Open Source Linux System Shells
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System Shells for Linux
View 300 business solutionsBrowse free open source System Shells and projects for Linux below. Use the toggles on the left to filter open source System Shells by OS, license, language, programming language, and project status.
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PowerShell
Command-line shell and scripting language built on .NET
Powershell is a cross-platform, task-based command-line shell and scripting language that helps rapidly automate tasks that manage operating systems (Linux, macOS and Windows) and processes. It works well with existing tools and is optimized for dealing with structured data, REST APIs and object models. PowerShell was developed by Microsoft as a task management and configuration management framework. Powershell is designed to let you manage computers from the command line and improve the command-line and scripting environment. -
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zsh
Customizable command shell for UNIX-like environments
zsh is a shell probably most similar to ksh, but with countless enhancements and differences. -
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XMLStarlet is a set of command line utilities (tools) to transform, query, validate, and edit XML documents and files using simple set of shell commands in similar way it is done for text files with UNIX grep, sed, awk, diff, patch, join, etc utilities.
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CLISP is a portable ANSI Common Lisp implementation and development environment by Bruno Haible. Interpreter, compiler, debugger, CLOS, MOP, FFI, Unicode, sockets, CLX. UI in English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, and Danish.
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MongoDB Atlas runs apps anywhereMongoDB Atlas gives you the freedom to build and run modern applications anywhere—across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. With global availability in over 115 regions, Atlas lets you deploy close to your users, meet compliance needs, and scale with confidence across any geography.
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iSH
The Linux shell on iOS
iSH is an open source project that allows for a Linux shell environment to run locally on your iOS device. It does this through a usermode x86 emulation and syscall translation. With iSH you can run Linux applications and programs on iOS, access the Alpine package manager, and install programs with apk add <name>. iSH also features a keyboard addition that makes navigation a whole lot easier. -
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Babashka
Native, fast starting Clojure interpreter for scripting
Avoid switching between Clojure and bash scripts. Enjoy your parens on the command line. Leveraging GraalVM native-image and the Small Clojure Interpreter, babashka is a self-contained and instantly starting scripting environment. Babashka comes with scripting batteries included: tools.cli, cheshire, babashka.fs, babashka.process, java.time and many more libraries and classes. Babashka scripts work on linux, macOS and Windows. Besides the built-in libraries, babashka is able to load libraries from source, tapping into the world of already existing Clojure libraries. Babashka supports real JVM threads and like Clojure, supports futures and dynamic thread-locally bound vars. Babashka features a built-in task runner which covers the most popular use cases of make, just and npm scripts. Babashka can shell out to other CLI programs like you are used to in bash. It goes one step further and offers seamless integration with other binaries using the pod protocol. -
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xxh
Bring your favorite shell wherever you go through the ssh
You stuffed the command shell with aliases, tools and colors but you lose it all when using ssh. The mission of xxh is to bring your favorite shell wherever you go through ssh without root access and system installations. Preparing portable shells and plugins occurs locally and then xxh uploads the result to the host. No installations or root access on the host is required. Security and host environment are a prime focus. No blindfold copying config files from local to the remote host. Following privacy and repeatability practices the best way is to fork the xxh plugin or shell example and pack your configs into it. Every xxh repo could be forked, customized, and reused without waiting for a package management system, xxh release, or any third-party packages. Five shells are currently supported and more could be added by the community. -
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Minimal Linux Live
Minimal Linux Live (MLL) is a tiny educational Linux distribution
Minimal Linux Live is a tiny educational Linux distribution, which is designed to be built from scratch by using a collection of automated shell scripts. Minimal Linux Live offers a core environment with just the Linux kernel, GNU C library and Busybox userland utilities. Additional software can be included in the ISO image at build time by using a well-documented configuration file. Minimal Linux Live can be downloaded as a pre-built image, built from scratch or run in a web browser by using a JavaScript PC emulator. -
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fish
The user-friendly command line shell
Finally, a command line shell for the 90s. fish is a smart and user-friendly command line shell for Linux, macOS, and the rest of the family. fish suggests commands as you type based on history and completions, just like a web browser. Watch out, Netscape Navigator 4.0! fish supports 24 bit true color, the state of the art in terminal technology. Behold the monospaced rainbow. fish is fully scriptable, and its syntax is simple, clean, and consistent. You'll never write esac again. For those lucky few with a graphical computer, you can set your colors and view functions, variables, and history all from a web page. Other shells support programmable completions, but only fish generates them automatically by parsing your installed man pages. fish will delight you with features like tab completions and syntax highlighting that just work, with nothing new to learn or configure. -
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bash debugger
