explaingit

trogdoro/xiki

★ 3,756RubyAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TLDR

Xiki (xsh) is an interactive shell that sits on top of bash or zsh, making the command line friendlier and more capable without replacing your existing setup.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((xiki))
    What it does
      Interactive shell
      Wraps bash or zsh
      Friendlier CLI
    Setup
      curl one-liner
      Manual clone
      Run install script
    Usage
      xsh to start
      Built-in tutorial
      Help flag
    Platform
      macOS
      Linux
    Community
      Google Group
      IRC channel
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Replace your daily terminal with a friendlier interactive shell that still runs all your existing bash and zsh commands

USE CASE 2

Try an alternative command-line experience on macOS or Linux without permanently changing your default shell

USE CASE 3

Use the built-in tutorial to learn command-line workflows in a more guided, interactive environment

Tech stack

RubyShellBash

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Installation is a single curl command followed by an install script, macOS and Linux only.

License terms are not described in the README.

In plain English

Xiki is a shell tool that adds interactive features to the standard command line. The main component is xsh, a shell that works alongside your existing bash or zsh setup rather than replacing it. The goal described in the README is to make the command line friendlier and more capable for everyday use. Installation is available three ways: a one-line curl command that downloads and runs an installer, a manual download and extraction, or cloning the repository with git. All three methods end with running an install script. After installation, running xsh starts the Xiki shell, and xsh --tutorial or xsh --help provide guidance on getting started. The tool supports MacOS and Linux. The README is sparse and does not describe in detail what interactive features Xiki provides beyond the general description of making the command line friendlier and more powerful. Troubleshooting notes mention a background forker process that speeds up execution, which can be inspected or killed if problems occur. Community help is available through a Google Group and an IRC channel listed in the README.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I just installed xsh from the trogdoro/xiki repo. Show me a quick demo session that highlights what makes it different from plain bash.
Prompt 2
Write a shell alias or wrapper that launches xsh automatically when I open a new terminal tab while keeping my existing bash config intact.
Prompt 3
The xiki background forker process is hanging and slowing things down, give me the commands to find its PID and safely kill it.
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