cli-tutor

A terminal app for learning Unix command-line tools by doing. Type real shell commands, get instant feedback.

Covers: grep, awk, sed, find, xargs, cut, sort, uniq, tr, wc, tar, chmod — 83 exercises across beginner to advanced.

Install

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install ShadabGhazali/cli-tutor/cli-tutor

Cargo

cargo install cli-tutor

Or grab a pre-built binary from Releases.

Update

Homebrew

brew upgrade ShadabGhazali/cli-tutor/cli-tutor

Cargo

cargo install cli-tutor --force

Run from source

cargo run

Or build a release binary:

cargo build --release
./target/release/cli-tutor

Requires a terminal at least 80×24.

Keys

Browsing (Intro / Examples views)

Key	Action
`↑` `↓`	Switch module
`Tab`	Cycle views: Intro → Examples → Exercise → Free Practice
`PgUp` `PgDn`	Scroll content
`/`	Fuzzy search modules
`d`	Cycle difficulty filter (All → Beginner → Intermediate → Advanced)
`P`	Progress summary
`q`	Quit

Exercise view

Key	Action
`Enter`	Submit command
`↑` `↓`	Browse command history
`PgUp` `PgDn`	Scroll output
`←` `→`	Move cursor
`Ctrl+←` `Ctrl+→`	Jump by word
`Ctrl+N` `Ctrl+P`	Next / previous exercise
`Ctrl+T`	Reveal next hint
`Ctrl+S`	Show / hide solution
`Ctrl+F`	Toggle file viewer
`Ctrl+R`	Reset exercise
`Ctrl+L`	Clear output
`Esc`	Back to browse

Free Practice view

Key	Action
`Enter`	Run command
`↑` `↓`	Browse command history
`PgUp` `PgDn`	Scroll output
`Ctrl+L`	Clear output
`Esc`	Back to browse

Anywhere

Key	Action
`Shift+P`	Toggle progress overlay
`?`	Toggle help
`Ctrl+C`	Quit

CLI flags

cli-tutor --version
cli-tutor --no-color
cli-tutor --completions bash | zsh | fish

To install shell completions:

# bash
cli-tutor --completions bash >> ~/.bash_completion

# zsh
cli-tutor --completions zsh > ~/.zsh/completions/_cli-tutor

# fish
cli-tutor --completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/cli-tutor.fish

Config file

Optional config at ~/.config/cli-tutor/config.toml (respects $XDG_CONFIG_HOME):

no_color        = false   # disable all colour styling
timed_challenge = false   # show solve time and personal best on correct answers
skip_completed  = false   # auto-skip already-solved exercises during navigation
default_module  = "grep"  # open on this module instead of the first in the list

A missing or corrupt config file is silently ignored — defaults apply.

Progress

Progress is saved to ~/.local/share/cli-tutor/progress.json after each correct answer.

Stack

Rust + Ratatui + Crossterm. Single binary, no runtime dependencies.

cli-tutor 0.2.0