, low risk
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Before adding a dependency, I run this. Before contributing to a project, I run this. It checks commit frequency, contributor distribution, issue response times, and PR merge velocity. The bus factor calculation alone has saved me from adopting three "maintained by one person who last committed 8 months ago" libraries.

Tier A — Very Useful (10 Tools)

I reach for these weekly. They solve real problems, just not daily ones.

6. json-diff

Compare JSON files with color-coded structural diffs and JSON Patch output.

npm install -g @chengyixu/json-diff
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json-diff config.old.json config.new.json --patch
# [ADDED]   settings.darkMode: true
# [CHANGED] settings.timeout: 3000 → 5000
# [REMOVED] settings.legacyMode
# JSON Patch (RFC 6902): 3 operations written to patch.json
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The killer feature is RFC 6902 JSON Patch output. You get a machine-readable patch file you can apply programmatically, not just a human-readable diff. I use this in deployment scripts to validate config changes before they go live.

7. apispec-cli

Generate OpenAPI specs from Express/Fastify/Koa route files.

npm install -g @chengyixu/apispec-cli
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apispec-cli scan ./src/routes --framework express --output openapi.yaml
# Scanned 23 route files
# Found 47 endpoints
# Generated OpenAPI 3.0 spec → openapi.yaml
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Point it at your routes directory and it reverse-engineers an OpenAPI spec from your code. It reads JSDoc comments for descriptions, infers request/response types from TypeScript annotations, and validates the output spec. Not perfect — it misses middleware-injected params — but it gets you 80% of the way there in seconds.

8. httpstat

Visualize HTTP timing like curl, but actually readable.

npm install -g @chengyixu/httpstat
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httpstat https://api.example.com/users
#  DNS Lookup   TCP Connection   TLS Handshake   Server Processing   Transfer
#  12ms         34ms             89ms            142ms               8ms
#  Total: 285ms  Status: 200 OK
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A waterfall chart in your terminal showing exactly where time is being spent. DNS slow? TLS renegotiating? Server just being sluggish? You see it instantly. I use this more than I use Postman now.

9. api-health

Monitor API endpoints with response times, status codes, and SSL expiry.

npm install -g @chengyixu/api-health
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api-health check https://api.myapp.com https://api.myapp.com/health --interval 30
# ✓ /        200 OK  142ms  SSL: 83 days remaining
# ✓ /health  200 OK   23ms  SSL: 83 days remaining
# Monitoring every 30s... (Ctrl+C to stop)
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Simple uptime monitoring from your terminal. Set it running in a tmux pane and you have a poor man's Pingdom. The SSL certificate expiry warning alone has saved me from two embarrassing outages.

10. commitviz-cli

GitHub-style commit heatmaps in your terminal.

npm install -g @chengyixu/commitviz-cli
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commitviz --repo . --period 6months
# ░░▓▓██░░▓▓▓▓██████▓▓░░░░▓▓██▓▓
# Mon ░░▓▓██░░▓▓▓▓██████▓▓░░░░▓▓██
# 523 commits | Top day: March 19 (87 commits)
# Top contributor: wilsonxu (100%)
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Great for README screenshots. Even better for sprint retrospectives. "Why did velocity drop in week 3?" Pull up the heatmap and the answer is usually obvious. The file churn analysis shows which files change most frequently — a reliable indicator of where bugs will appear next.

11. csvutil-cli

Swiss Army knife for CSV in the terminal — view, filter, sort, stats, convert.

npm install -g @chengyixu/csvutil-cli
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csvutil stats sales.csv --column revenue
# Count: 1,247  Mean: $3,421  Median: $2,800  StdDev: $1,893
# Min: $12  Max: $48,200  Sum: $4,267,987
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I stopped opening Excel for quick data questions after building this. Column stats, filtering by regex, sorting, converting to JSON or Markdown tables — it covers the 90% of CSV operations that don't require a full spreadsheet. The join command for merging CSVs on a shared column is genuinely useful.

12. websnap-reader

Convert any webpage to clean Markdown. Reader mode for the terminal.

npm install -g websnap-reader
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websnap https://example.com/long-article --format markdown
# Extracted 2,847 words from "Understanding TCP/IP"
# Saved to: understanding-tcp-ip.md
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I use this to save articles I want to read offline, strip paywalls (ethically — for content I've paid for), and feed web content into other scripts. The --batch flag takes a file of URLs and processes them in parallel.

