Tools

If you SSH into servers, run long processes, or just want a better terminal experience, tmux changes everything. Sessions persist through disconnects, panes let you see multiple things at once, and once you build muscle memory, you’ll wonder how you worked without it. Why tmux? Sessions survive disconnects - SSH drops, laptop sleeps, terminal crashes? Your work continues. Split panes - Editor on the left, tests on the right, logs at the bottom. Multiple windows - Like browser tabs for your terminal. Pair programming - Share a session with someone else in real-time. Scriptable - Automate your development environment setup. Getting Started 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 # Start new session tmux # Start named session tmux new -s myproject # Detach (inside tmux) Ctrl+b d # List sessions tmux ls # Attach to session tmux attach -t myproject # Kill session tmux kill-session -t myproject The key prefix is Ctrl+b by default. Press it, release, then press the next key. ...

curl is the universal HTTP client. It’s installed everywhere, works with any API, and once mastered, becomes your go-to tool for testing, debugging, and scripting HTTP interactions. Basic Requests 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # GET (default) curl https://api.example.com/users # Explicit methods curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users curl -X PUT https://api.example.com/users/1 curl -X DELETE https://api.example.com/users/1 curl -X PATCH https://api.example.com/users/1 Adding Headers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # Single header curl -H "Authorization: Bearer token123" https://api.example.com/me # Multiple headers curl -H "Authorization: Bearer token123" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Accept: application/json" \ https://api.example.com/users Sending Data JSON Body 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 # Inline JSON curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"name": "Alice", "email": "alice@example.com"}' # From file curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d @payload.json # From stdin echo '{"name": "Alice"}' | curl -X POST https://api.example.com/users \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d @- Form Data 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # URL-encoded (default for -d without Content-Type) curl -X POST https://api.example.com/login \ -d "username=alice&password=secret" # Multipart form (file uploads) curl -X POST https://api.example.com/upload \ -F "file=@document.pdf" \ -F "description=My document" Response Handling Show Headers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # Response headers only curl -I https://api.example.com/health # Headers + body curl -i https://api.example.com/users # Verbose (request + response headers) curl -v https://api.example.com/users Output Control 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 # Save to file curl -o response.json https://api.example.com/users # Save with remote filename curl -O https://example.com/file.zip # Silent (no progress bar) curl -s https://api.example.com/users # Silent but show errors curl -sS https://api.example.com/users # Only output body (suppress all else) curl -s https://api.example.com/users | jq '.' Extract Specific Info 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 # HTTP status code only curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://api.example.com/health # Multiple variables curl -s -o /dev/null -w "Status: %{http_code}\nTime: %{time_total}s\nSize: %{size_download} bytes\n" \ https://api.example.com/users # Available variables # %{http_code} - HTTP status code # %{time_total} - Total time in seconds # %{time_connect} - Time to establish connection # %{time_starttransfer} - Time to first byte # %{size_download} - Downloaded bytes # %{url_effective} - Final URL after redirects Authentication 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 # Basic auth curl -u username:password https://api.example.com/secure # Bearer token curl -H "Authorization: Bearer eyJhbG..." https://api.example.com/me # API key in header curl -H "X-API-Key: abc123" https://api.example.com/data # API key in query string curl "https://api.example.com/data?api_key=abc123" Following Redirects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # Follow redirects (disabled by default) curl -L https://short.url/abc # Limit redirect count curl -L --max-redirs 5 https://example.com # Show redirect chain curl -L -v https://short.url/abc 2>&1 | grep "< location" Timeouts and Retries 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 # Connection timeout (seconds) curl --connect-timeout 5 https://api.example.com # Total operation timeout curl --max-time 30 https://api.example.com/slow-endpoint # Retry on failure curl --retry 3 --retry-delay 2 https://api.example.com # Retry on specific HTTP codes curl --retry 3 --retry-all-errors https://api.example.com SSL/TLS Options 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # Skip certificate verification (development only!) curl -k https://self-signed.example.com # Use specific CA certificate curl --cacert /path/to/ca.crt https://api.example.com # Client certificate authentication curl --cert client.crt --key client.key https://api.example.com Cookies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 # Send cookies curl -b "session=abc123; token=xyz" https://api.example.com # Save cookies to file curl -c cookies.txt https://api.example.com/login -d "user=alice&pass=secret" # Load cookies from file curl -b cookies.txt https://api.example.com/dashboard # Both (maintain session) curl -b cookies.txt -c cookies.txt https://api.example.com/action Useful Patterns Health Check Script 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 #!/bin/bash check_health() { local url=$1 local status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" --max-time 5 "$url") if [ "$status" = "200" ]; then echo "✓ $url" return 0 else echo "✗ $url (HTTP $status)" return 1 fi } check_health "https://api.example.com/health" check_health "https://web.example.com" API Testing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # Create resource and capture ID ID=$(curl -s -X POST https://api.example.com/users \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"name": "Test User"}' | jq -r '.id') # Use captured ID curl -s https://api.example.com/users/$ID | jq '.' # Delete curl -X DELETE https://api.example.com/users/$ID Download with Progress 1 2 3 4 5 # Show progress bar curl -# -O https://example.com/large-file.zip # Resume interrupted download curl -C - -O https://example.com/large-file.zip Parallel Requests 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # Using xargs echo -e "url1\nurl2\nurl3" | xargs -P 4 -I {} curl -s {} -o /dev/null -w "{}: %{http_code}\n" # Using curl's parallel feature (7.68+) curl --parallel --parallel-immediate \ https://api1.example.com \ https://api2.example.com \ https://api3.example.com Debugging Trace All Details 1 2 # Full trace including SSL handshake curl -v --trace-ascii debug.txt https://api.example.com Common Issues 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 # DNS resolution problems curl -v --resolve api.example.com:443:1.2.3.4 https://api.example.com # Force IPv4 or IPv6 curl -4 https://api.example.com # IPv4 only curl -6 https://api.example.com # IPv6 only # Use specific interface curl --interface eth0 https://api.example.com Config File Save common options in ~/.curlrc: ...

