❯cliajar_

one tool per category - the one that actually won

restic

Fast, secure, efficient backup program

Encrypted, deduplicated backups to virtually any storage backend (S3, B2, local, SFTP) with a single static binary — no fragile config, just works.

brew install restic--site --repo

benchmarking

hyperfine

Command-line benchmarking tool with statistical analysis

Runs enough iterations to give you real statistical confidence, warns you about outliers, and outputs clean comparisons between commands instead of a single noisy 'time' measurement.

brew install hyperfine--repo

cheatsheets

tealdeer

A fast tldr client, written in Rust

Community-maintained practical examples instead of dense man pages — 'tldr tar' gets you the three commands you actually need in under a second.

brew install tealdeer--repo

code-stats

tokei

Count your code, quickly

Scans a whole codebase and breaks down lines of code by language in seconds, faster than cloc and with cleaner output for real-world monorepos.

brew install tokei--repo

csv-tools

xsv

A fast CSV command line toolkit

Handles multi-gigabyte CSVs that choke spreadsheet apps, with indexing, joins, and statistics commands purpose-built for tabular data on the command line.

brew install xsv--repo

database-clients

dblab

Interactive terminal client for PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite

One consistent TUI for browsing schemas, running queries, and inspecting rows across engines, instead of learning psql and mysql's incompatible interactive shells separately.

brew install dblab--repo

diff-tools

delta

A syntax-highlighting pager for git, diff, and grep output

Side-by-side diffs with syntax highlighting turn a wall of red/green plus/minus lines into something you can actually review at a glance.

brew install git-delta--repo

directory-listing

eza

A modern replacement for ls

Git status, icons, and tree views built in, with color coding that makes file types identifiable at a glance instead of parsing plain text.

brew install eza--site --repo

disk-free

duf

Disk Usage/Free Utility, a better df

Groups and color-codes mounted volumes with usage bars, replacing df's dense unaligned table with something you can actually scan in a glance.

brew install duf--repo

disk-usage

dust

A more intuitive version of du, written in Rust

Renders a visual tree of what's actually eating your disk in seconds, sorted by size, instead of du's flat unsorted wall of numbers.

brew install dust--repo

docker-tools

lazydocker

Terminal UI for docker and docker-compose

Same philosophy as lazygit applied to containers — logs, exec, restart, and prune, all a keypress away instead of chaining docker CLI flags.

brew install lazydocker--repo

environment-managers

mise

Polyglot runtime and tool version manager

Replaces nvm, pyenv, rbenv, and a dozen other single-language version managers with one fast, unified tool and config file.

brew install mise--site --repo

file-finders

fd

A simple, fast alternative to find

Sane defaults (ignores .gitignore'd files, colorized output, regex by default) mean you get useful results without memorizing find's cryptic flag syntax.

brew install fd--repo

file-managers

yazi

Blazing fast terminal file manager, written in Rust

Async I/O means zero lag even on huge directories, image/video previews built in, and a plugin system that doesn't feel bolted on.

brew install yazi--site --repo

file-transfer

rclone

Command line sync tool for cloud storage

One consistent interface for 70+ cloud storage providers, so you sync to S3, Drive, or Dropbox with the same commands instead of learning each vendor's CLI.

brew install rclone--site --repo

file-viewers

bat

A cat clone with syntax highlighting and git integration

Line numbers, syntax highlighting, and git diff markers by default make it the obvious drop-in replacement for cat that nobody wants to go back from.

brew install bat--repo

find-replace

sd

Intuitive find and replace, a sed alternative

Regular string replacement syntax instead of sed's escape-everything regex dialect — what you'd expect to type actually works.

brew install sd--repo

fuzzy-finders

fzf

General-purpose command-line fuzzy finder

It's not just a tool, it's an interaction pattern — piped into git, ssh configs, process killers, and half of everyone's shell aliases.

brew install fzf--repo

fuzzy-finders

zoxide

A smarter cd command that learns your habits

Tracks the directories you actually use and lets you jump to them with a few letters — after a week you forget cd's full paths ever existed.

brew install zoxide--repo

git-tools

lazygit

Terminal UI for git commands, written in Go

Turns staging, rebasing, and branch juggling into a few keystrokes instead of a dozen memorized flags — makes git approachable without hiding what it's doing.

brew install lazygit--repo

github-cli

gh

GitHub's official command line tool

PRs, issues, releases, and gists from the terminal without ever opening a browser tab — and it's the tool GitHub itself maintains, so it never falls behind the API.

brew install gh--site --repo

http-clients

xh

Friendly and fast HTTP request tool, inspired by HTTPie

HTTPie's ergonomics with a fraction of the startup time, since it's compiled Rust instead of Python — matters when you're firing off dozens of requests while debugging.

brew install xh--repo

image-analysis

dive

A tool for exploring each layer in a docker image

Shows exactly which layer added which bytes, so shrinking a bloated image is a visual investigation instead of guesswork with docker history.

brew install dive--repo

image-viewers

chafa

Terminal graphics for the 21st century

Renders full-color images and animations directly in the terminal using every trick available (sixels, Kitty graphics, ANSI), degrading gracefully wherever it runs.

