Packages that I find useful and use very often on the macOS command line. I'm hoping that this helps someone else be more productive, or at the very least, just learn something new. By the way, this is my first blog post.

Command Line Packages for macOS

Lucas Burns

2021-02-28

Command Line Packages for macOS

I have been getting into using the command-line a lot more over the past couple of months and have (somewhat) kept a record of the packages that I find the most useful and use the most often. This table below are some of the packages that I have kept a record of. They are in no particular order or category; however, I did try my best to put the ones that are similar next to each other.

Packages

Package Name	Use
`iftop`	network monitor
`bandwhich`	bandwidth monitor
`mtr`	ping and traceroute in the same tool
`glances`	system monitor
`gotop`	system monitor with graphs
`htop`	system monitor (alternative to `top`)
`vtop`	system monitor (similar to `gotop`)
`ctop`	Top for containers
`bashtop`	system monitor with graphs
`px`	`ps` and `top` for human beings
`procs`	process viewer that is static (lots of colors)
`create-dmg`	helper to create a dmg
`fkill`	interactive process killer
`bottom`	cross platform system monitor
`osquery`	SQL powered operating system monitor/analyzer
`vnstat`	data usage monitor
`ncdu`	interactive disk usage browser
`dua-cli`	interactive disk usage browser
`dust`	More intuitive `du`
`duf`	disk usage monitor
`watch`	watch a program's status
`watchexec`	runs command when detects modification
`entr`	run arbitrary commands when files change
`pueue`	daemon for managing long running shell commands
`nq`	similar to `pueue` and `task-spooler`
`neofetch`	view system information with system's logo
`socat`	port listener
`lnav`	log decrypter
`speedtest-cli`	check network upload / download rates
`nmap`	network mapper / scanner
`stubby`	DNS masker / privacy stub resolver
`dnsmasq`	DNS masker, used in conjunction with `stubby`
`privoxy`	Adblocker / proxy
`iproute2mac`	`ip` command in terminal
`geoip`	`geoiplookup` - alternative to `whois`
`mpd`	music player daemon
`fmui`	`fzf` for `mpd`
`ncmpcpp`	ncurses music player for `mpd`
`mpc`	music command line client for `mpd`
`musikcube`	music player
`massren`	rename directories in `$EDITOR`
`vidir`	rename directories in `$EDITOR` (installed with `moreutils`)
`mmv`	rename directories in `$EDITOR`
`btc-value`	get price of Bitcoin at command line
`coinmon`	script to grab table for cryptocurrencies
`cointop`	tool to view all cryptocurrencies’ prices & graphs
`ticker`	view and track your stocks
`nnn`	terminal file manager with no configuration file
`ranger`	terminal file manager with vim keybindings (can preview images)
`vifm`	vim terminal file manager
`lf`	terminal file manager with nice ways to write custom functions
`calcurse`	ncurses reminders / calender client
`taskwarrior`	command line task manager
`taskwarrior-tui`	terminal interface for `task`
`reminders-cli`	tool to view and modify macOS's reminders
`jrnl`	encrypted journal
`lowdown`	convert markdown to HTML or PDF (tons of options)
`mandown`	man-page inspired markdown pager written in C
`epy`	CLI ebook reader
`glow`	markdown viewer with pizzaz
`mdcat`	fancy cat for markdown
`mdv`	markdown viewer in the terminal
`mdp`	markdown type of powerpoint
`vmd`	view markdown file in XQuartz
`h2m`	convert web page (or HTML file) to markdown
`links`	terminal web browser
`w3m`	terminal web browser
`lynx`	terminal web browser
`amfora`	gemini page viewer
`urlview`	open urls from command line to browser
`youtube-dl`	download YouTube videos from command line
`youtube-viewer`	browse YouTube videos at command line