13. npmdeps-cli

Visualize dependency trees in the terminal with colored ASCII output.

npm install -g @chengyixu/npmdeps-cli
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npmdeps tree express --depth 2
# express@4.21.0
# ├── body-parser@1.20.3
# │   ├── bytes@3.1.2
# │   └── content-type@1.0.5
# ├── cookie@0.7.1
# └── ... (34 dependencies, 847 total)
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npm ls exists, but it's noisy and doesn't highlight problems. This color-codes by status (outdated = yellow, vulnerable = red, deprecated = strikethrough), shows size contribution, and flags duplicate packages pulled in at different versions.

14. changelog-gen-cli

Generate changelogs from conventional commit history.

npm install -g @chengyixu/changelog-gen-cli
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changelog-gen --from v1.2.0 --to HEAD
# ## [1.3.0] - 2026-03-20
# ### Features
# - Add dark mode toggle (a3f2b1c)
# - Support CSV export (7d1e4a9)
# ### Bug Fixes
# - Fix memory leak in watcher (2c8f1b3)
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If your team uses conventional commits (feat:, fix:, chore:), this generates a clean changelog automatically. If your team doesn't use conventional commits, this tool is useless to you. I tried adding "smart commit message parsing" for non-conventional commits. It was a disaster. Garbage in, garbage out.

15. ghprofile-stats

Beautiful CLI dashboard for any GitHub user's stats.

npm install -g ghprofile-stats
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ghprofile-stats chengyixu
# Repos: 43  Stars: 127  Forks: 34  Followers: 89
# Top Language: TypeScript (67%)  PRs Merged: 156
# Contribution Streak: 23 days
# Most Active: Tuesday 2-4 PM
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Built this partly for vanity, partly because it's useful for evaluating potential collaborators. The "most active hours" feature is oddly fascinating. Turns out I write 40% of my code between midnight and 3 AM.

Tier B — Nice to Have (15 Tools)

Solid tools that solve narrower problems. I use them monthly or when a specific situation arises.

16. compose-viz-cli

Visualize Docker Compose files as ASCII trees with Mermaid export.

npm install -g @chengyixu/compose-viz-cli
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compose-viz docker-compose.yml --mermaid
# Generated mermaid diagram → compose.mmd
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17. scaffold

Scaffold projects from templates with variable substitution.

npm install -g @chengyixu/scaffold
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scaffold create my-api --template express-ts --var DB=postgres
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18. clitest-runner

Test CLI tools with YAML-defined test cases and snapshot testing.

npm install -g @chengyixu/clitest-runner
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clitest run tests.yaml --snapshot --parallel
# ✓ 12/12 tests passed (3 snapshots updated)
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19. urlmeta-cli

Extract Open Graph, Twitter Cards, and meta tags from any URL.

npm install -g urlmeta-cli
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urlmeta https://github.com/nodejs/node
# Title: Node.js  OG:Image: https://...  Twitter:Card: summary_large_image
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20. portfinder-cli

Find open ports, check what's listening, and kill processes by port.

npm install -g @chengyixu/portfinder-cli
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portfinder --scan 3000-3100
# 3000: node (PID 12847)  3001: open  3002: open
portfinder --kill 3000
# Killed PID 12847 on port 3000
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21. logparse-cli

Parse, filter, and aggregate structured log files (JSON, Apache, nginx).

npm install -g @chengyixu/logparse-cli
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logparse access.log --format nginx --top-paths 10 --status 5xx
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22. gitstats-cli

Local git statistics — lines added/removed per author, per week.

npm install -g @chengyixu/gitstats-cli
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gitstats --period 30d --by-author
# wilsonxu: +12,847 / -3,291  (142 commits)
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23. readme-gen

Generate README.md from package.json, JSDoc, and directory structure.

npm install -g @chengyixu/readme-gen
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readme-gen --scan . --output README.md
# Generated README with: install, usage, API docs, license
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24. semver-bump

Interactively choose version bumps with changelog preview.

npm install -g @chengyixu/semver-bump
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semver-bump
# Current: 1.2.3
# patch → 1.2.4 (3 fixes since last release)
# minor → 1.3.0 (2 features + 3 fixes)
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25. tsconfig-lint

Lint your tsconfig.json for common mistakes and anti-patterns.

npm install -g @chengyixu/tsconfig-lint
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tsconfig-lint
# WARN: strict is false — consider enabling for new projects
# ERROR: outDir same as rootDir — compiled files will overwrite source
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26. gitignore-gen

Generate .gitignore files from templates. Covers 400+ technologies.

npm install -g @chengyixu/gitignore-gen
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gitignore-gen node,macos,vscode > .gitignore
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27. pkgjson-lint

