alix - Interactive Alias Manager for Your Shell 🚀

A powerful, htop-style terminal UI for managing shell aliases. Never forget a command again!

✨ Features

Interactive TUI: Beautiful terminal interface inspired by htop
Multi-Shell Support: Works with bash, zsh, and fish
Smart Search: Real-time filtering and searching
Auto-Backup: Automatic backups before every change
Import/Export: Share alias collections with your team
Shell Integration: Apply aliases directly to your shell config
Usage Tracking & Analytics: Track alias usage with detailed statistics
Automatic Tracking: Set up automatic usage tracking for all aliases
Productivity Metrics: See which aliases save you the most time
Usage History: View detailed usage patterns and trends
Alias Templates: Pre-built alias collections for common tools (git, docker, k8s)
Template Marketplace: Extensible template system for custom alias collections
Themes: Multiple color themes (ocean, forest, monochrome)
Safe Operations: Confirmation prompts for destructive actions

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

macOS

# Using Homebrew to install Python (if needed)
brew install python@3.11

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/TheDevOpsBlueprint/alix-cli.git
cd alix-cli

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv alix-venv
source alix-venv/bin/activate

# Install alix
pip install -e .

# Run alix
alix

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

# Install Python and dependencies
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/TheDevOpsBlueprint/alix-cli.git
cd alix-cli

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv alix-venv
source alix-venv/bin/activate

# Install alix
pip install -e .

# Run alix
alix

Linux (Fedora/RHEL/CentOS)

# Install Python and dependencies
sudo dnf install python3 python3-pip

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/TheDevOpsBlueprint/alix-cli.git
cd alix-cli

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv alix-venv
source alix-venv/bin/activate

# Install alix
pip install -e .

# Run alix
alix

Arch Linux

# Install Python and dependencies
sudo pacman -S python python-pip

# Clone and install (same as above)
git clone https://github.com/TheDevOpsBlueprint/alix-cli.git
cd alix-cli
python3 -m venv alix-venv
source alix-venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
alix

Using Make (Easiest)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/TheDevOpsBlueprint/alix-cli.git
cd alix-cli

# Install with make
make dev-install  # Creates venv and installs everything
make run          # Run alix

📖 Usage Guide

Interactive Mode (Recommended)

Launch the interactive TUI by simply running:

alix

TUI Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action	Description
`a`	Add	Add a new alias
`e`	Edit	Edit selected alias
`d`	Delete	Delete selected alias
`/`	Search	Focus search box
`ESC`	Clear	Clear search
`j`/`↓`	Down	Navigate down
`k`/`↑`	Up	Navigate up
`r`	Refresh	Reload from disk
`q`	Quit	Exit application

CLI Commands

Adding Aliases

# Interactive add
alix add

# Quick add with flags
alix add -n "gs" -c "git status" -d "Git status shortcut"

# Add complex commands
alix add -n "gpl" -c "git pull origin $(git branch --show-current)" -d "Pull current branch"

# Docker shortcuts
alix add -n "dps" -c "docker ps -a" -d "List all containers"
alix add -n "dex" -c "docker exec -it" -d "Docker exec interactive"

Listing Aliases

# List all aliases
alix list

# Beautiful table view
alix ls

Remove Aliases

# Remove an alias
alix remove <name>

# Example
alix remove gs

Undo/Redo Operations

Never worry about mistakes! alix keeps a history of your operations so you can easily undo and redo changes:

# Undo the last operation
alix undo

# Redo the last undone operation
alix redo

# List undo history (most recent last)
alix list-undo

# List redo history (most recent last)
alix list-redo

Examples:

