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trimstray/the-book-of-secret-knowledge

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TLDR

A curated personal collection of CLI tools, cheatsheets, one-liners, and resources for system admins, DevOps engineers, and security professionals.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Curated tool index
      Cheatsheets
      One-liners
      Learning resources
    Content types
      CLI tools
      GUI tools
      Web tools
      Shell tricks
    Use cases
      Learn new tools
      Find quick reference
      Discover options
      Daily knowledge
    Audience
      System admins
      DevOps engineers
      Security researchers
      Pentesters

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Find the right CLI tool for a specific task like file management or text editing.

USE CASE 2

Look up shell one-liners and tricks when you need a quick command reference.

USE CASE 3

Discover security testing tools and resources for penetration testing work.

USE CASE 4

Build a personal knowledge base by bookmarking sections relevant to your daily work.

Tech stack

MarkdownShellCLI
Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice and license text.

In plain English

This repository, called "The Book of Secret Knowledge," is a personal collection of materials and tools the author uses every day in their work, gathered into one place and shared publicly. The README describes it as "a collection of inspiring lists, manuals, cheatsheets, blogs, hacks, one-liners, cli/web tools, and more." It is curated rather than exhaustive — the README states "this repository is not meant to contain everything but only good quality stuff." The opening tagline is "Knowledge is powerful, be careful how you use it!"

The way it works is that the README is one long curated index, organized into chapters. Main chapters include CLI Tools, GUI Tools, Web Tools, Systems and Services, Networks, Containers and Orchestration, Manuals and Howtos, Inspiring Lists, Blogs/Podcasts/Videos, Hacking and Penetration Testing, daily knowledge sources, Other Cheat Sheets, Shell One-liners, Shell Tricks, and Shell Functions. Inside each chapter, entries are grouped into sub-sections — the CLI Tools chapter has subsections for Shells, Shell plugins, file Managers, Text editors, and more — and each entry is a name plus a short description plus a link out.

The README explains the project is aimed broadly but with specific roles in mind: System and Network administrators, DevOps engineers, Pentesters, and Security Researchers. Someone would use it when they want a starting point for learning a new tool, when looking for a cheatsheet on a topic they only occasionally touch, or when they want to discover what good options exist in a given category. The repository is MIT licensed and contributions are welcome via pull request. The full README is longer than what was provided.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I need a CLI tool recommendation for [task]. Search 'The Book of Secret Knowledge' CLI Tools section and suggest the best option with a one-liner example.
Prompt 2
Give me 5 useful shell one-liners from 'The Book of Secret Knowledge' that I can use for [specific admin task].
Prompt 3
What penetration testing tools are listed in 'The Book of Secret Knowledge' and what is each one used for?
Prompt 4
Create a cheatsheet for [topic] by pulling relevant entries from 'The Book of Secret Knowledge' and organizing them by use case.
Prompt 5
I'm learning [tool/topic]. Find the relevant section in 'The Book of Secret Knowledge' and explain what resources it recommends.
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