[](https://travis-ci.org/cantino/mcfly)
[](https://crates.io/crates/mcfly)
# McFly - fly through your shell history
<img src="/docs/screenshot.png" alt="screenshot" width="400">
McFly replaces your default `ctrl-r` shell history search with an intelligent search engine that takes into account
your working directory and the context of recently executed commands. McFly's suggestions are prioritized
in real time with a small neural network.
TL;DR: an upgraded `ctrl-r` where history results make sense for what you're working on right now.
## Features
* Rebinds `ctrl-r` to bring up a full-screen reverse history search prioritized with a small neural network.
* Augments your shell history to track command exit status, timestamp, and execution directory in a SQLite database.
* Maintains your normal shell history file as well so that you can stop using McFly whenever you want.
* Unicode support throughout.
* Includes a simple action to scrub any history item from the McFly database and your shell history files.
* Designed to be extensible for other shells in the future.
* Written in Rust, so it's fast and safe.
## Prioritization
The key feature of McFly is smart command prioritization powered by a small neural network that runs
in real time. The goal is for the command you want to run to always be one of the top suggestions.
When suggesting a command, McFly takes into consideration:
* The directory where you ran the command. You're likely to run that command in the same directory in the future.
* What commands you typed before the command (e.g., the command's execution context).
* How often you run the command.
* When you last ran the command.
* If you've selected the command in McFly before.
* The command's historical exit status. You probably don't want to run old failed commands.
## Installation
### Install with Homebrew (on OS X or Linux)
1. Install the tap:
```bash
brew tap cantino/mcfly https://github.com/cantino/mcfly
```
1. Install `mcfly`:
```bash
brew install mcfly
```
1. Add the following to the end of your `~/.bashrc`, `~/.zshrc`, or `~/.config/fish/config.fish` file, as appropriate, changing `/usr/local` to your `brew --prefix` if needed:
Bash:
```bash
if [[ -r "/usr/local/opt/mcfly/mcfly.bash" ]]; then
source "/usr/local/opt/mcfly/mcfly.bash"
fi
```
Zsh:
```bash
if [[ -r "/usr/local/opt/mcfly/mcfly.zsh" ]]; then
source "/usr/local/opt/mcfly/mcfly.zsh"
fi
```
Fish:
```bash
if test -r "/usr/local/opt/mcfly/mcfly.fish"
source "/usr/local/opt/mcfly/mcfly.fish"
mcfly_key_bindings
end
```
1. Run `. ~/.bashrc` / `. ~/.zshrc` / `source ~/.config/fish/config.fish` or restart your terminal emulator.
#### Uninstalling with Homebrew
1. Remove `mcfly`:
```bash
brew uninstall mcfly
```
1. Remove the tap:
```bash
brew untap cantino/mcfly
```
1. Remove the lines you added to `~/.bashrc` / `~/.zshrc` / `~/.config/fish/config.fish`.
### Install with MacPorts (on OS X)
1. Update the ports tree
```bash
sudo port selfupdate
```
1. Install `mcfly`:
```bash
sudo port install mcfly
```
1. Add the following to the end of your `~/.bashrc`, `~/.zshrc`, or `~/.config/fish/config.fish` file, as appropriate:
Bash:
```bash
if [[ -r "/opt/local/share/mcfly/mcfly.bash" ]]; then
source "/opt/local/share/mcfly/mcfly.bash"
fi
```
Zsh:
```bash
if [[ -r "/opt/local/share/mcfly/mcfly.zsh" ]]; then
source "/opt/local/share/mcfly/mcfly.zsh"
fi
```
Fish:
```bash
if test -r "/opt/local/share/mcfly/mcfly.fish"
source "/opt/local/share/mcfly/mcfly.fish"
mcfly_key_bindings
end
```
1. Run `. ~/.bashrc` / `. ~/.zshrc` / `source ~/.config/fish/config.fish` or restart your terminal emulator.
#### Uninstalling with MacPorts
1. Remove `mcfly`:
```bash
sudo port uninstall mcfly
```
1. Remove the lines you added to `~/.bashrc` / `~/.zshrc` / `~/.config/fish/config.fish`.
### Installing manually from GitHub
1. Download the [latest release from GitHub](https://github.com/cantino/mcfly/releases).
1. Install to a location in your `$PATH`. (For example, you could create a directory at `~/bin`, copy `mcfly` to this location, and add `export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/bin"` to your `.bashrc` / `.zshrc`, or run `set -Ua fish_user_paths "$HOME/bin"` for fish.)
