A collection of CLI tools I use (or have used). Most can be installed using your *nix distro’s package manager, or with Scoop on Windows. If you’re not already using Scoop, it's definitely worth trying.
✨ Other lists you might find interesting
- modern-unix – A collection of modern/faster/saner alternatives to common Unix commands. Most work with both *nix and Windows.
- A list of new(ish) command line tools – Julia Evans
🐧 = *nix only
🪟 = Windows only
| Tool | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| aria2c | Networking & Transfer | Lightweight, cross‑platform command‑line download utility supporting HTTP(S), FTP, SFTP, BitTorrent and Metalink protocols. |
| bat | Text & Diff | A modern cat replacement featuring syntax highlighting, Git integration, and an improved paging experience. |
| bottom | System Monitoring & Performance | Cross‑platform graphical process and system monitor providing a clear overview of resource usage in the terminal. |
| btop | System Monitoring & Performance | Interactive terminal‑based resource monitor displaying CPU, memory, disks, network activity and processes in colour. |
| broot | Search & Navigation | Visual directory explorer and navigator simplifying structured exploration and manipulation of your filesystem. |
| cheat | Text & Diff | Terminal‑based tool for creating, editing and viewing interactive command‑line cheatsheets. |
| choose | Search & Navigation | Fast, user‑friendly alternative to cut (and sometimes awk) for effortless column‑based selection. |
| croc | Networking & Transfer | Simple, secure command‑line file transfers between computers without passwords or complicated setup. |
| curl | Networking & Transfer | Powerful command‑line data transfer tool and library supporting HTTP, FTP, MQTT, SMTP and more via libcurl. |
| curlie | Networking & Transfer | Combines curl’s power with HTTPie’s simplicity for user‑friendly, colourised HTTP requests. |
| dasel | Text & Diff | Unified tool for manipulating JSON, TOML, YAML, XML and CSV files, allowing data selection, insertion, deletion and conversion. |
| delta | Text & Diff | Syntax‑highlighting pager for Git, diff, grep and blame outputs, improving readability of code changes. |
| difftastic | Text & Diff | Structural diff tool understanding syntax, highlighting changes at the AST level rather than line‑by‑line. |
| doggo | Networking & Transfer | Human‑friendly DNS client providing simplified domain lookups with colourised and structured output. |
| dua | Filesystem & Disk | Fast disk‑usage analyser and cleaner enabling quick identification and removal of unnecessary files. |
| duf | Filesystem & Disk | Modern replacement for df, displaying disk usage and free space in a clear, sortable table. |
| dust | Filesystem & Disk | Intuitive Rust‑based replacement for du, providing graphical breakdowns of directory sizes. |
| erdtree | Filesystem & Disk | Multithreaded filesystem utility showing disk usage clearly, respecting .gitignore and hidden‑file rules. |
| es 🪟 | Search & Navigation | Lightning‑fast command‑line interface for Everything on Windows, enabling instant full‑text file search. |
| exiftool | Metadata & APIs | Comprehensive metadata reader and writer for EXIF, IPTC, XMP and other formats across many file types. |
| eza | Filesystem & Disk | Modern alternative to ls, offering icons, Git integration, colours and tree views. |
| fastfetch | System Monitoring & Performance | Performance‑focused system information tool replicating and extending neofetch’s functionality. |
| fclones | Filesystem & Disk | Efficient duplicate‑file finder, helping you reclaim disk space by identifying redundant files. |
| fd | Search & Navigation | Fast, intuitive replacement for find, featuring user‑friendly defaults and fuzzy matching. |
| ffmpeg | Media & Recording | Versatile multimedia processor offering transcoding, streaming, filtering and advanced audio/video manipulation. |
| ffsend | Networking & Transfer | Secure, command‑line client for Firefox Send enabling temporary, encrypted file‑sharing. |
| fselect | Search & Navigation | File‑finder using SQL‑like syntax (SELECT…FROM…WHERE) to locate files quickly and intuitively. |
| fx | Text & Diff | Terminal‑based JSON viewer and processor with integrated paging, pretty‑printing and query features. |
| fzf | Search & Navigation | Interactive fuzzy finder for quick filtering of files, commands, history and more from the terminal. |
