Awesome macOS command-line apps!

A curated list of fantastically awesome command-line software for macOS. This list was inspired by Awesome Sysadmin.

• Academics
• Audio
• Automation
• Backups
• Communication
• Compression
• Databases
• Database Utilities
• DevOps
• File Managers
• Graphics
• Information
• Infrastructure Management
• Markdown
• Miscellaneous
• Networking
• Password Managers
• Plan 9 Tools
• Programming
• Searching
• Security
• Shells
• Shell Utilities
• System
• Text Editors
• Terminal Emulators
• Version Control
• Video
• Virtualization
• Web Utilities
• Windows Management
• Writing

Academics

Misc academic tools and utilities.

• jrnl - Collect your thoughts and notes.
• Insect - High precision scientific calculator.

Audio

Audio players, editors, and converters.

• csound - A Sound and Music Computing System.
• mpd - A flexible, powerful, server-side application for playing music.
• mpc - A solid, lightweight, simple mpd client, written in C.
• ncmpc - ncmpc is a fully featured MPD client.
• switchaudio - Change the audio source for macOS.

Automation

• Ansible - Simple IT Automation.
• Capistrano - Remote multi-server automation tool.
• Chef - IT Automation Tool.
• Molecule - Automated testing for Ansible roles.
• Posixcube - Shell script-based server automation framework.
• Saltstack - Control and secure your digital infrastructure.

Backups

Backup software.

• Rclone - A command line program to sync files and directories to the cloud.
• Rsync Time - Time Machine style backup with rsync.
• restic - Backups done right!
• s3cmd - Command Line S3 Client Software and S3 Backup.

Communication

Communication Applications.

• mastodon - Self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community.
• RaspChat - A chat server that can run on Raspberry Pi.
• The Lounge - Self-hosted web IRC client.
• tg - Command Line Telegram.

Compression

• p7zip - A port of 7za.exe for POSIX systems.

Databases

Databases and database utilities.

• mycli - A Terminal Client for MySQL.
• Pex - Light-weight package manager for PostgreSQL.
• pgcli - Postgres CLI with autocompletion.
• Postgrest - REST API for any Postgres database.
• RethinkDB - The open-source database for the realtime web.

Database Utilities

• mssql-cli - SQL Server client w/auto-completion and syntax highlighting.

DevOps

DevOps tools and utilities.

• Minikube - Run Kubernetes locally.
• Minishift - Run OpenShift locally.

File Managers

File management tools and utilities.

• diskonaut - Terminal disk space navigator.
• nnn - The missing terminal file browser.
• ranger - A console file manager with VI key bindings.
• modd - A flexible tool for responding to filesystem changes.
• ncdu - A disk usage analyzer with an ncurses interface.

Graphics

Graphics tools and Utilities for macOS.

• imgp - Multi-core image resizer and rotator.

Information

• cpufetch - Simple yet fancy CPU architecture fetching tool.
• neofetch - A command-line system information tool written in bash 3.2+.
• onefetch - A command-line Git information tool written in Rust.
• pfetch - A pretty system information tool.

Infrastructure Management

Infrastructure Management tools for macOS.

• Terraform - Write, Plan, and Create Infrastructure as Code.

Markdown

• glow - Render markdown on the CLI, with pizzazz! 💅🏻
• mdp - Markdown presentation tool.

Miscellaneous

• genact - A nonsense activity generator
• nb - Note‑taking, bookmarking, archiving, knowledge-base.
• vice - Emulates the C64, C64-DTV, C128, VIC20, PET, PLUS4, and CBM-II.

Networking

Networking tools and utilities.

• Armor - Uncomplicated, modern HTTP server.
• Caddy - Caddy is the HTTP/2 web server with automatic HTTPS.
• Croc - Securely send things from one computer to another.
• Duck - Cyberduck for the command line interface (CLI).
• Hget - Rocket fast download accelerator.
• hippo - Host configuration file management based on git.
• homebridge - HomeKit support for the impatient.
• hss - An interactive parallel ssh client.
• lychee - Link checker written in Rust
• MacOS VPN - Create macOS VPNs programmatically.
• manssh - Manage your ssh alias configs easily.
• Storm - Manage your SSH hosts like a boss.
• Transfer - Easy file sharing from the command line.
• You-Get - Tiny download utility.
• yt-dlp - Download videos from YouTube.com and other video sites.

Password Managers

Various password managers for macOS.

• 1pass - A command line interface for 1Password.
• Ironclad - A command line password manager.
• pass - The standard unix password manager.
• pass-tomb - Store password encrypted inside a tomb.
• pick - Minimal password manager for OS X and Linux.
• onepw - A command line tool for managing passwords.
• Tomb - The Crypto Undertaker.

Plan 9 Tools

Plan 9 tools, Utilities, and OS files.

• rc - Rc is a command interpreter for Plan 9.

Programming

Various tools to aid in programming.

