crower

A cross-platform terminal file manager and command-alias manager
Shortcut any command, automate workflows, and share them with your team

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Table of Contents

• 🔖 Why crower?
• 🚀 Quick start
• 📦 Installation
• 🍳 Usage recipes
• 📖 Commands
• 🧩 Scripting
• 🤝 Sharing crower files
• ⚙️ Configuration
• 🛠️ Development
• 📚 Documentation
• 💬 Contributing
• ⚠️ What is not proven
• 📄 License

🔖 Why crower?

Tired of retyping long, complex commands? Need to remember obscure CLI incantations? crower lets you:

• 🔖 Shortcut anything - Turn any shell command into a memorable alias
• ⚡ Run multi-step workflows - Chain multiple commands together with automatic error handling
• 🔗 Nest commands - Call crower commands from within other crower commands with recursion protection
• 📝 Add context - Attach notes to your commands and track history
• ↩️ Undo anything - Full history with revert capability
• 📁 Manage files - Create, copy, move, open files and folders with simple commands
• 🔍 Search - Find files/folders or search the web instantly
• 📦 Share workflows - Export and import crower files, or download from a registry
• 🧠 Smart execution - Proper parameter quoting, placeholders ({1}, {2}, {}), multi-step chains, and safe execution

🚀 Quick start

# Create a shortcut for a complex command
crower create deploy "ssh user@server 'cd /app && git pull && systemctl restart app'"

# Run it by name or alias
crower deploy
# or
cr deploy

# Create with aliases
crower create backup -a bkp "tar -czf backup.tar.gz ~/important-data"
cr bkp

# Run with parameters
crower create greet "echo Hello {1}, welcome to {2}!"
cr greet John Developer

📦 Installation

One command (Linux / macOS)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fiwon123/crower/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

It resolves the newest release, verifies the archive against the release's checksums.txt, and installs crower and cr into ~/.local/bin. Pin a version or a directory with sh -s -- --version v0.8.0 --dir ~/.local/bin. Then crower init --apply puts the directory on your PATH.

Download a release (any platform)

Download the latest release for your platform from the releases page.

Archives are named crower_<tag>_<os>_<arch> — for example crower_v0.4.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz. Every archive contains crower, cr and crower-gui, with no architecture suffix. Replace v0.4.0 below with the tag you are installing.

Linux (swap linux_amd64 for linux_arm64, darwin_amd64 or darwin_arm64 on another platform):

VERSION=v0.8.0
curl -LO "https://github.com/fiwon123/crower/releases/download/$VERSION/crower_${VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz"
tar -xzf "crower_${VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz"
chmod +x crower cr crower-gui
sudo mv crower cr crower-gui /usr/local/bin/

Without sudo: the archive also ships add_to_path.sh, which adds the directory it lives in to the config file of the shell you are running. Extract it next to the binaries and run ./add_to_path.sh.

Windows: extract crower_<tag>_windows_amd64.zip (or ..._arm64.zip), then either run add_to_path.bat from the extracted folder or add the folder containing crower.exe, cr.exe and crower-gui.exe to your PATH. crower.exe and cr.exe are terminal programs; double-click crower-gui.exe (the one with the crow icon) to open the window, with no console behind it.

Verify either install with crower --version.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/fiwon123/crower.git
cd crower
go build -o crower .
./crower --help

# short alias, then put both binaries on your PATH
cp crower cr
sudo mv crower cr /usr/local/bin/

make help lists every target: make release builds the Windows and Linux release archives into build/, and make check runs the local gate — gofmt, vet, test and build.

Requirements: Go 1.25.4 or later

🍳 Usage recipes

🛠️ Development workflow

# Create shortcuts for common dev tasks
crower create test "go test ./..."
crower create build "go build ./..."
crower create lint "golangci-lint run"
crower create deploy "git push && ssh prod 'cd app && git pull && systemctl restart app'"

# Run your workflow
cr test && cr build

Multi-step automation

# Create a command with multiple steps (separated by newlines in exec)
crower create release "echo 'Building...'\ngo build -o app .\necho 'Testing...'\ngo test ./...\necho 'Done!'"
cr release

File management made easy

# Create files and folders
crower create project -f  # creates file
crower create src -o     # creates folder

# Copy and move
crower copy file.txt ./backup/
crower move old.txt ./archive/

# Open files/folders
crower open -f README.md
crower open -o ./src

History and undo

# View history
cr list -i

# Revert last N operations
cr revert 2

# Restore a deleted command
cr restore <key>

📖 Commands

Command	Description	Example
gui	Launch interactive TUI GUI	crower gui
create	Create a command, file, folder, or script	crower create name "command"
update	Update existing commands or last operation	crower update -n oldname -n newname
delete	Delete commands, files, folders, or history	crower delete name
list	List commands, history, processes, or files	crower list or cr list -i
execute	Execute stored commands	crower execute name or just cr name
open	Open files, folders, or system settings	crower open -f file.txt
copy/move	Copy or move files and folders	crower copy src dst
search	Search files or web	crower search -f pattern
extract	Extract archives	crower extract archive.tar.gz
revert	Revert history	crower revert 1
restore	Restore from history	crower restore <key>
reset	Reset all commands	crower reset
export	Export commands to share	crower export or crower export name
import	Import commands from file	crower import pack.toml
share	Browse and pull from registry	crower share list or cr share pull pack
setup	Manage named command sets	crower setup use streamer
init	Put the install directory on PATH	crower init --apply
doctor	Show paths, permissions and environment	crower doctor --json

Use crower <command> --help for detailed options.

