CLI Applications

Here in 2025, could you run your life from a terminal without a graphical user interface? See Productivity Applications below for the list of terminal applications and the related articles. This is an evergreen article that will be updated as I explore this topic. As more productivity tools are reviewed, they will be added to my list below. I learned computing back in the good old DOS days. OK, they weren’t really all that good. Computing has always came with its share of difficulties. It was an exciting time. It was the first time to ever get my hands on a keyboard. Learning new tools and getting the computer to do stuff was fascinating. ...

See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. WordGrinder WordGrinder Source Code WordGrinder is a very simple word processor. Simplicity is its superpower. It is minimal and gets out of the way of writing. It is excellent at supporting a workflow of write first, edit second, format last. I evaluated version 0.8. Currently version 0.9 is available, but not sure of the changes. ...

With the venerable history of terminal based spreadsheets, I was surprised at the lack of CLI spreadsheet tools. Programs like VisiCalc, Lotus 123, and Quattro Pro were once the killer apps of the DOS world. Sc-im seems to be the only one that may still be active at this point. See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. sc-im (Spreadsheet Calculator Improvised) Source Code Tutorial Online Man Page Sc-im Wiki This is a complex application that uses vim based key bindings. If you’re in the process of learning vim keys, this will make you proficient in a short time. ...

See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. Neovim is IMHO the premier CLI text editor. It is a worthy successor to VIM and has added lua as a plugin / configuration language that allows many amazing things to be done. I have played around with nvim, but was just learning vim motions along with trying to get things set up in a way that worked for me. Being new at this, it was a daunting task and I felt like I need to have a better understanding of all the plugins before committing to them. ...

See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. I don’t have a need to do presentations at this point. I do teach sometimes, but the places I teach don’t have the facilities to do computer based presentations. When working for a large corporation, we always just used Microsoft PowerPoint. From the terminal, I’m looking for an application that will allow me to build Markdown files and turn them into some kind of presentation. ...

See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. What is a good productivity setup without a database? My database of choice is SQLite. It fits the bill perfectly for all my use cases. It is light, fast, ubiquitous, and very useful. SQLite comes with its own command line interface, sqlite3. It is surprising all the places you can find SQLite databases in use. ...

I have settled on a structure for my note taking system. It is simply this: Each note is a Markdown file. .md extension is preferred. Notes reside in a top level folder. Let’s call the top level folder a vault. There can be sub-folders that help categorize the notes. This simple structure allows maintaining a personal knowledge management system with only a text editor. This is the same kind of structure that static site generators use. ...

See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. Terminal email clients are a beast unto themselves. It is one thing to set up the email client and another to set up the email client so it automatically synchronizes mail from various servers. And, sync calendars and address books, and provide organizing and searching capabilities for your mailboxes. Did I mention, managing your passwords? ...

Note: See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. As I look into terminal calendars, I remember the days when I had one of those desktop blotter calendars. When I worked for a big company, they specified the software we had to use for email and meetings. So, if you didn’t like their toolset, too bad. You had to live with it. ...

There are many ways to keep track of tasks. A sticky note is often a great choice for things that need to be done today, or for items to pick up at the store. A notebook is step up from that. As you begin to plan further ahead, and organize the tasks, you gain the ability to turn goals into accomplishments. Note: See the parent document: Using the Terminal as a Daily Driver for more about terminal productivity applications. ...