D-Cubed: A terminal commands and shortcuts learning assistant

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GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge Submission

This is a submission for the GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge

What I Built

D-Cubed, which stands for Dynamic Discovery Daemon, is a context-aware terminal reminder system that helps new developers to get familiar with commands, shortcuts, and best practices through intelligent, automated suggestions.

The Challenge

Too many commands to remember for developers: Git, Docker, Linux, keyboard shortcuts—hundreds of commands across multiple tools
Constant context switching: Developers break flow by searching Stack Overflow or docs for forgotten commands
Static solutions fail: Cheat sheets require manual lookup; generic ghost text lacks project awareness

Demo

GitHub: https://github.com/Her0n24/D-Cubed

Demo of dynamic terminal tips reminder with iTerm2 (macOS) - Status bar integration

Display Modes

The system automatically detects your terminal and adapts:

iTerm2 (macOS) - Fixed status bar at top/bottom
tmux - Integrated into tmux status line
Other terminals - Display above prompt

The tips updates every 5 seconds. The daemon adapts to recent command history, with suggestions powered by GitHub Copilot. Users can learn without interrupting workflow and switching away from the terminal window.

Manual Control
reminder-start # Start the background daemon reminder-stop # Stop the daemon reminder-get # Get current reminder

My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI

GitHub Copilot is the backbone of this improvement project. Copilot fused seamlessly with the project. From being a consultant, to a coder, debugger and the backbone of the dynamics tips, Copilot diligently implemented my plans and handle the convoluted interplay between brew installations, shell configurations, and Python package management.

When my original vision of implementing ghost text (IDE-style autocomplete in the terminal) hit a wall, Copilot guided me through multiple iterations and experiments, ultimately helping me discover that this approach was incompatible with Powerlevel10k. Copilot then pivoted the entire design toward iTerm2's status bar integration, which resulted in a better look.

More importantly, throughout this process, Copilot consistently respected the permissions I granted, only accessing and modifying the specific files and directories I approved. I especially liked the concise list of task detailing what it was about to do.