# Add an alias
alix add -n "test" -c "echo hello"

# Oops! Let's undo that
alix undo
# ✅ Undid add (1 alias removed)

# Changed my mind, let's redo it
alix redo
# 🔁 Redid add (1 alias added)

# Delete a group of aliases
alix group delete docker

# Undo the group removal
alix undo
# ✅ Undid group_delete (2 aliases processed)

# View what operations can be undone
alix list-undo
# 📚 Undo History (most recent last):
# Use 'alix undo --id <number>' to undo a specific operation
#   1. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD deploy
#       at 2025-10-10 23:00:40
#   2. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD test1
#       at 2025-10-10 23:00:49
#   3. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD test2
#       at 2025-10-10 23:00:51
#   4. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD test1
#       at 2025-10-10 23:02:11
#   5. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD test1
#       at 2025-10-10 23:03:41
#   6. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD test1
#       at 2025-10-10 23:03:58
#   7. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD deploy
#       at 2025-10-11 16:39:44
#   8. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD test1
#       at 2025-10-11 16:39:51
#   9. 📁➕ GROUP_ADD test2
#       at 2025-10-11 16:39:56
#   10. ➕ ADD alix-test-echo
#       at 2025-10-11 16:49:55
#   11. ➖ REMOVE alix-test-echo
#       at 2025-10-11 16:49:55
#   12. ➕ ADD alix-test-echo
#       at 2025-10-11 16:51:16

# 💡 Tip: Use 'alix undo --id 1' for most recent, 'alix undo --id 20' for oldest

# View what operations can be redone
alix list-redo
# 🔄 Redo History (most recent last):
# Use 'alix redo --id <number>' to redo a specific operation
#   1. 📁✖️ GROUP_DELETE test2, test1
#       at 2025-10-11 17:02:50

# 💡 Tip: Use 'alix redo --id 1' for most recent, 'alix redo --id 1' for oldest

Features:

✅ Clean emoji formatting: Consistent, properly formatted messages with emojis
🔄 Full operation history: Track add, remove, and remove_group operations
⚡ Quick navigation: Easily move back and forth through history
💾 Persistent storage: History survives between sessions
🛡️ Safe operations: Automatic backups before every change

Usage Tracking Commands

# Track usage of an alias manually
alix track my-alias --context "working on project"

# View usage history and trends
alix history

# View history for specific alias
alix history --alias my-alias --days 30

# Set up automatic usage tracking
alix setup-tracking

# Create standalone tracking script
alix setup-tracking --standalone --output ~/.alix_tracking.sh

# Set up tracking for specific shell
alix setup-tracking --shell zsh --file ~/.zshrc

Apply to Shell

Apply your aliases to your shell configuration:

# Detect and apply to current shell
alix apply

# Apply to specific config file
alix apply --target ~/.zshrc

# Apply with preview what can be changed
alix apply --target ~/.zshrc --dry-run

# The command will:
# 1. Backup your current config
# 2. Add managed aliases section
# 3. Make them available after restart

Then reload your shell:

# For bash
source ~/.bashrc

# For zsh
source ~/.zshrc

# For fish
source ~/.config/fish/config.fish

Shell Tab Completion

Enable command completions for alix (bash, zsh, fish):

# Preview / generate the script
alix completion bash > ~/.config/alix/completions/alix.bash
alix completion zsh  > ~/.config/alix/completions/alix.zsh
alix completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/alix.fish

# One-shot install for your current shell (auto-detects)
alix completion --install

# Or during apply
alix apply --install-completions

# Manual sourcing (bash/zsh) if needed
echo 'source ~/.config/alix/completions/alix.bash' >> ~/.bashrc   # bash
echo 'source ~/.config/alix/completions/alix.zsh'  >> ~/.zshrc    # zsh

# Fish autoloads from ~/.config/fish/completions/

After installation, restart your terminal or source your shell config to enable completions.

Import/Export

Share your alias collections:

# Export to JSON
alix export --output my-aliases.json

# Export to YAML
alix export --output my-aliases.yaml --format yaml

# Import aliases (merge with existing)
alix import my-aliases.json --merge

# Import without merging (skip duplicates)
alix import team-aliases.json

Alias Templates

Quickly import pre-built alias collections for common development tools:

# List available templates
alix templates list

# Import git aliases
alix templates add git

# Preview docker aliases before importing
alix templates add docker --dry-run

# Import specific aliases from kubernetes template
alix templates add k8s --aliases kgp,kgs,klog

# Import entire category (all templates in a category)
alix templates add-category docker

# Apply imported aliases to your shell
alix apply

Available Templates:

Git: Version control shortcuts (gs, ga, gc, gp, gl, gb, gco, gd)
Docker: Container management (di, dc, dca, dr, db, de, dl, drm)
Kubernetes: Cluster management (k, kgp, kgs, kgd, kgn, kl, kd, kctx)

