This category lists open-source CLI tools for terminals, scripting, and day-to-day workflows. Curl transfers data over many URL protocols from the command line. Glow renders Markdown in the terminal, and Atuin adds searchable shell history with context. Browse when you want a focused utility that stays in the shell.
The most popular open-source CLI tool by GitHub stars is Oh My Zsh(186.1k stars), followed by Yt-dlp(156.2k stars)and Claude Code(112.6k stars). This page lists the top 30 of 51 cli tools in the directory, ranked by community adoption.
| # | Tool | Stars | Language | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oh My Zsh A delightful community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration, with over 2,400 contributors, 300+ plugins, and 140+ themes. | 186.1k | Shell | MIT License |
| 2 | Yt-dlp A feature-rich command-line tool for downloading audio and video from YouTube and other sites. | 156.2k | Python | The Unlicense |
| 3 | Claude Code Claude Code is an agentic coding tool that lives in your terminal, understands your codebase, and helps you code faster by executing routine tasks, explaining complex code, and handling git workflows - all through natural language commands. | 112.6k | Shell | — |
| 4 | Tabby Tabby is a modern, highly customizable terminal emulator that supports SSH, serial, Telnet, and more. It features a polished user interface, cross-platform compatibility, and robust plugin support to enhance your command-line workflow. | 67.6k | TypeScript | MIT License |
| 5 | Tldr Collaborative cheatsheets for console commands. Simplifying the man pages with practical examples. | 62.1k | Markdown | Other |
| 6 | Starship A minimal, blazing-fast, and infinitely customizable prompt for any shell. | 56.2k | Rust | ISC License |
| 7 | Gpt-engineer A CLI platform designed for experimenting with code generation, paving the way for advanced development workflows. | 53.4k | Python | MIT License |
| 8 | HackingTool A comprehensive all-in-one hacking tool designed for hackers, providing a variety of features for security testing and exploitation. | 51.9k | Python | MIT License |
| 9 | Zx A tool from Google for writing better and simpler scripts using JavaScript-like syntax, enhancing productivity and script readability. | 45.4k | JavaScript | Apache License 2.0 |
| 10 | Curl A versatile command line tool and library (libcurl) for transferring data with URLs. Supports protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP, LDAP, SMB, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, MQTT, RTSP, and many more. Widely used for network troubleshooting, automation, and data transfer for developers and system administrators. | 41.3k | C | Other |
A delightful community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration, with over 2,400 contributors, 300+ plugins, and 140+ themes.
A feature-rich command-line tool for downloading audio and video from YouTube and other sites.
Claude Code is an agentic coding tool that lives in your terminal, understands your codebase, and helps you code faster by executing routine tasks, explaining complex code, and handling git workflows - all through natural language commands.
Tabby is a modern, highly customizable terminal emulator that supports SSH, serial, Telnet, and more. It features a polished user interface, cross-platform compatibility, and robust plugin support to enhance your command-line workflow.
Collaborative cheatsheets for console commands. Simplifying the man pages with practical examples.
A minimal, blazing-fast, and infinitely customizable prompt for any shell.
A CLI platform designed for experimenting with code generation, paving the way for advanced development workflows.
A comprehensive all-in-one hacking tool designed for hackers, providing a variety of features for security testing and exploitation.
A tool from Google for writing better and simpler scripts using JavaScript-like syntax, enhancing productivity and script readability.
A versatile command line tool and library (libcurl) for transferring data with URLs. Supports protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP, LDAP, SMB, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, MQTT, RTSP, and many more. Widely used for network troubleshooting, automation, and data transfer for developers and system administrators.
Ink is a library that lets you use React to build interactive command-line applications, providing a modern UI framework for terminal interfaces.
A user-friendly management UI for Docker and Kubernetes that simplifies container management.
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A powerful command line video player with wide format support and hardware acceleration.
✨ Magical shell history, enhancing your terminal experience with searchable history and context.
Commander.js is a minimal and flexible Node.js package providing a set of features for building interactive command-line interfaces.
A command-line benchmarking tool designed for testing the performance and efficiency of scripts and commands.
Find, verify, and analyze leaked credentials. TruffleHog is a security tool designed to scan your codebases for secrets and sensitive data such as passwords and API keys.
Biome is a comprehensive toolchain for web projects, providing powerful formatting and linting capabilities through a CLI and LSP interface. Designed to help developers maintain code quality and consistency across their projects, Biome integrates seamlessly into modern workflows.
Glow is a command-line tool that renders Markdown files directly in your terminal with stylish formatting and rich display, making it easy to view and interact with Markdown content on the CLI.
Gum is a tool that brings a glamorous touch to shell scripts, making them visually appealing and user-friendly.
Crush is a glamorous AI-powered coding agent designed specifically for your favorite terminal. It brings artificial intelligence assistance directly to your command line, streamlining development workflows and enabling smart code suggestions and automation within your terminal environment.
API, CLI, and web app for analyzing and finding a person's profiles across over 1000 social media platforms and websites.
A collection of common interactive command line user interfaces for Node.js, providing a way to gather user input with various prompt types.
GoAccess is a real-time web log analyzer and interactive viewer that runs in a terminal in *nix systems or through your browser.
Infinite Red's battle-tested React Native project boilerplate with a CLI, component and model generators, building on 9 years of development.
Maigret is a tool to collect a dossier on a person by username from thousands of sites, providing a comprehensive OSINT solution.
A curated list of command line applications that enhance productivity and streamline command-line tasks.
A curated collection of projects that provide terminal user interfaces (TUIs), featuring tools and libraries to create interactive text-based applications.
Verdaccio is a lightweight Node.js private proxy registry that helps you manage and cache NPM packages.
A modern, feature-rich terminal file manager with a sleek user interface for efficient navigation and file handling.
Oh My Zsh leads by GitHub stars(186.1k). A delightful community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration, with over 2,400 contributors, 300+ plugins, and 140+ themes.
Yes. Every tool on this list is open source and free to use in your own projects. Many can be self-hosted.
Tools are ranked by GitHub star count, a strong proxy for community adoption and active maintenance. Star counts are refreshed regularly.
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