| gifsicle | Media & Recording | GIF manipulation and optimisation tool for creating lighter, smoother animations. |
| glances | System Monitoring & Performance | Adaptive system resource monitor offering a responsive alternative to top and htop. |
| glow | Text & Diff | Terminal‑based Markdown renderer with themes, tables and syntax highlighting. |
| gping | Networking & Transfer | Real‑time ping tool visualising round‑trip times in an intuitive graph. |
| gtop | System Monitoring & Performance | Terminal dashboard providing at‑a‑glance monitoring of CPU, memory, network and processes. |
| gsudo 🪟 | Networking & Transfer | Seamless sudo‑like command‑line privilege elevation tool for Windows. |
| httpie | Networking & Transfer | Modern, user‑friendly HTTP client with JSON support and syntax highlighting designed for the API era. |
| httping | Networking & Transfer | HTTP/S latency measurement tool, acting like ping for web requests. |
| httpstat | Networking & Transfer | Visual HTTP client providing colourised timing breakdowns of request phases, similar to curl -v. |
| hyperfine | System Monitoring & Performance | Benchmarking tool to measure and compare command‑line program execution times. |
| jq | Text & Diff | Flexible JSON processor for filtering, transforming and pretty‑printing JSON data in the terminal. |
| lazygit | Version Control | Terminal‑based Git UI for easy staging, committing, pushing and more, minimising manual commands. |
| litecli | Text & Diff | Intuitive SQLite CLI featuring auto‑completion and syntax highlighting. |
| lsd | Filesystem & Disk | Enhanced ls command with icons, colour and detailed file information. |
| mcfly 🐧 | Search & Navigation | Intelligent shell history search tool surfacing relevant commands quickly through fuzzy matching. |
| micro | Text & Diff | User‑friendly terminal text editor combining simplicity and powerful functionality. |
| moar | Text & Diff | Easy‑to‑use pager providing seamless terminal viewing without complex configuration. |
| mpv | Media & Recording | Versatile command‑line media player ideal for scripting, keybindings and custom filters. |
| neofetch | System Monitoring & Performance | Displays detailed system information including configuration, kernel and uptime alongside ASCII art. |
| nexttrace | Networking & Transfer | Visual network route‑tracking tool mapping paths hop by hop. |
| ngrok | Networking & Transfer | Secure tunnelling tool to expose local servers to the internet for easy external access. |
| nala 🐧 | Filesystem & Disk | Improved Python‑based APT front‑end for Debian, offering parallel downloads and clear, colourised package management. |
| ov | Text & Diff | Feature‑rich terminal pager and text viewer with search and syntax highlighting. |
| psping 🪟 | Networking & Transfer | Sysinternals tool measuring TCP/ICMP latency and bandwidth performance on Windows. |
| procs | System Monitoring & Performance | Modern replacement for ps built in Rust, clearly showing processes, resource usage and process trees. |
| python-cloudflare-cli4 | Metadata & APIs | Command‑line client for interacting with Cloudflare’s API v4. |
| rclone | Networking & Transfer | Cloud‑storage synchronisation and management tool – ‘rsync for the cloud’ – supporting numerous providers. |
| ripgrep (rg) | Search & Navigation | Fast directory searching for regex patterns, optimised with respect to .gitignore. |
| sd | Text & Diff | Intuitive command‑line find‑and‑replace tool providing simpler syntax than sed. |
| sfsu 🪟 | Filesystem & Disk | Modern, high‑speed Scoop package manager reimplementation in Rust for Windows. |
| tldr | Text & Diff | Simplified man pages providing concise, community‑driven examples for common commands. |
| trippy | Networking & Transfer | Comprehensive network diagnostic toolkit for route tracing, ping tests and port checking. |
| vhs | Media & Recording | Terminal session recorder capturing interactive ASCII‑art videos of your shell. |
| wget | Networking & Transfer | Classic GNU command‑line utility for robust, non‑interactive file downloads. |
| xh | Networking & Transfer | Friendly, fast HTTP request tool combining curl‑like capability with simplified syntax. Based on HTTPie syntax, but built in Rust for blazing-fast performance. |
| yt-dlp | Networking & Transfer | Feature‑rich downloader for YouTube and other media services. |
| zoxide | Search & Navigation | Intelligent cd replacement, learning your habits to swiftly navigate directories. |