alexei-led/using-modern-cli

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Modern CLI Tools

Use faster, clearer command-line tools for shell workflows. This skill is about operational ergonomics, not codebase analysis. Repo-wide code search, structural AST evidence, code graphs, GitNexus, and architecture evidence are out of scope.

Boundary

Use this skill for:

• replacing legacy shell commands with modern equivalents
• writing compact bash command chains
• previewing safe text replacements
• inspecting files, directories, disk usage, processes, and diffs

Do not use this skill for:

• repo-wide code understanding or flow tracing
• structural code-pattern searches
• architecture review or design evidence
• dependency graphs, callers/callees, blast radius, churn, or GitNexus queries

For those, use a dedicated codebase-analysis or architecture review workflow.

Quick Reference

• Search text — rg instead of grep: fast literal/regex search, respects .gitignore.
• Find files — fd instead of find: simpler syntax, ignores .git.
• View files — bat instead of cat: syntax highlighting and line numbers.
• List files — eza instead of ls: git status and tree view.
• Replace text — sd instead of sed: clearer regex and preview mode.
• Disk usage — dust instead of du: sorted visual tree.
• Processes — procs instead of ps: tree view and sortable columns.
• Diffs — delta instead of raw diff: syntax-highlighted diffs.

Examples

# Text search
rg "TODO" --type py
rg -C 3 "error" logs/
rg -l "OpenAI" docs/**/*.md

# File discovery
fd -e py
fd -e json src/
fd README .

# Viewing and listing
bat -n pyproject.toml
eza -la --git
eza --tree -L 2

# Preview-only replacement. Do not apply without explicit approval.
sd -p 'colour' 'color' docs/**/*.md

# Disk and processes
dust -d 2
procs --tree

Rules

• Pick the tool by target: text, files, view, list, replace, disk, process, or diff.
• Use rg for plain text, docs, logs, comments, and config keys.
• Use fd for file or directory discovery.
• Use sd -p for replacement previews. Do not emit a non-preview sd command unless the user explicitly asked to apply the change.
• If a modern tool is missing, fall back to the legacy equivalent and state the fallback.
• Do not install missing tools silently.
• Do not explain AST, codegraph, GitNexus, or architecture search workflows here; keep this skill focused on shell/file commands.

Install Hints

brew install ripgrep fd bat eza sd dust procs git-delta