Validate and fix common package.json issues.

npm install -g @chengyixu/pkgjson-lint
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pkgjson-lint --fix
# Fixed: missing "repository" field
# Fixed: inconsistent dependency versions
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28. color-convert-cli

Convert colors between hex, RGB, HSL, and CMYK from the terminal.

npm install -g @chengyixu/color-convert-cli
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color-convert "#FF5733" --to hsl
# hsl(11, 100%, 60%)
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29. mdtoc-cli

Generate a table of contents for Markdown files.

npm install -g @chengyixu/mdtoc-cli
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mdtoc README.md --insert
# Inserted TOC with 14 entries after first heading
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30. license-checker-cli

Scan all dependencies and report their licenses. Flag problematic ones.

npm install -g @chengyixu/license-checker-cli
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license-checker --deny GPL-3.0 --allow MIT,Apache-2.0
# 2 packages with denied licenses: pkg-a (GPL-3.0), pkg-b (GPL-3.0)
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Tier C — Niche (15 Tools)

These solve very specific problems. If you have the problem, they're great. If you don't, you'll wonder why they exist.

31. regex-test-cli

Test regular expressions against input strings with match highlighting.

npm install -g @chengyixu/regex-test-cli
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regex-test "(\d{3})-(\d{4})" "Call 555-1234 or 555-5678"
# Match 1: [555-1234] Groups: [555] [1234]
# Match 2: [555-5678] Groups: [555] [5678]
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32. jwt-decode-cli

Decode JWT tokens and check expiry from the terminal.

npm install -g @chengyixu/jwt-decode-cli
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jwt-decode eyJhbGciOi...
# Header: {"alg":"RS256","typ":"JWT"}
# Payload: {"sub":"user123","exp":1711036800}
# Expires: 2026-03-22T00:00:00Z (2 days from now)
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33. base64-cli

Encode/decode base64 with file support and URL-safe variants.

npm install -g @chengyixu/base64-cli
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base64-cli encode "Hello, World!" --url-safe
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34. hash-cli

Hash strings or files with MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512.

npm install -g @chengyixu/hash-cli
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hash-cli sha256 ./package-lock.json
# a3f2b1c8e9d4... (sha256)
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35. ip-info-cli

Look up IP geolocation, ASN, and reverse DNS from the terminal.

npm install -g @chengyixu/ip-info-cli
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ip-info 8.8.8.8
# Location: Mountain View, CA, US  ASN: AS15169 Google LLC
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36. cron-explain-cli

Translate cron expressions to human-readable descriptions.

npm install -g @chengyixu/cron-explain-cli
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cron-explain "0 */6 * * 1-5"
# "At minute 0, every 6 hours, Monday through Friday"
# Next 3 runs: Mon 06:00, Mon 12:00, Mon 18:00
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37. uuid-cli

Generate UUIDs (v4, v5, v7) and ULID from the terminal.

npm install -g @chengyixu/uuid-cli
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uuid-cli v4 --count 5
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38. timestamp-cli

Convert between Unix timestamps, ISO 8601, and relative time.

npm install -g @chengyixu/timestamp-cli
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timestamp-cli 1711036800
# 2026-03-22T00:00:00Z  "2 days from now"  "Saturday"
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39. placeholder-img-cli

Generate placeholder images with custom dimensions, color, and text.

npm install -g @chengyixu/placeholder-img-cli
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placeholder-img 800x600 --bg "#eee" --text "Hero Image" --out hero.png
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40. password-gen-cli

Generate secure passwords and passphrases with entropy calculation.

npm install -g @chengyixu/password-gen-cli
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password-gen --length 24 --symbols --entropy
# G$k9!mP2@vX4nR7&wQ1 (entropy: 143 bits)
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41. http-mock-cli

Spin up a mock HTTP server from a JSON definition file.

npm install -g @chengyixu/http-mock-cli
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http-mock --config mocks.json --port 4000
# Mock server running on http://localhost:4000
# GET /users → 200 (3 routes loaded)
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42. sitemap-gen-cli

Crawl a website and generate an XML sitemap.

npm install -g @chengyixu/sitemap-gen-cli
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sitemap-gen https://example.com --depth 3 --output sitemap.xml
# Crawled 147 pages in 12s → sitemap.xml
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43. ssl-check-cli

Check SSL certificate details and chain validity for any domain.

npm install -g @chengyixu/ssl-check-cli
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ssl-check example.com
# Issuer: Let's Encrypt  Valid: 67 days  Grade: A+  Chain: ✓ valid
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44. dns-lookup-cli

DNS record lookup with all record types and trace mode.

npm install -g @chengyixu/dns-lookup-cli
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dns-lookup example.com --type ALL
# A: 93.184.216.34  AAAA: 2606:2800::  MX: mail.example.com  TXT: "v=spf1..."
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45. whois-cli

WHOIS lookup with parsed, structured output.

npm install -g @chengyixu/whois-cli
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whois-cli example.com --json
# Registrar: ICANN  Created: 1995-08-14  Expires: 2026-08-13
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Tier D — Built for Fun (9 Tools)

These exist because I was curious, bored, or procrastinating on something more important. No regrets.