Custom Templates: Users can add their own templates by creating YAML files in alix/templates/:

version: "1.0"
category: "python"
description: "Python development aliases"
aliases:
  - name: "py"
    command: "python"
    description: "Run Python interpreter"
    tags: ["python", "dev"]
  - name: "pipi"
    command: "pip install"
    description: "Install Python packages"
    tags: ["python", "pip"]

Usage Tracking & Analytics

Track your alias usage and productivity gains with comprehensive analytics:

# View comprehensive statistics
alix stats

# View detailed analytics with usage patterns
alix stats --detailed

# Export analytics data for analysis
alix stats --export analytics.json

# Manually track usage of an alias
alix track my-alias --context "working on project"

# View usage history and trends
alix history

# View history for specific alias
alix history --alias my-alias

# Set up automatic usage tracking
alix setup-tracking

# Create standalone tracking script
alix setup-tracking --standalone --output ~/.alix_tracking.sh

Analytics Features:

Usage Frequency: Track how often each alias is used
Productivity Metrics: See which aliases save the most keystrokes
Usage Patterns: View daily, weekly, and monthly usage trends
Unused Aliases: Identify aliases that are never used
Recently Used: See which aliases you've used recently
Context Tracking: Track usage context (working directory, etc.)
Export/Import: Share analytics data across systems

Example Output:

📊 Alias Statistics & Analytics

Total Aliases: 15
Total Uses: 1,247
Characters Saved: ~3,450 keystrokes
Average Usage per Alias: 83.1
Most Used: ll (156 times)
Unused Aliases: 2
Recently Used (7 days): 8

📈 Detailed Usage Analytics

⚠️  Unused Aliases (2):
  • old-alias
  • unused-command

🔥 Recently Used (7 days):
  • ll - 23 uses
  • gst - 15 uses

💪 Most Productive Aliases:
  Rank  Alias  Chars Saved  Usage Count
  1.     gst    saves 7     156
  2.     ll     saves 4     89

Configuration

Manage alix settings:

# Show current config
alix config

# Change theme
alix config --theme ocean

# Available themes:
# - default (cyan/blue)
# - ocean (blue tones)
# - forest (green tones)
# - monochrome (black & white)

# Toggle settings
alix config --auto-backup true
alix config --confirm-delete false

🎨 Real-World Examples

DevOps Aliases

# Kubernetes shortcuts
alix add -n "k" -c "kubectl" -d "Kubectl shortcut"
alix add -n "kgp" -c "kubectl get pods" -d "Get pods"
alix add -n "kgs" -c "kubectl get services" -d "Get services"
alix add -n "kaf" -c "kubectl apply -f" -d "Apply file"
alix add -n "kdel" -c "kubectl delete" -d "Delete resource"
alix add -n "klog" -c "kubectl logs -f" -d "Follow logs"

# Docker shortcuts
alix add -n "dcu" -c "docker-compose up -d" -d "Compose up detached"
alix add -n "dcd" -c "docker-compose down" -d "Compose down"
alix add -n "dcl" -c "docker-compose logs -f" -d "Compose logs"
alix add -n "dprune" -c "docker system prune -af" -d "Clean docker system"

# Terraform shortcuts
alix add -n "tf" -c "terraform" -d "Terraform shortcut"
alix add -n "tfi" -c "terraform init" -d "Terraform init"
alix add -n "tfp" -c "terraform plan" -d "Terraform plan"
alix add -n "tfa" -c "terraform apply -auto-approve" -d "Terraform apply"

Git Workflow

# Git shortcuts
alix add -n "gs" -c "git status" -d "Git status"
alix add -n "ga" -c "git add ." -d "Stage all changes"
alix add -n "gc" -c "git commit -m" -d "Git commit"
alix add -n "gp" -c "git push" -d "Git push"
alix add -n "gpl" -c "git pull" -d "Git pull"
alix add -n "gco" -c "git checkout" -d "Git checkout"
alix add -n "gcb" -c "git checkout -b" -d "Create new branch"
alix add -n "glog" -c "git log --oneline --graph --decorate" -d "Pretty git log"
alix add -n "gdiff" -c "git diff --staged" -d "Show staged changes"

System Administration

# System monitoring
alix add -n "ports" -c "sudo lsof -i -P -n | grep LISTEN" -d "List listening ports"
alix add -n "myip" -c "curl -s ifconfig.me" -d "Get public IP"
alix add -n "diskspace" -c "df -h | grep -E '^/dev/'" -d "Check disk space"
alix add -n "meminfo" -c "free -h" -d "Memory information"
alix add -n "cpuinfo" -c "lscpu | grep -E 'Model name|Socket|Core'" -d "CPU information"