`you-get`	download any video (including YouTube) from command line
`ytmdl`	YouTube music downloader
`ytfzf`	YouTube fuzzy finder
`mpv`	watch videos from command line
`asciinema`	create videos of the terminal in the terminal
`asciicast2gif`	convert asciinema video to gif
`carbon-now-cli`	generate pictures of code
`figlet`	generate ascii art
`toilet`	generate ascii art with colors
`boxes`	draw box around text
`tree`	view folder structure as a tree
`tre`	Modern alternative to `tree`
`alder`	view folder structure as a tree with colors
`as-tree`	pipe output to create a tree folder structure
`exa`	alternative to `ls` with colors & many more options
`tokei`	view code file structure
`imgcat`	view image in the terminal
`chafa`	view image in the terminal
`viu`	terminal image viewer written in rust
`sxiv`	view image in XQuartz
`feh`	view image in XQuartz
`imagemagick`	tools to modify images
`rsvg-convert`	convert SVG images to other formats
`jhead`	modify image EXIF data
`exiftool`	modify image EXIF data
`mat2`	modify image EXIF data
`thumbsup`	generate folder structure & page of images for website
`lfimg`	terminal image viewer for `lf` file manager
`ucollage`	terminal image viewer
`timg`	terminal image viewer
`stpv`	simple terminal image viewer
`fontpreview`	preview fonts in the terminal
`ueberzug`	client used with several image viewers
`zathura`	view pdfs in XQuartz
`pandoc`	convert markdown to pdf
`um`	create and maintain your own manpages
`kramdown`	superset of markdown
`grip`	view README.md in browser
`rtv`	browse Reddit
`t`	browse Twitter
`hangups`	Google Hangouts tool
`ripgrep`	faster alternative to `grep`
`rga`	using `ripgrep` on more than just text files (PDF, etc.)
`ack`	similar to `grep` but slower than `ripgrep`
`fd`	faster alternative to `find`
`fselect`	find files with SQL-like queries
`sd`	alternative to `sed` (mainly for simple text replacement)
`ruplacer`	Find and replace text in source files
`bat`	alternative to `less` (theme options)
`vimpager`	`vim` type pager, alternative to `less`
`doas`	`sudo` alternative
`mycli`	better `mysql` with completion & syntax highlighting
`pass`	Unix command line password manager
`(neo)mutt`	email client
`mbsync`/`isync`	used with `neomutt` to download emails offline
`msmtp`	mail configuration for command line
`notmuch`	browse emails by tag, name, etc.
`abook`	contact manager
`rsync`	copy files locally or over network
`rclone`	backup files to remote location
`newsboat`	RSS viewer
`limelight`	have a glowing ring around active window
`yabai`	window manager for macOS
`skhd`	keyboard shortcuts (meant to be used with `yabai`)
`m-cli`	tools for macOS command line
`hh`	browse command line history
`hstr`	browse command line history
`tldr`	command helper
`tealdeer`	a rust version of `tldr`
`cheat`	command helper
`navi`	`fzf` interactive command helper
`rebound`	fetch StackOverflow answers from command line
`howdoi`	command answers
`how2`	shows simplest way to do something
`thefuck`	corrects last command if you get an error
`cmdchallenge`	challenges for you to complete
`undollar`	can copy and paste code with a beginning `$`
`mklicense`	generate license for repository
`up`	pipe output to interactive piping tool
`signify-osx`	cryptographically encrypt files
`gpg`	GNU privacy guard - security
`opmsg`	alternative to `gpg` - can share keys for ‘deniability’
`age`	alternative to `gpg`
`ccrypt`	file encryption tool
`keychain`	a tool to manage `gpg` and `ssh` keys
`rhash`	check various hash algorithms on file
`ffsend`	easily share files from command line with firefox send
`twf`	tree view explorer inspired by `fzf`
`fzf`	interactive finder - can have data piped into it
