Best Mac Command Line Tools List
One of the advantages of using macOS is the command line it provides. There are thousands of command line tools available from package managers like Brew or Macports. We are not trying to list them all but only a select few and the best that might be particularly interesting to new users of macOS. All tools in this list are free. Last updated: November 29th, 2023.
| Tool | Description | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Numbat | A statically typed programming language for scientific computations with first class support for physical dimensions & units. | Calculator |
| icdiff | Terminal diff tool that uses color to help clarify the differences. | Diff & Merge |
| TLDR | Provides shorter, more human descriptions of unix commands. For those who are not fond on Man pages. | Documentation |
| PanDoc | Document converter with support for popular formats such as DOCX & ODT to HTML, PDF, TeX, & more. | Document Tool |
| aria2 | Lightweight multi-protocol & multi-source, cross platform download utility that supports HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, BitTorrent & Metalink. | Download Tool |
| YT-DLP | Command line tool for downloading from YouTube & many other places. | Download Tool |
| Ranger | A console file manager with VI key bindings. | File Manager |
| ImageMagik | An open source cross-platform set of tools for displaying, creating, converting, modifying, & editing raster images from the command line. | File Manager |
| Massren | A tool that can be used to rename multiple files using your own text editor. | File Tool |
| skhd | Hotkey daemon for macOS that focuses on responsiveness and performance. Hotkeys are defined in a text file that can be modified at any time. | Keyboard |
| FFmpeg | Powerful command line tool to record, convert, edit & stream audio and video. | Media Tool |
| MTR-Tiny | Used to diagnose & isolate networking errors & provide reports of network status. | Network Tool |
| OCRmyPDF | Adds an OCR text layer to scanned PDF files, allowing them to be searched or copy-pasted. | Optical Character Recognition |
| Homebrew | Most popular external package manager for macOS. | Package Manager |
| Fink | Third most popular file manager for macOS after Brew & Macports. | Package Manager |
| MacPorts | MacPorts is a better designed but less popular package manager than Brew. | Package Manager |
| Task Warrior | One of the best command line based programs for managing tasks. | Productivity |
| ncdu | Easily see how much space is available on your system as well as what is taking up the most space. | Storage |
| alacritty | Open source terminal app focused on performance & simplicity. | Terminal |
| fish | Modern alternative to Zsh. | Terminal |
| iTerm2 | This open source app is the most popular replacement for the built-in Terminal app. | Terminal |
| kitty | GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal. | Terminal |
| Oh My Zsh | Framework to enhance & improve your Z shell experience. There is also a fork of Oh My Zsh called Prezto. | Terminal |
| Terminal | The built-in macOS terminal has improved significantly in recent years. | Terminal |
| Fig | IDE style autocomplete that integrates with most terminals & shells. | Terminal Tool |
| Emacs | The other venerable Unix text editor. | Text Editor |
| Micro | A modern & intuitive terminal-based text editor. | Text Editor |
| Nano | A small, easy to use, & ubiquitous text editor that is frequently found on Unix and Linux systems. | Text Editor |
| Vim | The classic text editor that some swear by and some swear at. Steep learning curve. | Text Editor |