Shell Command-line

Open-source Shell projects categorized as Command-line

Top 23 Shell Command-line Projects

Command-line
  1. distrobox

    Use any linux distribution inside your terminal. Enable both backward and forward compatibility with software and freedom to use whatever distribution you’re more comfortable with. Mirror available at: https://gitlab.com/89luca89/distrobox

    Project mention: Show HN: Box – a script-based interactive container manager | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-01-25
  2. InfluxDB

    InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads. InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.

    InfluxDB logo
  3. nb

    CLI and local web plain text note‑taking, bookmarking, and archiving with linking, tagging, filtering, search, Git versioning & syncing, Pandoc conversion, + more, in a single portable script.

    Project mention: ✨ Top 5 Open-Source Terminal Note-Taking Applications ✨ | dev.to | 2025-01-29

    Repository: nb

  4. fzf-fish-integration

    🔍🐟 Fzf plugin for Fish

    Project mention: Better Shell History Search | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-03-25

    Fyi; I assume you already checked out fzf.fish ?

    https://github.com/PatrickF1/fzf.fish

  5. vcsh

    config manager based on Git

  6. shpotify

    A command-line interface to Spotify.

  7. learn_gnuawk

    Example based guide to mastering GNU awk

  8. theme.sh

    A script which lets you set your $terminal theme.

  9. SaaSHub

    SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

    SaaSHub logo
  10. yt-x

    Browse youtube from your terminal

    Project mention: Yt-x: Browse YouTube from your terminal | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-12-30
  11. tools-osx

    A small collection of command line tools for Mac OS X, incl.: clipcat, dict, eject, launch, ql, swuser, trash & with.

  12. zsh-abbr

    The zsh manager for auto-expanding abbreviations, inspired by fish. ~27,000 clones by ~17,000 unique cloners as of late Nov '24, and averaging ~60 Homebrew installs monthly since June 2023

  13. cli-computing

    :penguin: Linux command line and Scripting guide for beginner to intermediate users

    Project mention: Linux Command Line Computing | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-06-11
  14. shell-safe-rm

    😎 Safe-rm: A drop-in and much safer replacement of bash rm with nearly full functionalities and options of the rm command! Safe-rm will act exactly the same as the original rm command.

  15. json.bash

    Command-line tool and bash library that creates JSON

    Project mention: Show HN: Jb / json.bash – Command-line tool (and bash library) that creates JSON | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-07-03

    If it helps, there's a little example of using the bash API with bash variables/arrays, should give you an idea of how it could be to use: https://github.com/h4l/json.bash/blob/main/examples/notify.s...

    This example uses the pattern of setting an out=varname when calling a json function, the encoded JSON goes into $varname variable. This pattern avoids the overhead of forking processes (e.g. subshells) when generating JSON.

    Otherwise you can use the more normal approach of jb writing to stdout, and capturing the output stream.

  16. learn_gnugrep_ripgrep

    Example based guide to mastering GNU grep and ripgrep

  17. gh-f

    🔎 the ultimate compact fzf gh extension

    Project mention: Show HN: The match between fzf and gh CLI | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-06-06
  18. termv

    A terminal iptv player written in bash

  19. bed

    bash only text editor (by comfies)

    Project mention: bashsimplecurses: Simple curses library made in bash to draw terminal interfaces | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-07-27

    I have a fondness for bash abuse and those odd sort of people who get fixated on bash. bed [0] the bash editor is one of my favorite examples, always surprised by how short and concise it is, far from a great editor but a great exercise and I learned a thing or two about the bash way from it.

    0. https://github.com/comfies/bed

  20. learn_gnused

    Example based guide to mastering GNU sed

  21. cli_text_processing_coreutils

    Example based guide for specialized text processing with GNU Coreutils

  22. learn_ruby_oneliners

    Example based guide for text processing with Ruby from the command line

  23. fla.sh

    💥 flashcards in your terminal (by tallguyjenks)

    Project mention: Show HN: Terminal-Based Flashcards in Bash | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-08-18

    The most ambitious parts. I want to experiment using softmax and a somewhat complicated (but easily customizable) scoring system that would be entirely based on the activity log. Very much a work in progress, so far.

    1. https://github.com/tallguyjenks/fla.sh

  24. job

    JOB, make your short-term command as a long-term job. 将命令行规划成任务的工具

  25. arkdep

    Toolkit for building, deploying and maintaining an immutable, atomic, btrfs-based system

  26. SaaSHub

    SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

    SaaSHub logo
NOTE: The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars. The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or since we started tracking (Dec 2020).

Shell Command-line discussion

Log in or Post with

Shell Command-line related posts

  • Show HN: Empty Enter Expander – Type less in the terminal with this tool

    3 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 25 Apr 2025
  • ✨ Top 5 Open-Source Terminal Note-Taking Applications ✨

    5 projects | dev.to | 29 Jan 2025
  • Show HN: Box – a script-based interactive container manager

    3 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 25 Jan 2025
  • Show HN: Command-line secrets manager powered by native macOS keychains

    1 project | news.ycombinator.com | 7 Jul 2024
  • Show HN: Jb / json.bash – Command-line tool (and bash library) that creates JSON

    7 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 3 Jul 2024
  • Show HN: Pomoglorbo, a TUI Pomodoro timer for your terminal

    2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 19 Jun 2024
  • Linux Command Line Computing

    1 project | news.ycombinator.com | 11 Jun 2024
  • A note from our sponsor - InfluxDB
    www.influxdata.com | 15 May 2025
    InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now. Learn more →

Index

What are some of the best open-source Command-line projects in Shell? This list will help you:

# Project Stars
1 distrobox 10,830
2 nb 7,061
3 fzf-fish-integration 2,220
4 vcsh 2,208
5 shpotify 2,034
6 learn_gnuawk 1,097
7 theme.sh 933
8 yt-x 922
9 tools-osx 722
10 zsh-abbr 643
11 cli-computing 544
12 shell-safe-rm 472
13 json.bash 447
14 learn_gnugrep_ripgrep 330
15 gh-f 318
16 termv 254
17 bed 203
18 learn_gnused 201
19 cli_text_processing_coreutils 193
20 learn_ruby_oneliners 182
21 fla.sh 164
22 job 147
23 arkdep 139

Sponsored
InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads
InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.
www.influxdata.com

Did you know that Shell is
the 11th most popular programming language
based on number of references?