helix-toolbox 1.8.0

Build, configure and optimize a Linux machine from a terminal menu: installs, dotfiles, updates, backups and health checks, every change planned and confirmed first.
helix-toolbox-1.8.0 is not a library.

Helix Toolbox sets up and looks after a Linux machine from one menu in the terminal: applications, dotfiles and shell configuration, system tweaks, updates, backups and health checks. Every change is planned first, shown to you with its risk, run only after you confirm it, verified afterward and recorded in a history. It is written in Rust and works the same way on Arch, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE. Run it as helix-toolbox, or htb for short; helix-toolbox-gui opens the same catalog in a window, with the run in an embedded terminal (the window).

Helix Toolbox was called HelixForge before 1.7; updating carries your settings, profiles and history over (what changed).

Highlights

  • A catalog of 248 entries for applications, development tools, gaming, desktop and shell configuration, maintenance and security, in searchable groups, with ready-made profiles that set up a whole workstation.
  • Knows your machine. Each entry shows whether it is installed, from where (pacman, apt, dnf, zypper, the AUR, Flatpak) and at which version, whether an update is waiting, and whether Nix or Home Manager provides it.
  • Plans before it acts. Queue what you want; the Install Plan shows the steps in order, what they need, the risk and whether they ask for your password, and checks for conflicts, missing repositories, wrong hardware and disk space before anything runs.
  • Verified runs. Installs and removals are checked against the package manager afterward; a failing source falls back to the next (the AUR, then Flathub); every run, its output and its result are kept in History.
  • One place for updates from every package tool on the machine, delegated to those tools.
  • Helix Doctor checks the network, services, graphics drivers, package databases, permissions, boot images, GRUB, the EFI partition and disk space, with repairs that run after their own confirmation.
  • Backups and snapshots: configuration backups can be restored from one screen, and a Snapper or Timeshift snapshot is taken before system changes.
  • A setup wizard on the first start: it looks at the machine and turns a choice of Developer, Gaming, Privacy or Minimal into an Install Plan to review.
  • The desktop: the desktop, login screen and look at a glance, saved looks to put back, and a warning where Home Manager or Stylix sets them.
  • HELIX Drift saves how a machine is set up and shows what has moved since, or what a fresh installation still lacks, with the entries that put it back queued for review.
  • A command palette (Ctrl-K) reaches every screen, action and entry by name.
  • See a change before it happens: e shows what a plan will change on this machine, configuration files side by side as the installer would write them, and marks what cannot be known in advance.
  • Hardware and firmware: fwupd firmware updates, disk, temperature and battery health, PCI and USB devices, with SMART checks and firmware updates behind their own confirmation.
  • Offline bundles: packages, installed Flatpaks and Helix Toolbox in one checked folder, for a machine without reliable internet.
  • Know what you are running: the Reliability screen shows how far each entry has been tested (in distribution containers, with stand-ins, on real machines), critical boot and driver entries first, and the trust inspector shows where an installer comes from, what checks its packages and what it downloads unchecked.
  • Scriptable: everything is also a command, with --dry-run and stable --json output.

Install

Download the package for your distribution from the latest release, then:

System Command
Arch, Garuda, CachyOS, EndeavourOS, Manjaro sudo pacman -U helix-toolbox-*-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS sudo apt install ./helix-toolbox_*_amd64.deb
Fedora sudo dnf install ./helix-toolbox-*.x86_64.rpm
openSUSE sudo zypper install --allow-unsigned-rpm ./helix-toolbox-*.x86_64.rpm
Arch Linux ARM sudo pacman -U helix-toolbox-*-aarch64.pkg.tar.zst
Debian, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS on ARM64 sudo apt install ./helix-toolbox_*_arm64.deb
Fedora, Fedora Asahi Remix on ARM64 sudo dnf install ./helix-toolbox-*.aarch64.rpm
openSUSE on ARM64 sudo zypper install --allow-unsigned-rpm ./helix-toolbox-*.aarch64.rpm
Any distribution, with Rust cargo install --locked helix-toolbox
The window, beside one of the above helix-toolbox-gui_*.deb, helix-toolbox-gui-*.rpm or the .AppImage (the window)

The packages add shell completions, manual pages and a menu entry. Every release file has a SHA-256 sum and a signed build provenance attestation; INSTALL.md shows how to check them, and how to build from source.

To try it without installing anything, run the latest release straight from GitHub, as your normal user:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Commanderx-code/Helix-toolbox/main/start.sh | sh

It needs Linux on x86_64 or aarch64 (ARM64) with glibc 2.35 or newer.

Quick start

Run helix-toolbox as your normal user; entries that need root ask for your password when they run.

Key Does
Tab / Shift-Tab, j / k Move between screens, or within a list
Enter Open a group, run an entry, or run the Install Plan
Space Add the entry to the Install Plan
/ Search every area
d / p Describe the entry / show exactly what it runs
u / U Update the entry / every entry with an update
* Pin to Favorites
Ctrl-K Find any screen, action or entry by name
t Change the theme
? Every key

From the command line:

helix-toolbox search editor             # find entries
helix-toolbox status                    # what is installed, updated or managed
helix-toolbox run git ripgrep --dry-run # the plan, nothing changed
helix-toolbox updates --online          # what every package tool has waiting
helix-toolbox doctor                    # the health checks
helix-toolbox report                    # what a bug report needs

Documentation
User guide The screens and the common jobs, step by step
Reference Everything the menu and the commands do, in detail
Catalog and plans How entries are written, and how a run is planned and checked
JSON output The --json shapes, for scripts and other programs
Execution events A run as typed events from the engine, for interfaces built on it
The window The graphical interface: installing it, its screens, and how it is built
Installing Packages, Cargo, checking downloads, building from source
Stability What stays the same across 1.x
Security How Helix Toolbox runs things safely, and how to report a vulnerability
Reporting problems Testing safely and writing a useful report
Changelog What each release brought
Roadmap What is done and what comes next

Supported systems

Every change is tested in containers of Arch, Debian, Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04, Fedora and openSUSE Tumbleweed, with real package installs and removals and Helix Toolbox's own packages installed and removed. Derivatives of those use the same package managers. Flatpak, the AUR (through paru or yay), Nix and Home Manager are supported where they are installed.

Contributing

Bug reports and ideas are welcome through the issue forms. To change the code or the catalog, see CONTRIBUTING.md; everyone taking part follows the code of conduct.

License

MIT; see LICENSE. The general catalog started as Linutil's, also MIT; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. Helix Toolbox replaces Commander Toolbox, now archived.