bash debugger
A gdb-like debugger for bash -
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System_42
Ultra-Lightweight Superior Calibre Linux Distro
A SuperSimple x86_64 Micro Linux ASCII Desktop Distro Unpack 'theTool-v1.tar.gz' to an empty, mounted, ext2 partition. Boot a small, simple 4.2 kernel and use the ext2 partition as rootfs. Also unzip cc, sys, and root... A very small LFS-style Linux distro with kernel, uClibc, gcc, emacs, theTool, and an rc. Designed to bootstrap g++. Roll-your-own distro, bring tarballs. Notes for the current dist: 1. Edit the '/etc/fstab', Add link from /psu to /proc 2. Enable extra stuff by changing grps in /System42/lib.sh. 3. Update path of compiler in /etc/profile... 4. Build (binutils) gcc-4.7.2 with c++. 5. ...Could build gcc-11, linux7. 7. Get txt.tar.gz, an emacs/editor, or use sed. Note the kernel: '/.System42'. Please post in the forum 'kconfig', V0 -- kernel4.2(embedded), gcc 4.7.2, has no ip4 + no nls. V1 -- kernel4.2(generic), gcc++ 4.9.2, has ip4 + nls. ACPI + EFI + vfat + isofs + usb. ok. V2 -- ??? gcc-16, Linux-7.0 Thanks, Dr -
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Blur my Shell
Extension that adds a blur look to different parts of the GNOME Shell
Adds a blur look to different parts of the GNOME Shell, including the top panel, dash and overview. If you use Ubuntu, you may want to change the radius of the corner effect for Dash-to-Dock in preferences, else you may see unpleasantly mixed radii in your dock. -
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Powerline Go
A beautiful and useful low-latency prompt for your shell
A Powerline-like prompt for Bash, ZSH, and Fish. All of the version control systems supported by powerline shell give you a quick look into the state of your repo. The current branch is displayed and changes background color when the branch is dirty. When the local branch differs from the remote, the difference in number of commits is shown along with ⇡ or ⇣ indicating whether a git push or pull is pending. powerline-go uses ANSI color codes, these should nowadays work everywhere, but you may have to set your $TERM to xterm-256color for it to work. If you want to use the "patched" mode (which is the default and provides improved UI), you'll need to install a powerline font, either as fallback, or by patching the font you use for your terminal. Alternatively, you can use "compatible" or "flat" mode. There are a few optional arguments that can be seen by running powerline-go -help. These can be used by changing the command you have set in your shell’s init file. -
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ShellCheck
A static analysis tool for shell scripts
ShellCheck is a GPLv3 tool that provides warnings and possible suggestions for bash/sh shell scripts. ShellCheck finds bugs in your shell scripts. You can cabal, apt, dnf, pkg or brew install it locally right now. ShellCheck highlights and clarifies typical beginner's syntax mistakes and issues that cause a shell to give a cryptic error message. It shows typical intermediate level semantic problems that cause a shell to behave in a abnormally and counter-intuitively. It can also discover ssubtle caveats, corner cases and pitfalls that may cause an user's working script to fail under probable future circumstances. ShellCheck.net is always synchronized to the latest git version, and is the simplest way to give ShellCheck a go. -
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TinTin++ Mud Client
A MUD client for Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows
TinTin++ is a console mud client for any type of text mud or bbs. The mud client's main assets are an easy to learn scripting language, triggers, automapping, and a split screen interface to separate mud output from client input. Installation instructions for Android, iOS, and several other operating systems are available on the website. https://tintin.mudhalla.net -
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INim
Interactive Nim shell / REPL / Playground
INim is an interactive shell (REPL) for the Nim programming language, providing a platform for executing Nim code snippets in real-time. -
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OliveTin
OliveTin gives safe and simple access to predefined shell commands
Give safe and simple access to predefined shell commands from a web interface. OliveTin just runs shell commands, so theoretically, you could integrate with a bunch of stuff just by using curl, ping, etc. However, writing your own shell scripts is a great way to extend OliveTin. Uses only a few MB of RAM and barely any CPU. Written in Go, with a web interface written as a modern, responsive, single-page app that uses the REST/gRPC API. Helps potential contributors be consistent, and helps with maintainability. Available for quickly testing and getting it up and running, great for the self-hosted community. Passes all the accessibility checks in Firefox, and issues with accessibility are taken seriously. -
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Extreme Ultimate .bashrc
Extreme ultimate .bashrc configuration file for Bash
Do you want a more robust experience from your bash shell? As a Linux systems administrator, I've been working on this .bashrc file for well over a decade. Over the years, I have searched through scores of others' .bashrc and script files collecting and improving on new ideas and features. This portable drop in bash configuration file can be used on any system anywhere you use a terminal. It will detect most settings on most systems and make sure your environment has every feature available automatically without any additional effort. Do you need a command line cheat sheet? Press CTRL-h for full color help! I think this is the most amazing, ultimate .bashrc file I have ever seen and wanted to share it. To install, execute the following lines in a terminal wget -O ~/.bashrc https://sourceforge.net/projects/ultimate-bashrc/files/_bashrc/download wget -O ~/.bashrc_help https://sourceforge.net/projects/ultimate-bashrc/files/_bashrc_help/download -
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FlashForth is a standalone Forth system for the Microchip PIC 18, 24, 30, 33 and the Atmel Atmega series of microcontrollers. A Forth system with interpreter, compiler, assembler and multitasker is provided.
