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.
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.
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
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
lscommand. - 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
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
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.