15 Must‑Have CLI Tools to Supercharge Your IT Operations

1. ag : a recursive file‑content search tool that is faster than grep and ack.

2. tig : an interactive text‑mode interface for Git repositories that can replace many Git commands.

3. mycli : a MySQL client with syntax highlighting and auto‑completion, similar to IPython, usable as a drop‑in replacement for the standard mysql command.

4. jq : a JSON processor that formats and highlights JSON data, serving as an alternative to

python -m json.tool

.

5. shellcheck : a static analysis tool for shell scripts that detects syntax errors and non‑standard coding practices.

6. fzf : a fuzzy finder for the command line that enables interactive, intelligent searching of files or content, perfect for pairing with

Ctrl‑R

history searches.

7. PathPicker (fpp) : automatically detects directories and files in command‑line output, offering an interactive selector that is especially useful with Git.

<code>git diff HEAD~8 --stat | fpp</code>

8. htop : a visually appealing and more convenient process monitor that replaces the traditional

top

command.

9. glances : a powerful alternative to

htop

/

top

that provides richer system information and also offers a web interface for remote monitoring.

10. axel : a multi‑threaded download accelerator that can replace

curl

or

wget

for faster file retrieval.

<code>axel -n 20 http://centos.ustc.edu.cn/centos/7/isos/x86_64/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1511.iso</code>

11. sz/rz : interactive file transfer utilities that simplify moving files across multiple jump hosts without manual step‑by‑step copying.

12. cloc : a code‑line counter that reports blank lines, comment lines, and language breakdowns for a codebase.

13. tmux : a terminal multiplexer that replaces

screen

and

nohup

for managing multiple sessions.

14. script / scriptreplay : tools for recording and replaying terminal sessions.

<code># Record
script -t 2>time.txt session.typescript
# your commands
# End recording
exit
# Replay
scriptreplay -t time.txt session.typescript</code>

15. multitail : a utility that lets you monitor multiple log files simultaneously within a single terminal window.