Let’s talk CLI/TUI and Developer Workflows!

I’m looking to refresh my local toolkit and I’m curious: what are the absolute “must-have” CLI or TUI programs in your current rotation?

Whether it’s a specialized utility for a specific language, a terminal-based interface for a common service, or a workflow-changing alias, I want to hear about it. I’m especially interested in tools that prioritize keyboard-driven navigation and accessibility.

My Current Favorites:

To get the ball rolling, here are a few tools I’ve been leaning on lately:

  • uv — Fast, reliable Python package and project management.
  • fzf & ripgrep — The classic duo for fuzzy finding and searching.
  • tmux — For session management and persistent terminal workspaces.
  • jq / yq — Essential for wrangling JSON and YAML without leaving the prompt.

What about you?

  1. What is one tool you’ve discovered recently that you can’t live without?
  2. Are there any TUI-based clients for web services (like Mastodon, GitHub, or RSS) that you recommend?
  3. Do you have a favorite “hidden gem” script or small utility?

Mentions & Groups

@programming
@linux @terminal_u_i@lemmy.ml @selfhosted

Hashtags

#CLI #TUI #Terminal #OpenSource #FOSS #Programming #DevTools #Linux #SysAdmin #Workflow #Python #Backend #ArchLinux #KeyboardDriven #Accessibility #SoftwareDevelopment #TechTalk

  • V@girlcock.club
    6·
    4 days ago

    @RareBird15 @programming @linux @selfhosted
    Ones I use pretty much daily are:
    irssi, IRC client,
    Profanity, XMPP client - I had to use a compile-time flag to enable encryption, so, it does support it, but, worth checking if it’s enabled already if you got it as a binary from a package manager or something.,
    newsboat rss/newsreader, a fork of Newsbeuter which is now unmaintained,
    lynx or links, TUI web browsers
    sc, a TUI spreadsheet program.
    mutt, email client
    cmus, music/audio player

    • V@girlcock.club
      4·
      4 days ago

      @RareBird15 @programming @linux @selfhosted Oh also;
      mc, midnight commander clone, a TUI file browser/manager
      pdftotext & pandoc, for converting pdfs, ebooks (and various other sorts of documents) into something more readable on a text-only interface. (does not work for every document, unfortunately. Some pdfs in particular, and some documents with DRM on them, just fail to convert.)