Essential CLI Tools for Productivity and System Management

1. fish shell

Fish is a user‑friendly shell offering auto‑suggestions, syntax highlighting, and quick directory switching, though its syntax differs from Bash and Zsh, requiring script conversion or a Bash session for incompatible commands.

Plugins can be managed with Fisher, Oh My Fish, or fundle; the author uses Fisher to install franciscolourenco/done, evanlucas/fish-kubectl-completions, and fzf.

2. Starship

Starship works with any shell; adding a single line to .bashrc, .zshrc, or config.fish enables a fast, customizable prompt that shows Git status, Python version, command duration, and error indicators only when relevant.

3. z

The z utility tracks directory usage and lets you jump to a folder with z path_of_the_folder_name, using a frecency algorithm to prioritize frequently and recently visited paths.

4. fzf

Fzf provides fuzzy searching for files, command history, processes, and Git commits, allowing rapid navigation by typing partial names.

5. fd

Fd is a simpler, faster alternative to find, respecting .gitignore by default; it can be aliased as fda='fd -IH' to disable that behavior.

6. ripgrep

Ripgrep (rg) replaces grep with superior speed and sensible defaults, also honoring .gitignore; the alias rga='rg -uuu' disables all smart filtering.

7. htop and glances

Htop improves upon the classic top with color, mouse support, and a richer UI, while Glances adds system‑wide metrics such as network, disk, battery, and resource‑heavy processes.

8. virtualenv and virtualfish

Virtualenv creates isolated Python environments (preferred over the built‑in venv), and VirtualFish extends this capability to Fish shell.

9. pyenv, nodenv, rbenv

These version managers let you switch between multiple Python, Node, or Ruby versions per project, avoiding conflicts and simplifying dependency handling; the author also mentions asdf as a universal version manager.

10. pipx

Pipx installs Python CLI tools in isolated environments while keeping the commands globally accessible, eliminating the need to activate a virtualenv for each tool.

11. ctop and lazydocker

Ctop provides a top‑like UI for Docker containers, showing status, resource usage, and logs; lazydocker offers a more feature‑rich terminal UI for Docker management.

12. Homebrew

Homebrew is the de‑facto package manager for macOS, with a GUI front‑end called Cakebrew.

13. asciinema

Asciinema records terminal sessions as replayable, copy‑able text, ideal for tutorial creation.

14. colordiff and diff‑so‑fancy

Colordiff adds syntax highlighting to diff output; diff‑so‑fancy further refines the display by highlighting word‑level changes and cleaning up symbols.

15. tree

Tree visualizes directory structures in a hierarchical view. Example usage:

$ tree .
.
├── recovery.md
├── README.md
├── archive
├── automator
│   ├── Open\ Iterm2.workflow
│   │   └── Contents
│   │       ├── Info.plist
│   │       ├── QuickLook
│   │       │   └── Thumbnail.png
│   │       └── document.wflow
│   └── Start\ Screen\ Saver.workflow
├── brew-cask.sh

16. bat

Bat is a cat replacement that adds syntax highlighting, Git gutter markers, and paging for large files.

17. httpie

Httpie offers a more readable, color‑coded alternative to curl for making HTTP requests, with sensible defaults and plugin support.

18. tldr

Tldr provides concise, example‑driven cheat sheets for common commands, simplifying the often verbose man pages.

19. exa

Exa is a modern ls replacement with colors, Git status, and human‑readable file sizes while retaining similar performance.

20. litecli and pgcli

Litecli and pgcli enhance SQLite and PostgreSQL command‑line interfaces with auto‑completion and syntax highlighting.

21. mas

Mas is a CLI for installing macOS App Store applications, enabling automated software setup.

22. ncdu

Ncdu offers a fast, interactive disk‑usage analyzer for freeing space.

23. Summary

The extensive list of CLI tools—such as fd, ripgrep, httpie, and others—provides faster, more user‑friendly alternatives to traditional commands, improving productivity and encouraging experimentation with newer, better‑designed utilities.