so

name	so
description	Stack Overflow terminal interface with Startpage, StackExchange API, Google, and DuckDuckGo backends. Use when: (1) need to look up a programming question on Stack Overflow, (2) searching StackExchange sites (unix, superuser, serverfault), (3) fetching SO answers programmatically from a script or agent context. Default engine: Startpage. Use --print for non-TTY/pipeable output.
user-invocable	false

so — Stack Overflow CLI

Terminal interface for searching and browsing Stack Overflow and other StackExchange sites.

Custom build from DavidTeju/so fork with Startpage backend and --print flag. Binary at /opt/homebrew/bin/so, backup of original Homebrew version at /opt/homebrew/bin/so.brew-backup.

Quick Start

# Default engine is Startpage (Google results via privacy proxy)
so "python reverse list"

# Print to stdout without TUI (no TTY needed — best for agents/scripts)
so --print "python reverse list"
so -p "git rebase autosquash"

Core Workflows

Quick answer lookup

so --lucky "python reverse list"

Returns the top-voted answer from the most relevant question, rendered with syntax highlighting. Requires a TTY (uses Crossterm spinner + keypress wait).

Print mode (agent/script usage)

so --print "python reverse list"
so -p "git rebase autosquash"
ANSWER=$(so -p "bash array syntax" 2>/dev/null)
so -p "rust lifetime" | head -20

--print / -p prints the top answer to stdout and exits immediately. No spinner, no keypress wait, no TUI. Fully pipeable. Use this in non-TTY contexts — no script -q /dev/null wrapper needed.

Output contains ANSI escape codes. To strip them:

so -p "query here" 2>/dev/null | sed $'s/\x1b\[[0-9;]*[a-zA-Z]//g'

Search engines

so -e startpage "query"       # Default — Google results via Startpage proxy
so -e stackexchange "query"   # Direct SE API (fastest, but weaker relevance)
so -e google "query"          # Broken — Google requires JS execution
so -e duckduckgo "query"      # Broken — DDG returns anomaly challenge

Startpage is the default and recommended engine. It proxies Google results as static HTML. StackExchange API is fastest but has weaker search relevance.

Search other StackExchange sites

so -s unix "systemd service restart"
so -s superuser "windows dual boot grub"
so -s serverfault "nginx reverse proxy websocket"

Common site codes: stackoverflow (default), unix, superuser, serverfault, askubuntu, dba, math, stats, tex. Full list: so --list-sites.

Limit results

so -l 5 "rust lifetime error"

Default is 20 questions. Use -l to reduce when you want faster results.

Configuration

Config file: ~/Library/Application Support/io.Sam-Tay.so/config.yml

api_key: 8o9g7WcfwnwbB*Qp4VsGsw((
limit: 20
lucky: true
sites:
- stackoverflow
search_engine: startpage
copy_cmd: pbcopy

Error Recovery

Error	Type	Action
"Sorry, couldn't find any answers"	Query issue	Broaden search terms, try different phrasing
"DuckDuckGo blocked this request"	Permanent	Don't use -e duckduckgo — use startpage or stackexchange
"Crossterm error: Device not configured"	Environment	Not in a TTY — use --print instead of --lucky
"StackOverflow captcha check triggered"	Transient	Rare with -e stackexchange. Wait and retry
Rate limiting (300 req/day)	Transient	Register an API key: so --set-api-key <key>

Do NOT Use This For

• Getting JSON/structured data — so only outputs rendered text. If you need structured SO data, use the StackExchange API directly.
• Posting questions or answers — read-only tool.
• Authenticated actions — no login support (voting, commenting, etc.)

Gotchas

• Google and DuckDuckGo engines are dead. Both now require JavaScript execution. Use startpage (default) or stackexchange.
• --lucky requires a TTY. Uses Crossterm spinner + raw mode. In scripts/agents, use --print instead.
• --print implies --lucky. It always fetches and prints the top answer.
• No machine-readable output. Everything is ANSI-rendered text. Strip with sed $'s/\x1b\[[0-9;]*[a-zA-Z]//g'.
• Custom build. The installed binary is from the DavidTeju/so fork, not the upstream Homebrew formula. brew upgrade so will overwrite it. Rebuild from ~/projects/so if that happens.
• No alias needed. The so alias was removed — the config file sets startpage as the default engine directly.