CLI arsenal: the tools I actually use
A running list of CLI tools, scripts, and dashboards I reach for daily. Not a top-10 — the actual list in my shell history.
CLI arsenal
This page grows over time. It’s not a “top 10” list — it’s the actual list of what’s in my shell history, my aliases, and my containers.
File & search
eza—lsreplacement with git status, iconsfd— fastfindwith sane defaultsripgrep(rg) — fast grep, ignores.gitignorebat—catwith syntax highlighting and pagingfzf— fuzzy finder for everything
Process & resource
htop— interactive process viewerbtop— the prettier oneglances— web-based, for monitoring without Grafanalsof— what’s using that port?lsof -i :8080
Networking
dog—digfor humanscURL— yes, stillhttpie—curlfor humans, JSON-awaremtr—traceroute+pingin onenmap— for the occasional port scan
Server ops
docker+docker compose— containers, obviouslycaddy— reverse proxy + auto HTTPSrestic— encrypted, deduplicated backupsfail2ban— (or CrowdSec)ufw— firewall
Monitoring
netdata— gorgeous per-host dashboard, single Docker containerprometheus+grafana— for serious setupsuptime-kuma— self-hosted status pagesvnstat— bandwidth tracker (long-term trends)
Inside the shell
fish— my shell. Autosuggestions out of the box.starship— fast, minimal prompttmux— terminal multiplexer (withtmux-popfor fuzzy session switching)zoxide— smartcdthat learns your habits
Reading config
Aliases I can’t live without
# ~/.config/fish/config.fish (excerpt)
alias ll "eza -l --git --icons"
alias la "eza -la --git --icons"
alias cat "bat --plain"
alias grep "rg"
alias k "kubectl"
alias dc "docker compose"
alias dps "docker ps --format 'table {{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Ports}}'"
alias dlog "docker logs -f --tail 100"
alias top "btop"
alias ping "ping -c 5"
alias ip "ip -c"
What did I miss? Let me know — I’m always looking for the next tool.