Many developers are increasingly turning to browser or GUI applications for simple tasks such as video conversion, license addition, or torrent downloading. However, a new wave of TUI (Text User Interface) tools is emerging, designed to address these pain points and allow users to remain within the console.
MONICA — ffmpeg without the hassle
MONICA is an interactive layer over ffmpeg that eliminates the need to repeatedly search for commands online or consult AI tools like GPT. The code is available on GitHub, and while AI may have been involved in its development, the utility itself is fully functional.
lic — licenses with a single command
Creating a new repository often requires a license. Traditionally, this involves visiting choosealicense.com, copying text, and editing it for the current year and your name. The lic tool simplifies this process to a single terminal command. Simply launch lic, select your desired license from the TUI menu, enter your name and the year, and voilà — a LICENSE file is created in your current directory, pulling data from GitHub’s official license database.
Installation:
# macOS/Linux
brew install kushvinth/tap/lic
# or via pip
pip install lic-cli
This project, which debuted in late December 2024, has already garnered 21 stars and is available on Homebrew. You can check out the demo on video.
PNANA — an editor between nano and vim
Terminal editors often fall into the spectrum of “too simple” (like nano) to “requires a week to learn” (like vim). PNANA aims to strike a balance by combining the simplicity of nano with a modern UI inspired by micro and the productivity features of Sublime.
Recently released, this TUI editor is built with C++17 and utilizes the FTXUI library. The goal is to enable users to open and work without the need for extensive manuals, while also supporting tree-sitter for syntax highlighting. FTXUI provides cross-platform capabilities, UTF-8 support, mouse interaction, and animations.
Launch:
bash
git clone https://github.com/Cyxuan0311/PNANA.git
cd PNANA
# build with CMake (ensure compatibility with C++17)
Currently, there are no binary releases available, so users will need to compile from source. The code can be found on GitHub, and a demo is available on video.
CodeWeaver — all code in one Markdown file
CodeWeaver is a convenient CLI tool that compiles your codebase into a single readable document, featuring a tree of files alongside the contents of each file in code blocks.
Why is this useful? It allows you to feed a project to an AI assistant in one file (such as Cursor, Claude, or ChatGPT), share the project structure with colleagues, or create documentation.
Features include:
- Recursive directory traversal with tree-view
- Filtering via regex: -include, -ignore
- Automatic exclusion of binaries
- Clipboard copying: -clipboard
- Logs of included and excluded files
Installation:
bash
go install github.com/tesserato/CodeWeaver@latest
Example usage:
bash
codeweaver -input=. -output=codebase.md -include=".go$,.md$" -clipboard
This command generates a single codebase.md containing the entire structure and code, ready for insertion into a chat with an AI.
clox — clocks right in the terminal
The latest version of clox (1.3) introduces console clocks and calendars that display time directly in the terminal. This tool is designed for those who operate entirely within the command line and wish to have a neat textual representation of the time and date at their fingertips.
clox can show time in any time zone, supports manual offsets, calendar modes, and various date formats. The clocks are rendered using ASCII art, offering different dials, blinking options, and the ability to hide the date and time zone, as well as toggle between 12/24-hour formats.
Quick start: Install the package as a standard Python module: pip install clox==1.3. After installation, simply run clox in the terminal to see the clock, or use python -m clox; exit with Ctrl+C.
Experiment with arguments to choose a display option clox –face=3, specify a time zone clox –timezone=”Etc/GMT+7″, or enable the calendar clox –calendar=month.
The code is available in the repository, and a demonstration can be viewed online.
Torrra v2 — torrent client in TUI
The second version of Torrra has been released, providing a TUI client that allows users to search for and download torrents directly from the console, without the need for a browser or separate GUI client. Built on Python, the interface is crafted using Textual, ensuring a clean and responsive design.
Users can connect to their indexers like Jackett or Prowlarr, view search results, and choose their download method—either through the built-in engine based on libtorrent or by passing an external magnet link to their preferred client. The author claims that version v2 significantly enhances the UI speed, navigation, multi-torrent handling, and integration with indexers while refining the overall interface layout.
Installation can be done via pipx install torrra or by obtaining packages from AUR, Homebrew, Docker images, or precompiled binaries for major platforms.
After installation, a minimal usage scenario involves starting Jackett or Prowlarr, then launching:
torrra jackett --url http://localhost:9117 --api-key
From there, users can navigate the list with arrow keys, press Enter to download, ‘p’ to pause, ‘r’ to resume, and ‘q’ to exit. Configuration options can be adjusted via config.toml to set default indexers, paths, and clients, eliminating the need to repeatedly input the same arguments. This cross-platform project (Linux/macOS/Windows) is actively maintained, complete with documentation and regular updates.
The code is available in the repository, and a demo of its functionality can also be found online.
Git graph — branch history in one line
A useful command for the terminal provides a compact and clear output of git history:
bash
git log --graph --decorate --all --pretty=format:'%C(auto)%h%d %C(#888888)(%an; %ar)%Creset %s'
This command visualizes branches as a graph, displaying authors, dates, tags, hashes, and messages—all neatly in a single line. Reading history becomes significantly more enjoyable.
To avoid typing this command repeatedly, consider adding an alias to your .bashrc or .zshrc:
bash
alias graph="git log --graph --decorate --all --pretty=format:'%C(auto)%h%d %C(#888888)(%an; %ar)%Creset %s'"
This way, you won’t need to remember or save anything; simply type graph to receive the entire git graph directly in the console. It’s beautiful, convenient, and requires no extra utilities.
All seven tools are united by the theme of enhancing productivity in the terminal, each addressing specific developer pain points. Most are fresh releases (from late 2024 to early 2025) and are actively evolving. Explore those that meet your needs—some GUI applications may no longer be necessary.
