Using the terminal for more than it's intended

Sean W. Lawrence -

Here's a list of interesting terminal CLIs and TUIs that I've been using for the last few months. They require some upfront configuration to get started, but nothing too crazy. You can check out my recent dotfiles for some inspiration.

  • Neomutt for viewing and replying to emails
    • Recommended plugins: urlscan for opening URLs, 1Password CLI (or your password manager of choice) for storing your login credentials.
  • Wee Slack for viewing and replying to Slack messages
    • Disclaimer: I still keep Slack open for uploading pictures and getting the desktop notifications
  • Jira CLI for creating issues, changing their status and assigning them to epics and sprints
    • My favorite part is that it allows you to use your text editor for editing the issue's description.
  • GitHub CLI for creating pull requests, triggering GitHub Actions remotely and testing them locally
    • Recommend plugin: act for testing GitHub Actions locally
  • Web surfing: w3m
    • Although I don't use too often, it's fun to search for quick things without the whole "hubub" of opening a full web browser

Pro tips

Tmux & Tmuxinator

It makes it much easier to create a session that has all of your windows set up automatically with something like Tmux and Tmuxinator. See my dotfiles for an example Tmuxinator config that opens up 6 windows when I start my day.

Happy coding! SL