Open-source alternatives to You Dont Need GUI

Ouch is a command-line archive utility designed for compressing and decompressing files across multiple formats, including zip, tar, 7z, and zstd. It functions as a secure archive processor that sanitizes metadata to prevent path traversal attacks and terminal injection during extraction. The tool features a chain compression pipeline that allows for the sequential application of multiple compression algorithms by parsing chains of file extensions in a filename. It also includes a dedicated accessibility mode that optimizes terminal output for screen readers and text-to-speech technologies by

Webmin is a web-based administration interface for Unix systems. It provides a centralized console for managing the full range of server administration tasks — users and groups, software packages, storage, network configuration, system services, and security — all through a browser. Its modular architecture allows separate modules to handle databases (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL), web servers (Apache), DNS (BIND), email (Sendmail, Dovecot), file sharing (Samba, NFS), and more, with a unified access control system that restricts what each administrator can see and do. What sets Webmin apart is

GAM is a command-line tool for administering Google Workspace and Cloud Identity. It translates command-line arguments into structured API calls, enabling administrators to manage users, groups, organizational units, and domain settings across a Google Workspace environment. The tool handles authentication through OAuth2 flows, service accounts, and workload identity federation, and supports multi-tenant configurations for managing multiple domains or cloud projects from a single installation. GAM distinguishes itself through its batch processing and automation capabilities. It can process la

Amber is a transpiler that translates high-level source code into executable shell scripts for Bash, Zsh, and Ksh. It provides a type-safe environment for shell script generation, allowing for static type validation and the creation of standalone executable scripts. The project distinguishes itself through a compilation process that includes tree-shaking import optimization to reduce output size and template-based script wrapping for custom headers and footers. It utilizes a module-based dependency resolution system with visibility controls to manage code reuse across multiple files. The lan

fzf-lua is a fuzzy finder integration for Neovim that utilizes fzf to search files, buffers, and project symbols. It serves as a code navigation framework providing a dynamic result generator that populates search windows using real-time shell commands or custom Lua functions. The project distinguishes itself through specialized integration tools for Git and Language Server Protocols. It includes a Git search interface for navigating commits, branches, stashes, and diffs, alongside an LSP integration tool that bridges language server providers to locate definitions and references across a cod

Archiver is a multi-format archive library and command-line tool for creating, extracting, and managing compressed archives. It provides a unified interface for working with formats including gzip, bzip2, zip, tar, rar, 7zip, and zstandard, and can automatically detect archive formats by inspecting binary byte headers rather than relying solely on file extensions. The library uses interface-based abstractions and a multi-format codec registry to support format-agnostic operations, while its stream-based compression pipeline processes archive data continuously without loading entire archives i

The Missing Semester is a free, open-source educational curriculum designed to bridge the gap between theoretical computer science and the practical tooling every software engineer needs. Organized as a structured course, it covers Unix shell mastery, version control with Git, software debugging and profiling, system administration fundamentals, and computer security practices — the skills often left out of traditional degree programs. The project is maintained as a collaborative set of lecture notes, exercises, and guides that function as both a professional development tools course and a Uni

This project is a collection of POSIX-compliant shell functions and polyfills designed to replace external binaries with portable, built-in utility implementations. It serves as a compatibility library and utility kit for shell scripting, providing shell-native alternatives to common command line utilities. The library focuses on removing dependencies on external processes by implementing tasks directly within the shell. This includes the use of shell-native sequences for terminal user interface design, such as text coloring and cursor movement, and the use of built-in pattern matching for te

This project is a high-performance command-line utility designed for rapid filesystem navigation and file discovery. It enables users to locate files and directories within large project structures using recursive search, pattern matching, and metadata-aware filtering. By employing multi-threaded parallel traversal, it provides an efficient way to explore complex directory trees. What distinguishes this tool is its ability to integrate directly into terminal workflows and automate file management tasks. It automatically respects version control ignore files and hidden file settings, ensuring

fff is a terminal-based file manager written in Bash. It provides a text-user interface for navigating and manipulating directories and files using keyboard shortcuts. The project focuses on shell integration, maintaining directory context and allowing users to launch integrated terminal instances centered on the active folder. It includes a file picker mode for selecting items to be passed to external editors and supports integrated image rendering within the terminal. Core capabilities include keyboard-driven filesystem navigation, real-time directory filtering, and bookmarking. The tool s

lf is a terminal-based file manager and TUI file explorer that provides keyboard-driven navigation for browsing and organizing files and directories. It operates as a shell-integrated tool that synchronizes the current working directory with the calling shell and supports vi-style keybindings for filesystem operations. The project distinguishes itself through its ability to render images directly in the terminal via the SIXEL graphics protocol and its shell-driven execution model, which allows users to extend functionality using external shell scripts and commands. It also implements a server

