The Linux terminal is incredibly powerful, but using it can seem like work – especially if you’re new to Linux. You have to memorize too many commands, type long lines with absolute precision, and parse dense, text-only output. But this friction is just standard practice. With the right tools, you can fix the terminal more intuitive and visually usefull. To help you out, here are three such Linux terminal programs to try this weekend.
Navi
Stop Googling the same command multiple times
Navi is meant to be a smarter, interactive replacement for manually searching for command syntax. Normally, when you forget how a command works in Linux, you either rely on memory, search the web, or open a manual page using the man command. It works, but is often slow and tedious. Man pages are comprehensive, but not always practical when you need precise syntax for a specific task.
This is where Navi changes the workflow. Instead of reading lengthy documentation, Navi provides you with searchable cheat sheets with sample commands ready to run. Think of it as a command palette for your terminal.
For example, let’s say you want to compress a folder into a .tar.gz archive. Normally, you may need to remember something like this:
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz folder/
But if you don’t remember, you can just run away navi look for something like compress folder, and the Navi will immediately show you the correct command. This makes it compatible with ffmpeg, rsync, docker, git, etc. makes it especially useful for commands you use occasionally but never remember.
But that’s not all. Navi also supports parameterized commands. For example, instead of a static cheat sheet entry:
git checkout branch-name
Navi can rotate branch-name turning it into an editable placeholder, allowing you to fill it before running it.
So the workflow goes like this:
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Search for the team.
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Fill in the variables.
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Execute.
This makes it faster than Googling syntax or using the man pages.
Now you can install Navi on Ubuntu using Homebrew:
brew install navi
If you don’t already have Homebrew installed on your system, you can follow along this guide.
8/10
- Operating system
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Kubuntu 24.04 LTS
- CPU
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Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (2.7 GHz to 5.4 GHz)
This laptop is designed for developers and professionals who want a portable workstation and gaming platform running Kubuntu Linux. It has an Intel processor that can hit 5.4GHz and a dedicated NVIDIA 5070 Ti GPU for both integrated graphics and machine learning or gaming when you need extra power.
Zoxide
Why write all the way when a word works
Zoxide It works like a smarter and faster version cd (change directory) command In Linux. Normally, if you want to navigate to a directory in the terminal, you have to type its full (or relative) path. For example, if I wanted to open the folder where I keep all my How-To Geek articles, I would type something like this:
cd ~/Documents/HowToGeek/Articles
As you can see, this can make terminal navigation unnecessarily difficult. However, with Zoxide I can simply type:
z articles
and it will take me directly to my articles directory.
That said, what if you have similar directory names in multiple projects? Let’s say you have ~/Clients/Client1/Articles and ~/Clients/Client2/Articles. In this case, you can narrow the search with a command like this:
z client1 articles
or:
z client2 articles
This eliminates the need to type full paths, slashes, or remember exact folder structures.
Now, I should mention that it takes a few days of regular use before Zoxide has enough history to be really useful. You see, by default, Zoxide does not have a complete record of all your directories. This only happens when you visit a directory using cdit records that location and creates an internal index based on frequency and recency. As this index grows, it gets better at predicting where you want to go.
However, you can make this process easier by adding those paths manually with this command: add zooxide
Alternatively, you can pre-index all your existing folders with this command:
find ~ -type d -not -path '*/.*' -not -path '*/node_modules/*' -not -path '*/.git/*' | while read -r dir; do zoxide add "$dir"; done
It scans your home directory and adds your folders to Zoxide instantly, skipping hidden folders and common clutter like Git repositories and node_modules.
Now run the following command to install Zoxide:
curl -sSfL | sh
Then enable it by adding this line to your shell configuration file:
eval "$(zoxide init bash)"
Once installed, Zoxide converts directory navigation from a path-based process to a memory-based one, making terminal navigation faster. This is a must-have tool if you want to become more fluent in Terminal.
Down
System monitoring unlike the 90s
Down is a modern replacement for traditional Linux system monitoring tools. Normally, if you want to monitor what’s happening on your system in real-time, such as CPU usage, RAM consumption, running processes, or disk activity, use it top or htop. These tools work well, but depending on what you’re trying to control, they can feel cramped, outdated, or limited.
Bottom gives you a cleaner visual while also enriching it with more information. Instead of just showing raw process lists, it provides multiple live dashboards for CPU, memory, network, disk usage, temperature, and processes—all in one terminal window. You get live graphs that show usage trends over time, making it easy to spot spikes and sustained load.
This is especially useful when troubleshooting. For example, if your system is slowing down, Bottom lets you quickly determine which process is consuming CPU, how much RAM is being used, swap is filling up, disk reads/writes are saturated, or network traffic is unusually high.
It also includes process filtration. This means that instead of manually scanning through a list of potentially hundreds of processes, you can simply click the “/” and search for something specific, such as Firefox, Docker, or Python. This makes isolation problem processes faster. The bottom also supports mouse navigation, which makes moving between panels more convenient for people who are not yet comfortable with keyboard-only tools.
To install Six on Ubuntu:
sudo snap install bottom
Or via Cargo:
cargo install bottom
A Linux terminal could be more intuitive
The Terminal often gets a reputation for being intimidating, but tools like these prove that it’s just as accessible as any GUI. The more you tend to it, the stronger your workflow will be. So try these out on the weekend – you might end up at the terminal more often than you’d expect.
