using-modern-cli

name	using-modern-cli
description	Prefer modern CLI tools for better performance: rg (ripgrep) instead of grep for text searching, fd instead of find for file discovery, bat instead of cat for viewing files, sd instead of sed for text replacement, eza instead of ls for directory listing, dust instead of du, procs instead of ps. Use when writing bash scripts, optimizing command chains, working with file searches, or replacing grep/find/cat in workflows. These tools are faster, respect .gitignore, and have better output formatting.
user-invocable	false
allowed-tools	["Bash"]

Modern CLI Tools

Use faster, ergonomic command-line tools installed on this system.

Quick Reference

Task	Modern	Traditional	Why Modern
Search text	rg	grep	10-100x faster, respects .gitignore
Find files	fd	find	Simpler syntax, ignores .git
View files	bat	cat	Syntax highlighting, line numbers
List files	eza	ls	Icons, git status, tree view
Replace text	sd	sed	Intuitive regex, preview mode
Disk usage	dust	du	Visual tree, sorted by size
Processes	procs	ps	Tree view, sortable columns
Diff files	delta	diff	Syntax highlighting, side-by-side

Examples

# Search: rg instead of grep
rg "TODO" --type go           # Search Go files
rg -A 3 "error"               # 3 lines after match
rg -l "import"                # List files only

# Find: fd instead of find
fd "\.go$"                    # Find Go files
fd -e json src/               # By extension in src/
fd -x wc -l {}                # Execute on matches

# View: bat instead of cat
bat main.go                   # With syntax highlighting
bat -n file.py                # Line numbers only

# List: eza instead of ls
eza -la --git                 # Long format with git status
eza --tree -L 2               # Tree view, 2 levels

# Replace: sd instead of sed
sd "old" "new" file.txt       # Simple replacement
sd -p "pattern" "new"         # Preview changes first

# Disk: dust instead of du
dust -d 2                     # 2 levels deep

# Processes: procs instead of ps
procs --tree                  # Process tree

Productivity Tools

# Fuzzy finder (pipe with fd/rg)
vim $(fd . | fzf)
rg "pattern" | fzf

# Benchmarking
hyperfine "rg pattern" "grep -r pattern"

# Code statistics
tokei .

# Markdown preview
glow README.md

# JSON/YAML processing
jq '.key' file.json
yq '.key' file.yaml