1. Copy `mcfly.bash`, `mcfly.zsh`, or `mcfly.fish` to a known location.
1. Add the following to the end of your `~/.bashrc`, `~/.zshrc`, or `~/.config/fish/config.fish` file, respectively:
Bash:
```bash
if [[ -r /path/to/mcfly.bash ]]; then
source /path/to/mcfly.bash
fi
```
Zsh:
```bash
if [[ -r /path/to/mcfly.zsh ]]; then
source /path/to/mcfly.zsh
fi
```
Fish:
```bash
if test -r /path/to/mcfly.fish
source /path/to/mcfly.fish
mcfly_key_bindings
end
```
1. Run `. ~/.bashrc` / `. ~/.zshrc` / `source ~/.config/fish/config.fish` or restart your terminal emulator.
### Install manually from source
1. [Install Rust 1.40 or later](https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install)
1. Run `git clone https://github.com/cantino/mcfly` and `cd mcfly`
1. Run `cargo install --path .`
1. Ensure `~/.cargo/bin` is in your `$PATH`.
1. Add the following to the end of your `~/.bashrc`, `~/.zshrc`, or `~/.config/fish/config.fish` file, respectively:
Bash:
```bash
if [[ -r /path/to/mcfly.bash ]]; then
source /path/to/mcfly.bash
fi
```
Zsh:
```bash
if [[ -r /path/to/mcfly.zsh ]]; then
source /path/to/mcfly.zsh
fi
```
Fish:
```bash
if test -r /path/to/mcfly.fish
source /path/to/mcfly.fish
mcfly_key_bindings
end
```
1. Run `. ~/.bashrc` / `. ~/.zshrc` / `source ~/.config/fish/config.fish` or restart your terminal emulator.
## iTerm2
To avoid McFly's UI messing up your scrollback history in iTerm2, make sure this option is unchecked:
<img src="/docs/iterm2.jpeg" alt="iterm2 UI instructions">
## Settings
A number of settings can be set via environment variables. To set a setting you should add the following snippets to your `~/.bashrc` / `~/.zshrc` / `~/.config/fish/config.fish`.
### Light Mode
To swap the color scheme for use in a light terminal, set the environment variable `MCFLY_LIGHT`.
bash / zsh:
```bash
export MCFLY_LIGHT=TRUE
```
fish:
```bash
set -gx MCFLY_LIGHT TRUE
```
### VIM Key Scheme
By default Mcfly uses an `emacs` inspired key scheme. If you would like to switch to the `vim` inspired key scheme, set the environment variable `MCFLY_KEY_SCHEME`.
bash / zsh:
```bash
export MCFLY_KEY_SCHEME=vim
```
fish:
```bash
set -gx MCFLY_KEY_SCHEME vim
```
### Fuzzy Searching
To enable fuzzy searching, set `MCFLY_FUZZY`.
bash / zsh:
```bash
export MCFLY_FUZZY=true
```
fish:
```bash
set -gx MCFLY_FUZZY true
```
## Possible Future Features
* Add a screencast to README.
* Learn common command options and autocomplete them in the suggestion UI?
* Sort command line args when coming up with the template matching string.
* Possible prioritization improvements:
* Cross validation & explicit training set selection.
* Learn command embeddings
## Development
### Running tests
`cargo test`
### Releasing
1. Edit `Cargo.toml` and bump the version.
1. Edit CHANGELOG.txt
1. Recompile.
1. `git add -p`
1. `git ci -m 'Bumping to vx.x.x'`
1. `git tag vx.x.x`
1. `git push origin head --tags`
1. Let the build finish.
1. Edit the new Release on Github.
1. Edit `pkg/brew/mcfly.rb` and update the version and SHAs. (`shasum -a 256 ...`)
1. `cargo publish`