CLI Tools¶

Command-Line Essentials

A curated list of command-line tools that are not full TUIs but are indispensable day-to-day. Fast, composable, and built for the terminal.

DNS¶

drill / dig / host / nslookup

DNS lookup tools, all do roughly the same thing, with different verbosity and defaults. drill (from ldns) is the most modern and clean, dig is the classic, host and nslookup are simpler alternatives.

Install:
Install drill (Arch Linux)
```
pacman -S ldns
```
Install dig (Arch Linux)
```
pacman -S bind
```
Usage:
Basic lookup
```
drill example.com
```
Query a specific record type
```
drill MX example.com
```
Reverse lookup
```
drill -x 1.1.1.1
```
Query a specific resolver
```
drill example.com @8.8.8.8
```
DNSSEC validation
```
drill -D example.com
```

aria2c

A lightweight multi-protocol download utility supporting HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, BitTorrent, and Metalink. Supports parallel downloads and resuming interrupted transfers.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S aria2
```
Usage:
Download a file
```
aria2c https://example.com/file.iso
```
Download with 4 parallel connections
```
aria2c -x4 https://example.com/file.iso
```
Download a torrent
```
aria2c file.torrent
```
aria2/aria2
yt-dlp

A media downloader for YouTube and 1000+ other sites. A community-maintained fork of youtube-dl with more features, faster downloads, and active development.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S yt-dlp
```
Install via pip
```
pip install yt-dlp
```
Usage:
Download a video
```
yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
```
List available formats
```
yt-dlp -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
```
Download best audio only (mp3)
```
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
```
Download a playlist
```
yt-dlp https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...
```
yt-dlp/yt-dlp

duf

A modern disk usage/free utility, a pretty replacement for df. Shows mounts in a clean, color-coded table with usage bars.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S duf
```
Install via Homebrew
```
brew install duf
```
Usage:
Show all mounts
```
duf
```
muesli/duf

curl

The ubiquitous data transfer tool, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, and dozens more protocols. Present on virtually every system and endlessly composable in scripts.

Usage:
GET request
```
curl https://example.com
```
POST JSON
```
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"key": "value"}' https://api.example.com/endpoint
```
Follow redirects, show headers
```
curl -Lv https://example.com
```
Download a file
```
curl -O https://example.com/file.zip
```
curl.se
HTTPie

A human-friendly HTTP client for the terminal. Syntax highlighting, JSON formatting, and sensible defaults make it much more readable than curl for API work and debugging.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S httpie
```
Usage:
GET request
```
http https://api.example.com/users
```
POST JSON (automatic)
```
http POST https://api.example.com/users name=Benoit email=b@example.com
```
With auth header
```
http https://api.example.com/users Authorization:"Bearer token"
```
Download a file
```
http --download https://example.com/file.zip
```
httpie/httpie

ipcalc

An IP address and subnet calculator for the command line. Instantly compute network ranges, broadcast addresses, netmasks, and wildcard masks from a CIDR block.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S ipcalc
```
Usage:
Subnet info
```
ipcalc 192.168.1.0/24
```
Check if two IPs are in the same subnet
```
ipcalc 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.0
```
nmap

The network scanner and security auditing tool. Discover hosts, open ports, running services, and OS fingerprints on a network.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S nmap
```
Usage:
Scan a host
```
nmap 192.168.1.1
```
Scan a subnet
```
nmap 192.168.1.0/24
```
Service and version detection
```
nmap -sV 192.168.1.1
```
OS detection (requires root)
```
sudo nmap -O 192.168.1.1
```
nmap.org

ripgrep (rg)

A blazing fast recursive grep written in Rust. Respects .gitignore, skips binary files, and searches with regex by default. The modern replacement for grep.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S ripgrep
```
Install via Homebrew
```
brew install ripgrep
```
Usage:
Search for a pattern
```
rg "search_term"
```
Search in a specific file type
```
rg "pattern" --type py
```
Case-insensitive search
```
rg -i "pattern"
```
Show context lines
```
rg -C 3 "pattern"
```
BurntSushi/ripgrep

shellcheck

A static analysis tool for shell scripts. Catches common mistakes, style issues, and potential bugs in bash/sh/dash scripts before they bite you in production.

Install:
Install on Arch Linux
```
pacman -S shellcheck
```
Install on Debian/Ubuntu
```
apt install shellcheck
```
Usage:
Check a script
```
shellcheck myscript.sh
```
Integrates with most editors (Helix, Vim, VSCode) via LSP or plugins for inline warnings as you type.

koalaman/shellcheck