just, xh, hyperfine and other helpers

just, xh, hyperfine, tlrc, uv, wget, Bash 5 and ShellCheck: small command-line tools for everyday work.

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Small tools that each replace a longer command or a lookup: run a project’s recipes, call an HTTP API, time two commands against each other, see how a command is used, run a Python script with its packages, download a file, and check a shell script.

On the workstation

Installed by the just, xh, hyperfine, tlrc, uv, wget, bash and shellcheck formulae.
tlrc installs the command tldr.
bash is Bash 5. macOS ships Bash 3.2, so a script that needs associative arrays or mapfile starts with #!/usr/bin/env bash and finds Homebrew’s.
uv runs Python scripts and tools without a virtualenv made by hand; mise keeps the Python versions.

Keys and commands

Key or command Does

Key or command	Does
`just` / `just -l`	Run the default recipe of the `justfile` / list the recipes
`just --choose`	Pick a recipe with fzf
`xh :8080/healthz`	GET from localhost, with the response coloured
`xh POST :8080/items name=demo count:=3`	POST JSON: `=` for a string, `:=` for a raw value
`xh -b example.com/api`	Print only the response body
`hyperfine --warmup 3 'cmd a' 'cmd b'`	Time two commands and say which is faster
`hyperfine --export-markdown bench.md 'cmd'`	Save the result as a Markdown table
`tldr tar` / `tldr -u`	Short examples for a command / update the pages
`uv run --with requests script.py`	Run a script with a package, no virtualenv to set up
`uvx ruff check .`	Run a Python tool once without installing it
`uv tool install ruff`	Install a Python tool on `PATH`
`wget -c URL`	Resume a download that stopped
`shellcheck -x script.sh`	Lint a script, following the files it sources

just / just -l

Run the default recipe of the justfile / list the recipes

just --choose

Pick a recipe with fzf

xh :8080/healthz

GET from localhost, with the response coloured

xh POST :8080/items name=demo count:=3

POST JSON: = for a string, := for a raw value

xh -b example.com/api

Print only the response body

hyperfine --warmup 3 'cmd a' 'cmd b'

Time two commands and say which is faster

hyperfine --export-markdown bench.md 'cmd'

Save the result as a Markdown table

tldr tar / tldr -u

Short examples for a command / update the pages

uv run --with requests script.py

Run a script with a package, no virtualenv to set up

uvx ruff check .

Run a Python tool once without installing it

uv tool install ruff

Install a Python tool on PATH

wget -c URL

Resume a download that stopped

shellcheck -x script.sh

Lint a script, following the files it sources

With zc-workstation

Before committing a change to a shell script, such as bootstrap.sh or the files in scripts/, lint it:

$ shellcheck -x bootstrap.sh scripts/*.sh

To check that a change made plan faster, time both builds:

$ hyperfine --warmup 2 'old/zc-workstation plan' 'bin/zc-workstation plan'

just, xh, hyperfine and other helpers

On the workstation

Keys and commands

With zc-workstation

See also

Keyboard shortcuts