If you work with APIs, logs, or configuration files, you work with JSON. And if you work with JSON from the command line, jq is indispensable. Here are the patterns I use daily. The Basics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # Pretty print echo '{"name":"alice","age":30}' | jq '.' # Extract a field echo '{"name":"alice","age":30}' | jq '.name' # "alice" # Raw output (no quotes) echo '{"name":"alice","age":30}' | jq -r '.name' # alice The -r flag is your friend. Use it whenever you want the actual value, not a JSON string. ...

Makefiles have been around since 1976. They’re also still the best task runner for most projects. Here’s why, and how to use them effectively in 2026. The Case for Make Every ecosystem has its own task runner: npm scripts, Gradle, Rake, Poetry, Cargo. When your project spans multiple languages—a Python backend, TypeScript frontend, Go CLI tool, and Terraform infrastructure—you end up with five different ways to run tests. Make provides one interface: ...

Every developer knows the pain: you’re deep in a feature branch, someone asks you to review a PR, and now you’re stashing changes, switching branches, rebuilding dependencies, and losing your mental context. Git worktrees solve this elegantly. The Problem with Branch Switching Traditional git workflow assumes one working directory: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # You're working on feature-x git stash git checkout main git pull git checkout pr-branch npm install # dependencies changed npm run build # wait for it... # review, then reverse the whole process Every switch costs time and mental energy. Your editor loses state. Your dev server restarts. Your flow is gone. ...

Every developer accumulates code snippets—Ansible playbooks, Terraform configs, shell scripts, quick Python utilities. Scattered across Gists, notes apps, and random text files, they’re never where you need them. Here’s how to build your own private snippet manager. Architecture Overview The solution is simple: FastAPI backend with JSON file storage Static HTML frontend with vanilla JavaScript Prism.js for syntax highlighting Hugo for deployment (optional, or serve directly) The Data Model 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 class FileCreate(BaseModel): filename: str content: str language: str = "" class FileUpdate(BaseModel): filename: Optional[str] = None content: Optional[str] = None language: Optional[str] = None Files belong to projects. Each file stores: ...