cli-power-tools

What this skill does

# Utility Pro

## Overview

Masters the command-line environment by turning raw text and unstructured data into actionable insights. Combines Rust-powered search tools (ripgrep, fd, bat), structured data shells (Nushell), JSON manipulation (jq/yq), and modern HTTP clients (xh) for high-performance CLI workflows.

**Core philosophy:** Replace legacy text-parsing pipelines (grep/awk/sed chains) with purpose-built tools that understand structure. ripgrep understands gitignore rules, fd understands file types, jq understands JSON, and Nushell understands tables.

**When to use:** Codebase-wide search and analysis, multi-file refactoring, JSON/YAML transformation pipelines, API debugging, directory navigation, log parsing, disk usage auditing, dependency tracing.

**When NOT to use:** GUI-based tasks, complex application logic (write a script instead), tasks requiring interactive prompts.

## Quick Reference

| Pattern                  | Tool / Command                                                           | Key Points                                         |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Text search              | `rg "pattern" -g "*.tsx"`                                                | 10-100x faster than grep, respects `.gitignore`    |
| File search              | `fd -e pdf` or `fd "pattern"`                                            | Fast alternative to `find` with smart defaults     |
| Syntax-highlighted read  | `bat file.ts`                                                            | Cat with syntax highlighting and git integration   |
| Directory jump           | `z project-name`                                                         | Remembers frequently visited directories           |
| Fuzzy search             | `fzf` or `CTRL-T` / `CTRL-R`                                             | Interactive selection for files and history        |
| Tree view                | `eza --tree --level=2`                                                   | Metadata-rich ls replacement with tree support     |
| JSON query               | `jq '.items[] \| select(.active)'`                                       | Full functional programming for JSON               |
| YAML query               | `yq '.config.database' file.yml`                                         | jq-like syntax for YAML files                      |
| HTTP request             | `xh POST api.example.com/v1/data key=value`                              | Colorized, user-friendly HTTP client               |
| Multi-file refactor      | `fd -e tsx -x sed -i 's/Old/New/g' {}`                                   | Find files then execute transforms                 |
| Structured shell         | `ls \| where size > 1mb \| sort-by size`                                 | Nushell tables instead of text parsing             |
| Log parsing              | `rg "ERROR" --json \| jq 'select(.type == "match") \| .data.lines.text'` | Combine ripgrep JSON output with jq filters        |
| File preview with search | `fzf --preview 'bat --color=always {}'`                                  | Browse files with syntax-highlighted preview       |
| Find recently changed    | `fd --changed-within 1h`                                                 | Find files modified within a time window           |
| Export count by file     | `rg -c "pattern" -g "*.ts" \| sort -t: -k2 -rn`                          | Count matches per file, sorted by frequency        |
| JSON format conversion   | `yq -o json config.yml`                                                  | Convert between YAML, JSON, CSV, and other formats |
| Advanced regex search    | `rg -P "(?<=function\s)\w+" --only-matching`                             | PCRE2 for lookahead/lookbehind patterns            |
| Git-aware file listing   | `eza -la --git --icons`                                                  | Show file metadata with inline git status          |

## Tool Overview

| Category         | Modern Tool    | Replaces              | Key Advantage                            |
| ---------------- | -------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Text search      | ripgrep (`rg`) | grep, ag, git grep    | Speed, `.gitignore` awareness, Unicode   |
| File search      | fd             | find                  | Smart defaults, regex, parallelism       |
| File viewer      | bat            | cat, less             | Syntax highlighting, git diff markers    |
| Directory jump   | zoxide (`z`)   | cd, autojump          | Frecency-based ranking, fzf fallback     |
| Fuzzy finder     | fzf            | manual piping         | Universal selector for any list          |
| File listing     | eza            | ls, tree              | Tree view, git status, icons             |
| JSON processing  | jq             | awk, python oneliners | Typed, functional JSON transforms        |
| YAML processing  | yq             | sed on YAML           | jq-compatible syntax for YAML            |
| HTTP client      | xh             | curl, httpie          | HTTPie syntax, Rust speed, single binary |
| Structured shell | Nushell        | bash + awk/sed        | Typed tables, native format conversion   |

## Common Mistakes

| Mistake                                               | Correct Pattern                                                                    |
| ----------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Using `grep` instead of `ripgrep` for codebase search | Use `rg` which is 10-100x faster and respects `.gitignore` by default              |
| Piping `ls` output into `grep` for file filtering     | Use `fd` for file discovery, or `eza -D` / `eza --ignore-glob` for listing         |
| Writing complex `awk` scripts for structured data     | Use Nushell or `jq` which natively understand JSON, CSV, and YAML                  |
| Running `rm -rf` in scripts without a dry-run step    | Always add a verification or dry-run step before destructive operations            |
| Using capturing groups in regex when not needed       | Prefer non-capturing groups `(?:...)` for better performance in large-scale scans  |
| Searching `node_modules` or `.git` directories        | Use `rg` which skips these by default, or configure exclusions explicitly          |
| Forgetting `select(.type == "match")` on `rg --json`  | ripgrep JSON emits begin, match, context, end, and summary message types           |
| Using `curl` with verbose flag syntax                 | Use `xh` which provides colorized output and HTTPie-compatible request-item syntax |
| Parsing text output between tools with `cut`/`tr`     | Use Nushell pipelines that preserve structured data through every stage            |
| Anchoring regex with `.*` at the start                | Anchor with `^` when possible; unanchored `.*` causes expensive backtracking       |

## Installation

All tools are available via common package managers. Most are single statically linked binaries.

| Tool    | macOS (Homebrew)       | Linux (apt/cargo)                                |
| ------- | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| ripgrep | `brew install ripgrep` | `apt install ripgrep` or `cargo install ripgrep` |
| fd      | `brew install fd`      | `apt install fd-find` or `cargo install fd-find` |
| bat     | `brew install bat`     | `apt install bat` or `cargo install bat`         |
| zoxide  | `brew install zoxide`  | `cargo install zoxide`                           |
| fzf     | `brew install fzf`     | `apt install fzf`                                |
| eza     | `brew install eza`     | `cargo install eza`                              |
| jq      | `brew install jq`      | `apt install jq`                                 |
| yq      | `brew