Every archive contains crower, the cr alias and crower-gui, the Fyne window over the same configuration. The CLI binaries are cgo-free and need no display; crower gui is the terminal menu.

🧩 Scripting

crower is meant to be called from a script as well as typed by hand.

• Results go to stdout, diagnostics to stderr. crower list writes the table and nothing else to stdout; prompts, status lines, warnings and errors go to stderr, so piping the results never picks them up.
• The exit status says whether the work happened. 0 means it did — or that you answered no to a confirmation, because declining is a choice. 1 means it did not, and the reason is one line on stderr: error: ....
• A prompt never waits forever. With --no-input, or with stdin closed, a command that needs an answer fails with a message instead of asking again.

# Take the result and leave the status lines behind
greeting="$(crower execute greet)"

# Fail the script when the delete did not happen, without a prompt to block it
crower --no-input delete old-command || exit 1

--config <path> points a run at another configuration file, which is how a script uses its own set of commands without touching your personal one.

🤝 Sharing crower files

Build once, share everywhere. Perfect for onboarding, CI setups, or sharing workflows with your team.

Export your workflows

# Export all commands
crower export -o my-workflows.toml

# Export a specific command
crower export deploy -o deploy.toml

Import workflows

# Import from a file
crower import my-workflows.toml

# Import and overwrite conflicts
crower import my-workflows.toml --overwrite

Pull from a registry

# Browse available packs
crower share list

# Pull and install a pack
crower share pull docker-setup

Registry Protocol: Any HTTP server can host crower packs using the simple manifest protocol (index.json + packs/<name>.toml). Check the crower-resources repo for examples.

⚙️ Configuration

Crower stores data in ~/crower/ by default:

• crower.yaml - Your stored commands (TOML format)
• historyhelper.json - Operation history
• history/ - Command snapshots for revert/restore
• crower.log - Execution logs
• versions.json - The last installed versions, read by --rollback
• settings.json - update_check (daily, weekly or never), and when the periodic notice last looked

Override with --config /path/to/config.yaml.

Named setups keep separate command sets and separate history:

crower --setup streamer create obs "obs"     # ~/crower/setups/streamer/
CROWER_SETUP=streamer crower list
crower --setup streamer revert 1             # only this setup's history

🛠️ Development

# The local gate: gofmt, vet, go test, go build
make check

# Run tests only
go test ./...

# Build for all platforms
make release

# Run from source
go run ./ --help

See AGENTS.md and PROJECT_CONTEXT.md for architecture details.

The dev sandbox runs the same pinned Go toolchain on every machine: make dev-up (or docker compose up on any OS with Docker). Native Windows uses python scripts/dev-up.py dev-up. Run make help for every target.

📚 Documentation

I want to…	Read
see real recipes	Usage recipes
look up a command or flag	Command reference
script against crower	Scripting
browse the wiki	crower wiki
see what is planned	Roadmap board
understand the code layout	Architecture · AGENTS.md · PROJECT_CONTEXT.md
help prove a claim	Verifying claims

💬 Contributing

Issues, ideas, questions and pull requests are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. One feature per pull request. Say what ran and what did not, and do not describe a skipped check as a pass.

The most useful contribution right now is running the unproven parts on real hardware — see What is not proven.

⚠️ What is not proven

This project says what it verified. CI formats, vets, tests and builds on Linux/amd64, then cross-compiles six archives on the same runner — no gate executes what it built.

• The macOS build runs — the darwin archives are never executed, and shell-backed operations are reported broken (#129).
• The Windows build runs — cross-compiled on Linux, never started.
• The arm64 builds run — built, never executed on ARM hardware.
• The TUI and Fyne GUI render — no gate draws a window; the tests assert the model, not pixels.
• History and revert across a real session — the suite uses isolated temp directories, not a day of real use.

Running the program and reporting exactly what happened — including "it worked" — is the most useful contribution right now. The steps for each claim, and what to record, are on the wiki's Verifying claims page.

📄 License

crower is MIT licensed — see LICENSE.

The release archives also carry two files that are not crower's licence:

• NOTICE — attribution for the Apache-2.0 dependencies compiled into the binary (spf13/cobra, minio/selfupdate, hajimehoshi/ebiten);
• LICENSE-APACHE — the Apache License 2.0 text those dependencies require to travel with a distribution.

A dependency's licence does not change this project's: your MIT grant is the only one you need for crower's own code, and the Apache files exist so the bundled libraries arrive with the notices they are owed.