CLII: A non-invasive terminal tool to help you with terminal commands

Ketan Kunkalikar — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 18:28:08 +0000

TLDR: Most tools that convert your instructions -> terminal commands are too invasive, I built CLII, a tiny terminal tool that eases this friction.

Here's the repo: CLII

Motivation: As a professional developer who's just starting out, I've decided to double down on getting comfortable with using the terminal for EVERYTHING. It's very non-stimulating, no distractions whatsoever, and I truly believe in the powers of the pipe operator to distill absolutely any info for you. The fact that the terminal is a natural fit for your agent to navigate & manage changes / context is just a plus-point.

Learning to navigate this terminal & manipulating it via commands definitely has some learning curve, enough to deter one from using it I'd reckon.

In cases where I cannot write a command for a particular task, i've sought help from my agent to write it for me, but I've noticed that most cli coding tools just add too much friction to this process..

That's why I started with clii, just a tiny Langgraph workflow to give the LLM enough context to understand when to give an explanation vs when to enter the command in my input buffer for me to review & simply click enter on.
I thought of making it a little more appealing to set up & use when my work colleagues asked about it, and lo, I think I have a proper tool I can show around, and encourage fellow devs to use the terminal unless its impossible to.

I'd love some feedback here... The tool is targeted for the zsh terminal, but I can definitely work on a windows equivalent if demand arises for it.

DEV Community: Ketan Kunkalikar

CLII: A non-invasive terminal tool to help you with terminal commands