FileBrowser is an open-source, self-hosted file management interface that runs as a single binary with no external dependencies. It provides a web-based interface for browsing, uploading, editing, and sharing files on a remote server, with a core architecture built on JWT-based stateless authentication and a rule-based path permission engine that controls access at the directory level. The project distinguishes itself through a comprehensive access control system that supports multi-provider authentication including OIDC, LDAP, external JWT, and two-factor authentication, alongside granular p

x-cmd is an AI agent orchestrator, cloud infrastructure CLI, and cross-platform package manager that provides an enhanced POSIX shell toolkit. It integrates large language models directly into the terminal for chatting, code generation, and the execution of agentic workflows, while offering a framework for building interactive terminal user interface components. The project distinguishes itself by deploying containerized AI agents within isolated sandboxes, provisioning them with specialized skills and headless browser automation capabilities. It further streamlines development through a unif

mini.nvim is a comprehensive library of independent modules designed to extend Neovim with a wide array of navigation, user interface, and text manipulation tools. It serves as a modular plugin collection, a UI toolkit for creating custom statuslines and notifications, and a package manager for installing and pinning external plugins from Git. The project provides a specialized fuzzy picker framework for filtering files and symbols, an LSP completion engine with interactive snippet expansion, and a dedicated plugin test framework that uses headless editor instances and remote procedure calls

pysheeet is a technical reference library providing a curated collection of code snippets and implementation patterns for advanced Python development, system integration, and high-performance computing. It serves as a comprehensive guide for implementing low-level network programming, native C extensions, and asynchronous and concurrent programming. The project provides specialized frameworks for the development and deployment of large language models, including tools for distributed GPU inference and high-performance serving. It also includes detailed patterns for high-performance computing

This project is a comprehensive collection of web development reference guides and technical cheat sheets. It provides a curated set of markdown-based documentation designed to help developers quickly locate syntax patterns and API examples for common web technologies and programming languages. The repository serves as a specialized reference library covering several distinct technical domains. It includes extensive guides for CSS, focusing on selectors, Flexbox, Grid, and responsive layout properties, as well as a DevOps command reference for Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Ansible, and general she

This project is a collection of Unix dotfiles and scripts designed to personalize and standardize a shell and operating system environment. It provides portable configurations for the Bash and Fish shells, as well as custom preferences and command mappings for the Vim editor. The collection includes automated bootstrapping scripts to initialize new machines by installing applications, managing package managers, and creating configuration symlinks. It features specialized Git workflow automation to accelerate version control tasks, alongside secure SSH connection management using hardware-base

AIOS is an LLM agent operating system and orchestration kernel designed to manage memory, resource scheduling, and tool execution for multiple autonomous AI agents. It serves as a comprehensive framework for developing and deploying agents, featuring a dedicated resource manager that coordinates model backends, GPU memory, and isolated kernel instances. The system distinguishes itself through a semantic memory engine that uses vector search and autonomous clustering for long-term knowledge management, and a semantic file system that allows users to control computer files and system operations

Microsandbox is a runtime for creating and managing lightweight, hardware-isolated virtual machines — called sandboxes — that boot directly from standard OCI container images. Each sandbox runs as its own host process with a separate kernel, filesystem, and network stack, providing process-per-sandbox isolation. The project includes a command-line tool and multi-language SDKs (Rust, TypeScript, Python, Go) for programmatic lifecycle control, and it communicates with sandbox agents over Unix sockets using a CBOR-encoded protocol. What distinguishes Microsandbox is its combination of host-manag

embedded-notes is a collection of technical study guides and development notes focused on embedded Linux, Linux kernel internals, and C programming. It serves as a reference for embedded systems development and a preparation resource for technical interviews in the field. The project provides detailed documentation on writing device drivers, managing virtual memory, and understanding kernel internals. It also includes guides on IoT network protocols, such as MQTT and TCP/IP, and outlines the architectural details of chip architectures and hardware peripherals. The material covers a broad sur

This project is a PHP compatibility polyfill designed to backport core functions and constants from PHP 7.2 to older versions of the language. It serves as a PHP standard library extension and version backport, providing a compatibility layer that fills gaps in the PHP core to ensure consistent behavior across different environments. The library enables cross-version code portability by implementing missing standard library functions, allowing newer language features to run on legacy PHP environments. This ensures that applications can maintain a consistent interface and remain compatible wit

The Rust RFCs repository is the formal home for the Rust language evolution process, housing the structured design documents and community review mechanisms that govern changes to the Rust programming language, its compiler, and its standard library. It defines the complete lifecycle for proposing, discussing, and implementing substantial changes through RFC documents, from initial submission and community feedback through final comment periods and sub-team sign-offs. The repository codifies the governance and collaboration processes that shape Rust's development, including mechanisms for com

bpytop is a cross-platform terminal system monitor and resource dashboard for Unix-like operating systems. It provides a real-time interface for tracking processor, memory, disk, and network usage across Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD. The tool functions as a process manager, allowing users to filter, sort, and terminate system processes using a tree-view layout. It also serves as a hardware health monitor by tracking battery status and system temperatures. The interface is highly customizable, featuring a theme engine for adjusting color schemes and a layout system to toggle specific resource bo

gtop is a terminal system monitor and process resource manager that provides a text-based user interface for tracking operating system performance. It functions as a real-time dashboard for monitoring CPU, memory, and network resource usage directly within the command line. The tool enables terminal-based process management by allowing users to identify and analyze resource-heavy tasks. It specifically supports sorting active system processes by their CPU and memory consumption to assist with server resource analysis and performance troubleshooting.

The Silver Searcher is a high-performance text search utility and regex code search tool designed to locate strings and regular expressions within plain text and source code. It functions as a codebase pattern matcher that provides highlighted results with surrounding line context and respects standard ignore files. The utility includes specialized capabilities for searching inside zlib and lzma compressed archives. It implements high-throughput processing via parallel-threaded file scanning and just-in-time regular expression compilation. The tool's search and indexing surface covers output

neohtop is a terminal-based system resource monitor and process manager for Linux. It provides a text-based user interface for tracking CPU and memory usage and managing active system tasks without requiring a graphical desktop environment. The utility functions as a live dashboard for observing hardware performance and resource allocation. It enables users to search, filter, and terminate system processes, with the ability to pin specific entries to ensure they remain visible during monitoring. The tool covers general system observability and process management, allowing users to isolate sp