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Extreme Ultimate Tmux
Portable tmux config with menus, app launcher, tray icon. No plugins.
Do you want the power of a fully loaded tmux plugin framework without installing a single plugin? One file. No plugin managers. No dependencies. No setup. Drop it on any machine and it just works. What you get feels like a desktop app: a menu system with submenus, a 21-app launcher, searchable help, a built-in scratchpad, a system dashboard, and a fully clickable status bar. All in a beautiful adaptive interface that auto-detects your fonts and scales from Nerd Font icons to plain ASCII on a TTY. The status bar knows when you are in SSH and moves out of the way. The clipboard works everywhere including over SSH. Every feature degrades gracefully. Nothing breaks if a tool is missing. To install: wget -O ~/.tmux.conf https://sourceforge.net/projects/ultimate-tmux/files/_tmux.conf/download Also includes: system tray icon (tmux-tray), terminal launchers for 5 terminals, and a WezTerm config. Companion: Extreme Ultimate .bashrc (sourceforge.net/projects/ultimate-bashrc) -
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Kobo XCSoar Launcher
a customizable boot menu for your Kobo Mini
Mainly this project aims at easing startup and use of XCSoar (see xcsoar.org) on Kobo Mini. But the scope of use should not be limited solely to XCSoar. The Launcher should be small in code size, reuse most of the original libraries, provide flexible configuration to any application that might be ported to the Kobo Mini. It supports customizable fonts, toolbox-pages, buttons (also graphical), labels, autostart and sleep timers. -
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Squirrel Shell is a cross-platform alternative to system shells like bash in Linux and cmd.exe in Microsoft Windows. It is based on scripting language "Squirrel".
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KonsolScript: Automate and Orchestrate
Embeddable scripting runtime for live behavior, AI, and automation.
KonsolScript is an embeddable scripting runtime for games, tools, automation, and AI-driven applications. Add a live scripting layer to any C++ application. Hot-reload behavior, patch running apps, and orchestrate AI workflows - without rebuilding or redeploying the binary. Ship once. Evolve forever. Key capabilities: - Embed into any C++ app with a single header - Hot-reload scripts at runtime without restarting - AI-safe: validate or reject scripts before execution - Orchestrate LLMs (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Ollama) in .ks scripts - Built-in: String, File, JSON, CSV, Math, Regex, and more - Plugins: HTTP, SQLite, MySQL, TCP, Redis, Crypto, JWT, Zip - Push behavior updates to remote instances over TCP Use cases: - Scriptable game engines (hot-patch rules mid-session) - AI event bridges (natural language to live app behavior) - Automation pipelines (CI, log triage, file processing) - LLM orchestration workflows Docs: https://konsolscript.sf.net/kookbook.html -
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Kubetail
Bash script to tail Kubernetes logs from multiple pods
Bash script that enables you to aggregate (tail/follow) logs from multiple pods into one stream. This is the same as running "kubectl logs -f " but for multiple pods. Just download the kubetail file (or any of the releases) and you're good to go. Note that you may need to run compinit for zsh to pick-up the changes in the competition after having upgraded from the non-abbreviated installation. If you're using a ZSH plugin manager, you can install kubetail as a plugin. kubetail itself doesn't have filtering or highlighting capabilities built in. If you're on MacOSX I recommend using iTerm2 which allows for continuous highlighting of search terms, good scrolling capabilities, and multitab arrangements. Another useful feature of iTerm2 is the "timeline" (cmd + shift + e) which lets you display a timeline in your own local timezone next to the logs (that are typically in UTC).
