Useful CLI Tools for Daily Development

A practical markdown note with modern terminal tools that are worth installing on Linux/macOS.

zoxide

A smarter cd replacement that learns your most frequently used directories.

Why it is useful

• Jump to directories by partial name
• Gets faster as you use it
• Works well with shell integrations

Examples

z project
zi

fd / fdfind

A simpler and faster alternative to find for common file searches.

Why it is useful

• Cleaner syntax than find
• Sensible defaults
• Good for filenames, extensions, and scoped searches

Examples

fd docker
fd -e ts src
fd config /etc

fzf

Interactive fuzzy finder for files, history, processes, git refs, and more.

Why it is useful

• Turns long terminal lists into searchable UIs
• Excellent shell integration
• Pairs well with fd, rg, and git

Examples

fd . | fzf
history | fzf
ps -ef | fzf

ripgrep (rg)

Fast recursive text search that respects .gitignore by default.

Why it is useful

• Great codebase search tool
• Better defaults than grep -R
• Supports regex and file globs

Examples

rg "TODO"
rg "UserService" src
rg -t ts "interface"
rg -g "*.ex" "handle_event"

jq

JSON processor for filtering, transforming, and extracting structured data.

Why it is useful

• Essential for APIs and logs
• Works perfectly with curl
• Good for scripts and debugging

Examples

curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/users | jq
jq '.data.items[] | {id, name}' response.json
jq -r '.token' auth.json

gh (GitHub CLI)

Official GitHub command-line tool for pull requests, issues, repositories, workflows, and authenticated API calls.

Why it is useful

Good for PR and issue workflows without leaving the terminal Can authenticate both gh and git Useful for GitHub Actions, repo creation, and API scripting

Examples

gh auth login
gh auth setup-git
gh repo view
gh pr status
gh pr create
gh issue list
gh workflow list
gh api user

Tree

It is a command-line utility that prints directories and files in a hierarchical tree format. It can recurse through subdirectories, show metadata, restrict depth, include hidden files, filter by patterns, and export output in formats such as HTML, XML, JSON, and CSV.

Coomand	Use
Show the current directory as a tree	tree
Show a specific directory	tree ~/projects
Limit recursion depth	tree -L 2
Show hidden files too	tree -a
Show only directories	tree -d
Include file sizes	tree -s
Show permissions, owner, and group	tree -pug
Sort by modification time	tree -t
Do not descend into other filesystems	tree -x
Match a pattern	tree -P "*.js"
Ignore a pattern	tree -I "node_modules
Print full paths	tree -f

Curl

It is a command-line tool for transferring data with URL syntax. It supports many protocols and is commonly used for HTTP APIs, file downloads, uploads, authentication, headers, debugging, and scripting.

Basic syntax

curl [options] [URL...]

Most useful curl commands

Use case	Command	What it does
Basic GET request	curl https://api.example.com/users	Sends a simple GET request and prints the response body.
Save response to a file	curl -o users.json https://api.example.com/users	Downloads the response and saves it with a chosen filename.
Keep remote filename	curl -O https://example.com/archive.tar.gz	Downloads a file and preserves the remote filename.
Follow redirects	curl -L https://example.com	Follows HTTP 3xx redirects automatically.
Show headers only	curl -I https://example.com	Sends a HEAD request and prints response headers.
Show request and response details	curl -v https://example.com	Enables verbose mode for troubleshooting connections and headers.
Fail on HTTP errors	curl -f https://api.example.com/users/999	Returns an error exit code on HTTP 400/500 responses.
Silent mode with errors kept	curl -sS https://api.example.com/users	Hides progress output but still prints errors.
Pretty good default for scripts	curl -fsS https://api.example.com/health	Combines fail, silent, and show-error behavior.
Send JSON with POST	curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"Ana"}'	Sends a JSON request body using POST.
Send JSON with PUT	curl -X PUT https://api.example.com/users/42 -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"Ana Updated"}'	Replaces or updates a resource with a JSON payload.
Send PATCH request	curl -X PATCH https://api.example.com/users/42 -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"role":"admin"}'	Partially updates a resource.
Send DELETE request	curl -X DELETE https://api.example.com/users/42	Deletes a resource.
Add custom header	curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" https://api.example.com/me	Sends a custom HTTP header, commonly for auth.
Send multiple headers	curl -H "Accept: application/json" -H "X-Trace-Id: 123" https://api.example.com/me	Adds more than one header to the request.
Send query parameters	curl "https://api.example.com/search?q=term&page=1"	Makes a request with query string parameters.
URL-encode form field	curl -G --data-urlencode "q=hello world" https://api.example.com/search	Sends URL-encoded query parameters safely.
Submit form data	curl -d "username=demo&password=secret" https://example.com/login	Sends application/x-www-form-urlencoded data.
Multipart file upload	curl -F "file=@report.pdf" https://api.example.com/upload	Uploads a file as multipart form data.
Upload multiple form fields	curl -F "file=@report.pdf" -F "type=invoice" https://api.example.com/upload	Uploads files and regular form fields together.
Basic auth	curl -u user:password https://api.example.com/me	Uses HTTP Basic Authentication.
Bearer token auth	curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" https://api.example.com/me	Uses token-based authentication.
Use a cookie jar	curl -c cookies.txt https://example.com/login	Stores cookies received from the server.
Send stored cookies	curl -b cookies.txt https://example.com/profile	Reuses cookies from a previous request.
Store and send cookies in one flow	curl -c cookies.txt -b cookies.txt https://example.com/profile	Persists session state across requests.
Download and resume	curl -C - -O https://example.com/large.iso	Resumes a partially downloaded file.
Limit rate	curl --limit-rate 1M -O https://example.com/large.iso	Throttles download speed.
Set timeout	curl --connect-timeout 5 --max-time 30 https://example.com	Limits connect time and total request time.
Retry transient failures	curl --retry 5 --retry-delay 2 https://example.com	Retries failed transfers automatically.
Ignore invalid TLS cert	curl -k https://dev.local	Disables certificate verification. Useful only for local/dev scenarios.
Specify output format for metrics	curl -o /dev/null -s -w "HTTP %{http_code}\nTime %{time_total}s\n" https://example.com	Prints status code and timing metrics.
Use a proxy	curl -x http://proxy.local:8080 https://example.com	Sends the request through an HTTP proxy.
Read config from file	curl -K curl.conf https://example.com	Loads options from a config file.
Fetch several URLs in one command	curl https://example.com https://curl.se	Requests multiple URLs in sequence in a single invocation.
Parallel transfers	curl --parallel -O https://example.com/a.zip -O https://example.com/b.zip	Downloads multiple URLs in parallel.

Notes

• curl treats anything on the command line that is not an option or its argument as a URL.
• It can fetch multiple URLs in one invocation and can reuse connections within that same command.
• -d implies a POST request unless another method is specified.
• -I fetches headers only.
• -L is essential when a site redirects.
• -k is convenient in development, but using it casually in production is a bad security practice.
• For APIs, -fsS is usually a better default than plain curl in scripts because it fails on HTTP errors, hides the progress meter, and still shows errors.