cli-tutor

Learn Unix command-line tools by typing real commands — not reading about them.

Pick a tool, read the intro, try the examples, then solve exercises in a live shell. Each command you type is actually executed and checked against the expected output.

cli-tutor demo

Install

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install ShadabGhazali/cli-tutor/cli-tutor

Cargo

cargo install cli-tutor

Pre-built binary (no Rust required)

Go to the Releases page and download the archive for your platform:
- cli-tutor-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz — macOS Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
- cli-tutor-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz — macOS Intel
- cli-tutor-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz — Linux x86_64
- cli-tutor-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip — Windows x86_64
Extract and run:

# macOS / Linux
tar xzf cli-tutor-*.tar.gz
chmod +x cli-tutor
./cli-tutor

# macOS — if blocked by Gatekeeper, remove the quarantine flag first
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine cli-tutor
./cli-tutor

# Windows — extract the zip, then run in a terminal
.\cli-tutor.exe

# Homebrew
brew upgrade ShadabGhazali/cli-tutor/cli-tutor

# Cargo
cargo install cli-tutor --force

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

Requires a terminal at least 80×24.

Modules

Sorted from most-used daily foundations through dev tools and into thematic real-world workflows.

Foundations — navigate and view

Tool	What it does	Exercises
`ls`	List directory contents, spot hidden files, sort by time or size	6
`cat`	Display and concatenate files — the start of every pipeline	5
`head`	Preview the first N lines — check CSV headers, sample data	5
`tail`	View the last N lines, skip headers, monitor recent log entries	6

Search and filter

Tool	What it does	Exercises
`grep`	Search files for patterns using regular expressions	12
`find`	Locate files by name, type, size, age, permissions	9

Transform and process

Tool	What it does	Exercises
`cut`	Extract columns from delimited text	5
`sort`	Sort lines — alphabetically, numerically, by field	6
`uniq`	Remove or count duplicate adjacent lines	4
`wc`	Count lines, words, and bytes	6
`tr`	Translate or delete individual characters	4
`sed`	Stream editor — substitute, delete, transform lines	10
`awk`	Field-based processing language — extract, filter, aggregate	10

Combine and compare

Tool	What it does	Exercises
`paste`	Merge lines from multiple files side by side	4
`tee`	Fork a pipeline — write to a file AND pass through to stdout	4
`diff`	Compare two files and show what changed	5

Archive, permissions, and utilities

Tool	What it does	Exercises
`xargs`	Build and run commands from standard input	6
`tar`	Create, list, and extract archive files	5
`chmod`	Change file permissions	6
`bc`	Arbitrary-precision arithmetic — percentages, averages in scripts	4

Dev tools

Tool	What it does	Exercises
`git`	Version control — init, commit, branch, stash, diff	10
`jq`	Query and transform JSON from the command line	8
`make`	Automate build steps and tasks with Makefiles	5

Real-world workflows

These modules teach you to combine tools in pipelines to solve complete engineering tasks — not just individual command syntax.

Module	What it covers	Exercises
`log-processing`	Analyze Apache/app logs: count requests, find errors, top-N IPs, error rates	8
`text-processing`	Transform CSV data, extract fields, calculate stats, process config files	8

161 exercises — beginner to advanced. Progress is saved automatically.

Keys

Browsing (Intro / Examples views)

Key	Action
`↑` `↓`	Switch module
`Tab`	Cycle views: Intro → Examples → Exercise → Free Practice
`Ctrl+U` `Ctrl+D`	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
`Ctrl+U` `Ctrl+D`	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
`Ctrl+U` `Ctrl+D`	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

# 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

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.

Stack

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

cli-tutor 0.4.1