brew install chafa--site --repo

json-tools

jq

Lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor

It became the de facto standard for a reason — its query language is expressive enough for real pipelines and simple enough to write one-liners from memory.

brew install jq--site --repo

local-servers

miniserve

A CLI tool to serve files and directories over HTTP

One command spins up a clean file server with upload support and zero config — faster than reaching for python -m http.server and nicer to look at.

brew install miniserve--repo

log-viewers

lnav

Log file navigator with automatic format detection

Merges, indexes, and lets you SQL-query multiple log files at once, auto-detecting formats instead of you writing a custom parser for each.

brew install lnav--site --repo

markdown-tools

glow

Render markdown on the CLI, with pizzazz

Turns README.md into something actually readable in the terminal, with proper code block highlighting instead of raw asterisks and pound signs.

brew install glow--repo

network-tools

bandwhich

Terminal bandwidth utilization tool by process

Answers 'what is eating my bandwidth right now' instantly, broken down by process and connection, with zero setup.

brew install bandwhich--repo

ping-tools

gping

Ping, but with a graph

Turns ping's scrolling wall of numbers into a live latency graph, making packet loss and jitter spikes visible instead of something you have to eyeball in text.

brew install gping--repo

process-managers

procs

A modern replacement for ps, written in Rust

Color-coded, human-readable output for ports, docker containers, and CPU usage without piping ps through awk and grep to get the same info.

brew install procs--repo

process-supervisors

overmind

A process manager for Procfile-based applications

Runs your whole Procfile with tmux under the hood, so you can attach to any single process's output on demand instead of a merged, unreadable log stream.

brew install overmind--repo

prompt-tools

starship

Minimal, fast, and customizable shell prompt

Works identically across bash, zsh, fish, and nushell, and shows exactly the context you need (git branch, language version, exit code) without slowing down every keystroke.

brew install starship--site --repo

python-tooling

uv

An extremely fast Python package and project manager, written in Rust

Replaces pip, pip-tools, pipx, poetry, and pyenv with one tool that's 10-100x faster, ending Python's fragmented tooling problem in one install.

brew install uv--site --repo

repo-info

onefetch

Git repository summary on your terminal

neofetch's aesthetic applied to git repos — languages, commit count, contributors, and license at a glance the moment you cd into a new codebase.

brew install onefetch--repo

search-tools

ripgrep

Recursive line-oriented search, respects .gitignore by default

Faster than grep, ag, and ack in nearly every benchmark, with sane defaults that just work in real codebases without extra flags.

brew install ripgrep--repo

shell-history

atuin

Magical shell history, synced and searchable

Replaces your shell's flat history file with a searchable SQLite database, complete with context like exit code and duration — makes ctrl-r actually useful.

brew install atuin--site --repo

shell-linting

shellcheck

A static analysis tool for shell scripts

Catches the quoting and word-splitting bugs that silently break bash scripts in production, with explanations clear enough that you actually learn from the warnings.

brew install shellcheck--site --repo

shells

fish

Smart and user-friendly command line shell

Autosuggestions, syntax highlighting, and sane scripting out of the box mean zero-config productivity that bash and zsh need plugins to match.

brew install fish--site --repo

ssh-tools

mosh

Mobile shell that survives disconnects and roaming

Keeps your session alive through wifi drops, sleep, and IP changes — ssh just dies, mosh picks up exactly where you left off.

brew install mosh--site --repo

system-monitors

btop

Resource monitor with a gorgeous terminal UI, written in C++

Combines htop's speed with a level of visual polish and mouse support that makes every other TUI monitor look unfinished by comparison.

brew install btop--repo

task-runners

just

A handy command runner, saves you from remembering long commands

Reads like a nicer Makefile without make's whitespace-sensitivity landmines, and became the default task runner for a huge share of new Rust and polyglot projects.

brew install just--site --repo

terminal-emulators

kitty

The fast, feature-rich, GPU based terminal emulator

GPU rendering makes scrolling and rendering large output genuinely instant, with ligature support, image protocol, and remote control that competitors are still catching up to.

brew install --cask kitty--site --repo

terminal-multiplexers

zellij

Terminal workspace and multiplexer, written in Rust

Ships with sane defaults and a discoverable UI, so new users get tmux-level power without memorizing prefix-key combos on day one.

brew install zellij--site --repo

terminal-recording

asciinema

Record and share terminal sessions

Records as lightweight text, not video, so playback is crisp at any resolution and recordings stay copy-pasteable — the standard for sharing CLI demos.

brew install asciinema--site --repo

text-editors

neovim

Hyperextensible Vim-based text editor

A modern Lua-based plugin ecosystem and built-in LSP support turned a 30-year-old modal editor into a legitimate full IDE, without losing the speed that made Vim worth learning.

brew install neovim--site --repo

yaml-tools

yq

A portable command line YAML, JSON, XML, CSV, and properties processor

jq's query syntax applied to YAML — the tool everyone reaches for the moment they need to script against a Kubernetes manifest or CI config.

brew install yq--repo