46. ascii-art-cli

Convert images to ASCII art in the terminal.

npm install -g @chengyixu/ascii-art-cli
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ascii-art ./photo.jpg --width 80
# @@@@@@%%##**++==--..
# (it looks cool, I promise)
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47. weather-cli

Check the weather from your terminal. Because alt-tabbing is hard.

npm install -g @chengyixu/weather-cli
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weather-cli "Toronto"
# 🌤 12°C  Feels like: 9°C  Humidity: 45%  Wind: 15 km/h NW
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48. fortune-cli

Random programming quotes and jokes for your terminal startup.

npm install -g @chengyixu/fortune-cli
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fortune-cli
# "There are only two hard things in Computer Science:
#  cache invalidation and naming things." — Phil Karlton
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49. pomodoro-cli

Terminal Pomodoro timer with system notifications.

npm install -g @chengyixu/pomodoro-cli
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pomodoro-cli start --work 25 --break 5
# 🍅 Focus: 24:59 remaining...
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50. matrix-rain-cli

The Matrix digital rain effect in your terminal. No practical use whatsoever.

npm install -g @chengyixu/matrix-rain-cli
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matrix-rain --color green --speed fast
# ╎ﾖ₧╎ﾖ₧╎ﾖ₧╎ﾖ₧ (you've seen the movie)
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51. cowsay-node

ASCII cow says your message. A classic, reimplemented.

npm install -g @chengyixu/cowsay-node
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cowsay-node "Ship it!"
#  __________
# < Ship it! >
#  ----------
#         \   ^__^
#          \  (oo)\_______
#             (__)\       )
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52. lolcat-cli

Rainbow-colored text output. Because plain white text is boring.

npm install -g @chengyixu/lolcat-cli
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echo "Hello World" | lolcat-cli
# H e l l o   W o r l d  (in beautiful rainbow gradient)
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53. typewriter-cli

Print text with a typewriter animation effect.

npm install -g @chengyixu/typewriter-cli
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typewriter-cli "Deploying to production..." --speed 50
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54. elevator-music-cli

Play elevator music while your build runs. That's it. That's the tool.

npm install -g @chengyixu/elevator-music-cli
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elevator-music-cli & npm run build
# ♫ Playing smooth jazz... (build completes) ♫ Stopped.
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What I Learned Building 54 Tools

Tier S tools solve recurring pain. Every S-tier tool was born from a real production incident or a workflow friction I hit repeatedly. envcheck-cli exists because I deployed with missing variables. filewatch-cli exists because nodemon was too slow. The tools I use most are the ones that were born from genuine frustration, not "wouldn't it be cool if."

Tier D tools taught me the most. Building ascii-art-cli taught me about terminal escape codes and image processing in Node. matrix-rain-cli taught me about terminal rendering performance. The "useless" tools were the ones where I explored the most unfamiliar territory.

Zero-dependency tools are underrated. Most of my Tier S and A tools have zero runtime dependencies. They install in under a second, have no supply chain risk, and never break because a transitive dependency pushed a bad update. I wrote my own arg parser, my own colored output, my own file watcher. It was more work, but the result is tools I trust completely.

Naming is half the battle. envcheck-cli gets more installs than dotenv-validator ever would. Short, descriptive names that tell you exactly what the tool does in one compound word are the sweet spot. If I have to explain the name, I've already lost.

Ship fast, iterate never. Controversial take: most of these tools were "done" in a single session. I published them and moved on. The ones that got traction (like gitpulse) I came back to. The rest? They work fine as v1.0.0 and probably always will.

The Full Tier List

Tier Count Philosophy
S 5 "I'd be lost without this"
A 10 "Reach for it weekly"
B 15 "Right tool for the right job"
C 15 "If you have the problem, it's great"
D 9 "Built for fun, no regrets"

Which tier would YOU put them in? Let me know in the comments. And if you've built your own CLI tools, I'd love to see your tier list. The best tools are always the ones someone built to scratch their own itch.

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