Tiny CLI Tools That Earn Their Keep
Coding #cli#automation#productivity
A few dozen lines of Python can replace a habit. Here are the little command-line tools I actually reach for every day.
Not every project needs a framework. Some of my favourite code is under 40
lines and lives in ~/bin.
The pattern
Each tool is a single file, made executable, with a shebang and argparse:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import argparse
def main():
p = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="do one small thing well")
p.add_argument("name")
args = p.parse_args()
print(f"hello, {args.name}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()chmod +x, drop it on your PATH, and it feels like a real command.
Why bother
The value isn’t the code — it’s that the friction of doing the thing drops to nearly zero. A tool I have to think about is a tool I won’t use.