`skim`	`fzf` written in Rust
`fzy`	more minimal `fzf` that may be a little faster
`peco`	Simplistic interactive filtering tool
`percol`	interactive finder similar to `fzf`
`broot`	somewhat of an alternative to `fzf` - can do a bit more
`sad`	space age sed
`dialog`	terminal dialog box used for input / message
`whiptail`	older terminal dialog box (same as above)
`zenity`	GUI pop up dialog box
`choose-gui`	GUI dialog box, somewhat similar to `dmenu`
`terminal-notifier`	sends notifications to the system
`rdfind`	duplicates finder
`jdupes`	duplicates finder
`fclones`	Efficient duplicate file finder
`ddh`	Fast duplicate file finder
`pacaptr`	`pacman` wrapper for `brew`
`coreutils`	GNU command line tools on macOS
`findutils`	GNU `xargs`, `find`, and `locate`
`moreutils`	GNU tools including `vidir` to bulk rename directory
`gping`	graphical ping utility
`fq`, `nq`, `tq`	job schedler
`task-spooler`	job scheduler
`at`	job scheduler
`mas`	Mac App Store tool
`cliclick`	tool to control mouse and keyboard
`osx-wifi-cli`	macOS wifi tool
`osx-cpu-temp`	get CPU temperature
`duti`	select default applications for doctypes and URL schemes
`qlmanage`	quick-look tool for the terminal
`shellcheck`	check syntax of bash script
`zbar`	extract QR code / bar code information from image
`atool`	archive tool
`tmux`	terminal multiplexer
`screen`	GNU screen (similar to `tmux`)
`autojump`	jump from directory to directory without path
`zoxide`	same as autojump (more options, integration with `fzf`)
`trash-cli`	trash tools for command line
`rip`	Rm ImProved
`gomi`	interactive CLI trash tool
`transmission-cli`	torrent tool for command line
`visidata`	view tabular data in a nice dataframe
`scim`	view tabular data
`jq`	parse json files
`fx`	interactive json parser
`jiq`	Interactively use `jq`
`xmlstarlet`	xml parser
`datamash`	collection of tabular tools
`underscore`	data parser
`parse-columns-cli`	data parser
`csvkit`	tools for handling CSV's
`xsv`	fast CSV parser written in Rust
`q`	SQL-like queries on CSV/TSV data
`fakedata`	generate fake data with templates
`lazygit`	`git` tools with a terminal interface
`gitui`	`git` tui
`grv`	TUI to view git repos
`gitbatch`	Manage all git repos in one place
`git-extras`	a lot more `git` commands
`tig`	Text mode interface for git
`forgit`	`fzf` tool for `git` commands
`bfg`	rewrite / erase things from `git` commit history
`brew-rmtree`	can remove dependencies from package
`command-not-found`	find command that gave you an error, more `brew` commands
`doc2txt`	convert .doc to text
`odt2txt`	convert .odt to text
`poppler`	convert .pdf to text
`googler`	search google from command line
`virustotal-cli`	tool for iteracting with virustotal on the command line
`pier`	Linux script management tool
`just`	Command line runner
`wordgrinder`	terminal text processor
`regex-opt`	Regex optimizer for pcre
`crex`	Create and test regex
`grex`	Generate regular expressions
`pipdeptree`	display `pip` dependencies in a tree-like fashion
`tmpmail`	Temporary email written in POSIX sh
`yank`	Yank terminal output to clipboard
`pirate-get`	CLI tool for pirate-bay
`gld`	googld drive downloader with no auth required
`trans`	Translate shell - Google Translate on the CLI
`hyperfine`	Command line benchmarking tool
`buku`	Bookmark manager
`haxor-news`	TUI for hackernews
`hackernews_tui`	Browse hacker news
`pudb`	TUI python debugger
`wtfutil`	Personal info dashboard (TUI)
`tide`	Wrapper for `transmission-cli`
`docui`	TUI client for docker
`dive`	Explore docker image
`please`	Rust sudo alternative
`eureka`	Write an idea and save in git
`pup`	Parse HTML at the command line

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