Happily(?), today we are in an era where productivity is mostly achieved through smart work rather than hard work. We constantly have to be looking for faster, easier and smarter ways to achieve results.
The following tools will not only help you work faster, but you’ll also do so while having fun in your terminal.
Note to Windows users : As you may notice, most of this tools are Unix based and implement some features that may not function properly on CMD or Powershell. I’d recommend you to use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).
Worry not, this post can show you how to make WSL the most beautiful terminal 😉
Let’s rock our CLIs.
Task Management & Planning
Yes, I know, we have a plethora of amazing task management tools on both web and desktop. However, you should give a try to those based on your terminal emulator.
Task Warrior
Taskwarrior is Free and Open Source Software that manages your TODO list from the command line. It is flexible, fast, and unobtrusive. It does its job then gets out of your way.
Thyme — Console Pomodoro Timer
The Pomodoro Technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo. This technique really helps with efficiency and time management. Now, Thyme is a tool that helps bring this technique to your terminal alongside big customizable options.
Moro — Work Hours Tracker
A command line tool for tracking work hours, as simple as it can get.
Development
Wuzz — HTTP Inspector
Think of a terminalized Postman . Wuzz is an Interactive cli tool for HTTP inspection.
FX — JSON Viewer
FX is the go-to tool for JSON processing and viewing. It’s really impressive along with all its execution commands. I’m still looking for its web/desktop-based counterpart.
Serve — Fastest CLI file serving utility
Maybe you think I’m over exaggerating. Well, uhm, I’m not. Remember when you used to download python’s simpleHTTPServer or the web server for chrome app each time you needed to set up a static site in localhost? That’s all past tense. With a command as simple as npx serve directly from the folder of your static site, you get served!
howdoi—Your StackOverFlow quickie
It best describes itself this way “instant coding answers via the command line”.
The next time you’re searching for a coding answer think twice before opening your browser to read through blogs. With howdoi the answer might be closer than you think.
gitstats — print(githubCharts);
DevStats — print(allDevStats);
DevStats is a CLI application that fetches statistics from “developer sites” like StackOverflow, WakaTime and GitHub and displays them nicely. If you are a stats maniac, you can even display your daily reports and switch between days
Terminalizer& Asciinema — Terminal Recorders
- Terminalizerhelps you record your terminal sessions and generate gif images. This really helps to show how a command is used.
- Asciinemais a great open source solution for recording terminal sessions and sharing them on the web. It aims to be a “go to” place for every command-line user who wants to share their skills with others. Or putting it differently, it’s a place to show off your geekiness.
Fun
Who really waits for npm install to get done?
Bash2048 — Play 2048 in your terminal
Play the famous 2048 game right from your terminal. (Copy the following line and paste it in your terminal).
$ bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mydzor/bash2048/master/bash2048.sh)
TextMeme
Generate good looking text memes like the one below, right from your terminal
CLI Typer—Practice Dactylography like in 2003
Practice touch typing in the commandline and measure your skills.
Miscellaneous
Speed test — Internet Speed Test
Git is acting strange? Maybe you need a quick connection test. Let speed test ping from your terminal.
Overtime-cli
Easy time-overlap tables for remote teams.
Feeling the list is too short?
These are all awesome tools that awesome devs built to help the community.
You know what is even more awesome? An awesome list of awesome lists containing awesome CLI tools 🦄
- https://github.com/agarrharr/awesome-cli-apps
- https://github.com/alebcay/awesome-shell
- http://reddit.com/r/commandline
Make sure to check those out and leave some stars on the repos.
You may leave a c_lap_👏🏾 if you enjoyed the read.
Dylan Tientcheu (@DylanTientcheu) | Twitter
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