# Network utilities
alix add -n "flushdns" -c "sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches" -d "Flush DNS cache"
alix add -n "listening" -c "netstat -tuln" -d "Show listening ports"
alix add -n "connections" -c "ss -tunap" -d "Show network connections"

📁 Data Storage

Alix stores data in your home directory:

~/.alix/
├── aliases.json       # Main alias storage
├── config.json        # Configuration settings
└── backups/          # Automatic backups
    ├── aliases_20250117_103000.json
    └── aliases_20250117_143000.json

Alias Structure

{
  "gs": {
    "name": "gs",
    "command": "git status",
    "description": "Git status shortcut",
    "tags": ["git", "vcs"],
    "created_at": "2025-01-17T10:30:00",
    "used_count": 42,
    "shell": "zsh"
  }
}

🔧 Advanced Configuration

Shell Integration

Alix automatically detects your shell and modifies the appropriate config file:

Shell	Config Files (in priority order)
Bash	`.bash_aliases`, `.bashrc`, `.bash_profile`
Zsh	`.zsh_aliases`, `.zshrc`
Fish	`.config/fish/config.fish`

Environment Variables

# Custom storage location (optional)
export ALIX_HOME=/custom/path

# Disable colored output
export NO_COLOR=1

Shell Aliases for Alix

Add to your shell config for quick access:

# Quick shortcuts
alias a='alix'
alias aa='alix add'
alias al='alix list'
alias as='alix stats'

🧪 Development

Setting Up Development Environment

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/TheDevOpsBlueprint/alix-cli.git
cd alix-cli

# Using make (recommended)
make dev-install
make test

# Or manually
python3 -m venv alix-venv
source alix-venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest tests/ -v

Project Structure

alix-cli/
├── alix/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── cli.py              # CLI commands
│   ├── tui.py              # Terminal UI
│   ├── models.py           # Data models
│   ├── storage.py          # Storage backend
│   ├── config.py           # Configuration
│   ├── shell_integrator.py # Shell integration
│   ├── shell_detector.py   # Shell detection
│   └── porter.py           # Import/export
│   └── render.py           # CLI UI templates
├── tests/
│   ├── test_cli.py
│   ├── test_models.py
│   └── test_storage.py
├── Makefile
├── pyproject.toml
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
└── README.md

🤝 Contributing

We follow strict PR guidelines for quality:

Fork the repository
Create feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Keep PRs small - Maximum 80 lines per PR
Test your changes
Submit Pull Request

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue: alix: command not found

# Ensure virtual environment is activated
source alix-venv/bin/activate

# Or add to PATH
export PATH="$HOME/alix-cli/alix-venv/bin:$PATH"

Issue: Aliases not appearing in shell

# After running 'alix apply', reload your shell
source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

# Check if aliases section exists
grep "ALIX MANAGED" ~/.bashrc

Issue: TUI colors not displaying correctly

# Set proper terminal encoding
export TERM=xterm-256color
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

Issue: Permission denied errors

# Fix permissions
chmod 755 ~/.alix
chmod 644 ~/.alix/aliases.json

📊 Performance

Instant startup: < 50ms to launch TUI
Efficient storage: JSON format for fast read/write
Smart backups: Only keeps last 10 backups
Lightweight: ~200KB total footprint

🛡️ Security

No cloud sync: All data stored locally
Safe operations: Automatic backups before changes
Shell injection protection: Commands are properly escaped
Confirmation prompts: For destructive operations

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with:

Click - CLI framework
Rich - Beautiful terminal formatting
Textual - Terminal UI framework
Python - Programming language

📞 Support

Issues: GitHub Issues
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
Email: valentin.v.todorov@gmail.com

Made with ❤️ by TheDevOpsBlueprint | ⭐ Star us on GitHub

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 178 Commits
.github		.github
.idea		.idea
alix		alix
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
FUZZY_SEARCH.md		FUZZY_SEARCH.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
TESTING.md		TESTING.md
aliases.json		aliases.json
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml

License

TheDevOpsBlueprint/alix-cli

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation