CLI Tool Preferences (dev-shell-tools)
ALWAYS prefer modern CLI tools over traditional alternatives. These are pre-approved in permissions.
File Search & Navigation
| Instead of |
Use |
Why |
find |
fd |
5x faster, simpler syntax, respects .gitignore |
grep |
rg (ripgrep) |
10x faster, respects .gitignore, better defaults |
ls |
eza |
Git status, icons, tree view built-in |
cat |
bat |
Syntax highlighting, line numbers, git integration |
cd + manual |
z/zoxide |
Jump to frecent directories |
tree |
broot or eza --tree |
Interactive, filterable |
Examples
# Find files (use fd, not find)
fd "\.ts$" # Find TypeScript files
fd -e py # Find by extension
# Search content (use rg, not grep)
rg "TODO" # Search for TODO
rg -t ts "function" # Search in TypeScript files
# List files (use eza, not ls)
eza -la --git # List with git status
eza --tree --level=2 # Tree view
# View files (use bat, not cat)
bat src/index.ts # Syntax highlighted
Data Processing
| Instead of |
Use |
Why |
sed |
sd |
Simpler syntax, no escaping headaches |
| Manual JSON |
jq |
Structured queries, transformations |
| Manual YAML |
yq |
Same as jq but for YAML/TOML |
# Find and replace (use sd, not sed)
sd 'oldText' 'newText' file.txt
# JSON processing
jq '.dependencies | keys' package.json
# YAML processing
yq '.services | keys' docker-compose.yml
Git Operations
| Instead of |
Use |
Why |
git diff |
delta or difft |
Syntax highlighting, side-by-side |
git log/status/add |
lazygit |
Full TUI, faster workflow |
| GitHub web |
gh |
CLI for PRs, issues, actions |
# Better diffs
git diff | delta # Syntax highlighted diff
difft file1.ts file2.ts # Semantic AST diff
# GitHub operations
gh pr create # Create PR from CLI
gh pr list # List PRs
Code Analysis
| Task |
Tool |
| Line counts |
tokei |
| AST search |
ast-grep / sg |
| Benchmarks |
hyperfine |
# Count lines by language
tokei --compact
# Search by AST pattern (find all console.log calls)
sg -p 'console.log($$$)' -l js
# Benchmark commands
hyperfine 'fd . -e ts' 'find . -name "*.ts"'
System Monitoring
| Instead of |
Use |
Why |
du -h |
dust |
Visual tree sorted by size |
top/htop |
btm (bottom) |
Graphs, cleaner UI (optional) |
# Disk usage (use dust, not du)
dust # Visual tree sorted by size
dust -d 2 # Limit depth
Note: ps is fine for shell process checks. Use procs only when you need full system process monitoring with CPU/memory stats.
Interactive Selection
| Task |
Tool |
| Fuzzy file find |
fzf + fd |
| Interactive grep |
fzf + rg |
| History search |
Ctrl+R (fzf) |
| Git branch select |
git branch \| fzf |
# Fuzzy find and open file
fd --type f | fzf | xargs bat
# Interactive grep results
rg --line-number . | fzf --preview 'bat --color=always {1} --highlight-line {2}'
# Select git branch
git checkout $(git branch | fzf)
# Kill process interactively
procs | fzf | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kill
Documentation
| Instead of |
Use |
Why |
man <cmd> |
tldr <cmd> |
98% smaller, practical examples only |
# Quick command reference (use tldr, not man)
tldr git-rebase # Concise examples
tldr tar # No more forgetting tar flags
Python
| Instead of |
Use |
Why |
pip |
uv |
10-100x faster installs |
python -m venv |
uv venv |
Faster venv creation |
uv venv .venv
uv pip install -r requirements.txt
Task Running
Prefer just over Makefiles:
just # List available tasks
just test # Run test task
Web Fetching (URL Retrieval)
When fetching web content, use this hierarchy in order:
| Priority |
Tool |
When to Use |
| 1 |
WebFetch |
First attempt - fast, built-in |
| 2 |
r.jina.ai/URL |
JS-rendered pages, PDFs, cleaner extraction |
| 3 |
firecrawl <url> |
Anti-bot bypass, blocked sites (403, Cloudflare) |
| 4 |
firecrawl-expert agent |
Complex scraping, structured extraction |
# Jina Reader - prefix any URL (free, 10M tokens)
curl https://r.jina.ai/https://example.com
# Jina Search - search + fetch in one call
curl https://s.jina.ai/your%20search%20query
# Firecrawl CLI - when WebFetch gets blocked
firecrawl https://blocked-site.com
firecrawl https://example.com -o output.md
firecrawl https://example.com --json
Decision Tree:
- Try
WebFetch first (instant, free)
- If 403/blocked/JS-heavy → Try Jina:
r.jina.ai/URL
- If still blocked → Try
firecrawl <url>
- For complex scraping → Use
firecrawl-expert agent
Reference
Tools from: https://github.com/0xDarkMatter/claude-mods/tree/main/tools
Install all tools:
# Windows (as Admin)
.\tools\install-windows.ps1
# Linux/macOS
./tools/install-unix.sh