• datasette - An open source multi-tool for exploring and publishing data.

Searching

Tools to help you find stuff

• fzy - A better fuzzy finder.
• Peco - Simplistic interactive filtering tool.
• ripgrep - Combines the usability of The Silver Searcher with the raw speed of grep.

Shells

Various UNIX shells for macOS

• Elvish - A friendly and expressive Unix shell.
• fish - User-friendly command-line shell.
• Nu Shell - A modern shell for the GitHub era.
• powershell - Microsoft PowerShell.
• zsh - Powerful interactive shell.

Shell Utilities

Shell Utilities for macOS.

• alacritty - A cross-platform, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator.
• bat - OSS cat replacement.
• bottom - Yet another cross-platform graphical process/system monitor.
• bpytop - macOS resource monitor.
• colorls - Beautify the terminal ls command.
• dat - Distributed data sharing tool.
• dvm - Install and switch between Docker clients.
• exa - exa is a modern replacement for ls.
• fd - Simple, fast and user-friendly alternative to find.
• lsd - The next gen ls command.
• navi - An interactive cheatsheet tool for the command-line.
• ncdu - Disk usage analyzer with an ncurses interface.
• pv - Monitor the progress of data through a pipeline.
• Terminal Velocity - A fast note-taking app for the UNIX terminal.
• tldr - Simplified and community-driven man pages.
• tmate - Instant terminal sharing.
• upterm - A terminal emulator for the 21st century.
• Watchman - A file watching service.
• Wiki - Self-hosted wiki engine.
• ytop - A TUI system monitor written in Rust.
• zenith - Like top or htop but with zoom-able charts, network, and disk usage.

Security

Various security and encryption tools.

• bcrypt - Bcrypt is a cross platform file encryption utility.
• Ciphey - Decrypt data without knowing the key or cipher. Uses ML.
• hashcat - World's fastest password cracker.
• Knox - A secret management service.
• MacOS Auditor - A free MacOS computer forensics tool.
• Safe - A CLI front-end for the Vault app.
• SeKey - Authenticate to UNIX/Linux SSH servers using the Secure Enclave.
• Spoof - Change your MAC address for debugging.
• Vault - A tool for managing secrets.
• Vaulted - Spawning and storage of secure environments.
• vuls - Go-based, agentless vulnerability scanner.

System

• CollectD - System statistics collection daemon.
• Conky - Light-weight system monitor for X.
• cpufetch - Simple yet fancy CPU architecture fetching tool.
• Email Archiver Pro - Archiving made simple.
• fDupes - Identifying and/or deleting duplicate files.
• fzf - A command-line fuzzy finder written in Go.
• finicky - Customize which browser to start.
• glow - Render markdown on the CLI, with pizzazz!
• ivy - A static website generator built in Python.
• mas-cli - Mac App Store command line interface.
• Nix - Nix package manager for MacOS.
• progress - Tool to show progress for cp, mv, dd.
• rmlint - Remove duplicates and other lint from your filesystem.
• shiori - Shiori is a simple bookmarks manager written in Go.
• statik - Static web site generator.
• stow - A symlink farm manager.
• tmate - Instant terminal sharing.
• trash-cli - Command line interface to the freedesktop.org trashcan.
• utimer - A multifunction timer.
• zoxide - A faster way to navigate your filesystem.

Terminal Emulators

• x3270 - An IBM 3270 terminal emulator.
• xTerm - A terminal emulator for the X Window System.

Text Editors

• Micro - A modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor.
• nano - Basic text editor found on every UNIX/Linux machine.
• nanorc - Improved Nano Syntax Highlighting Files.

Version Control

Version Control utilities

• Bit - Bit is a modern Git CLI.
• dolt - It's Git for Data.
• GitFresh - Keep your Git repo fresh.
• Gitless - A simple version control system built on top of Git.
• Gripp - Preview GitHub Markdown files locally before committing them.
• Legit - Legit is a complementary command-line interface for Git.
• LazyGit - Simple terminal UI for git commands.
• Refined - Browser extension that simplifies the GitHub interface.
• Tig - Text-mode interface for Git.
• ungit - The easiest way to use git.

Video

• Annie - a fast, simple and clean video downloader.

Virtualization

Virtualization tools.

• Kimchi - An HTML5 management interface for KVM.
• Mech - Easy command-line virtual machines.
• vagrant-veertu - Vagrant plugin for veertu.
• xhyve - Lightweight OS X virtualization solution.

Web Utilities

• Webarchiver - Create Safari .webarchive files.

Windows Management

• ModMove - Move/Resize windows using modifiers and the mouse.

Writing

• mdbook - Rust crate to create books using Markdown files.
• Proselint - A linter for prose.

Author

Created by Patrick H. Mullins. You can find me on Twitter and on Telegram as @pmullins.

License

Source is released under the MIT License (MIT) license.