Terminal Cheat Sheet | BeeDifferent

Terminal Cheat Sheet source ~/.zshrc to reload after changes

Reference for terminal tooling on the Mac Studio — zsh setup, CLI utilities, and common command patterns. Shell is zsh (macOS default); editors are BBEdit (primary) and VS Code (secondary); terminal is iTerm2. Most subdirs are quick cheatsheets — pair them with the official docs (linked from each page).

Shell setup

Component	Purpose	Page
zsh (default)	Apple’s shell since Catalina	—
Oh My Zsh	Plugin manager + theme framework	—
Powerlevel10k	Prompt theme (fast, customizable)	—
Autosuggestions	Suggest commands from history as you type	—
Syntax Highlighting	Color commands as you type (valid/invalid)	—
Nerd Fonts	Glyphs for Powerlevel10k + lazygit icons	—
Color schemes	iTerm2 themes	—

After editing ~/.zshrc, reload with source ~/.zshrc.

Command references

Common Commands — day-to-day patterns
SSH — config aliases, key management, control sockets, host aliases (ssh pve, ssh fpve, ssh ha, ssh macbook)
Rsync — file sync patterns (used heavily for nvmepool / Biggest backups)
Git — branch, rebase, history; see also mcp__git-semantic__* for programmatic queries
Quick Info — system_profiler, sw_vers, uname, defaults
Backup — Time Machine, rsync recipes
Help — man, tldr, which, type

CLI utilities (Homebrew)

Tool	Replaces / adds	Page
eza	`ls` (Git-aware, icons, tree mode)	—
bat	`cat` (syntax highlight, line numbers)	—
btop / htop	`top` (interactive resource monitor)	—
ranger	Vim-flavored TUI file manager	—
lazygit / tig	TUI git browsers	—
ncdu	Interactive disk usage explorer	—
tldr	Practical alternative to `man`	—
speedtest-cli	Internet speed test	—
Homebrew	Package manager itself	—

macOS integration

File manager — mv, cp, ln, find/locate patterns
Finder integration — open ., open -a "App Name", reveal in Finder from terminal
Clipboard — pbcopy, pbpaste
Archives — tar, zip, unzip, ditto
System & disk — df, du, diskutil, launchctl
Navigation — cd -, pushd/popd, z (zoxide)
Viewing files — less, head, tail, bat, glow
Keyboard tips — readline shortcuts that work everywhere

AI in the terminal

See /terminal/ai-tools/ for claude (Claude Code), ollama, and friends. For Claude specifically, the API key lives at ~/.config/anthropic-api-key (chmod 600, no trailing newline, no -n prefix — see SKILL Style Guide for the gotcha context). claude -p --tools "" --bare - is the canonical pattern for batch/scripted runs.

AI Tools

Command	Description
`label <folder>`	Analyze PDFs/images with AI, preview renames
`label-apply <folder>`	Same but actually renames and tags files

Archives

Command	Description
`extract <file>`	Unpack any archive (.zip, .tar.gz, .7z, etc.)

Autosuggestions

Zsh plugin that suggests commands as you type based on history.

Backup

Command	Description
`backup-dotfiles`	Back up terminal configs to ~/Documents

Keeps 30 days of backups, auto-cleans old ones

bat

A cat clone with syntax highlighting, line numbers, and Git integration.

btop

Resource monitor showing CPU, memory, disk, network, and processes.

Clipboard

Command	Description
`copypath`	Copy current directory path to clipboard
`copyfile <file>`	Copy file contents to clipboard

Color Schemes

Collection of color themes for iTerm2 and other terminal emulators.

Common Commands

Command	Description
`pwd`	Print current directory (where am I?)
`cd <folder>`	Change directory
`mkdir <name>`	Create a new folder
`rm <file>`	Delete a file (permanent!)
`rm -r <folder>`	Delete a folder and its contents
`cp <src> <dest>`	Copy a file
`cp -r <src> <dest>`	Copy a folder and its contents
`mv <src> <dest>`	Move or rename a file/folder
`touch <file>`	Create an empty file
`chmod +x <file>`	Make a file executable (run as script)
`which <command>`	Show where a command lives
`du -sh <folder>`	Show folder size (human-readable)
`df -h`	Show disk space usage
`grep "text" <file>`	Search for text inside a file
`grep -r "text" <folder>`	Search for text in all files in a folder
`find . -name "*.pdf"`	Find files by name pattern
`head -20 <file>`	Show first 20 lines of a file
`tail -20 <file>`	Show last 20 lines of a file
`wc -l <file>`	Count lines in a file
`open <file>`	Open file with default macOS app
`open .`	Open current folder in Finder
`clear`	Clear the terminal screen
`history`	Show your command history
`sudo <command>`	Run a command as admin (asks for password)

Use Tab to autocomplete and ↑ to recall previous commands!

eza

Modern replacement for ls with colors, icons, Git status, and tree view.

File Manager

Command	Description
`ranger`	Visual file browser in the terminal

Arrow keys to navigate · q to quit · Enter to open · / to search

yy = copy · dd = cut · pp = paste · :delete = delete

Finder Integration

Command	Description
`showfiles`	Show hidden files in Finder
`hidefiles`	Hide hidden files in Finder
`ofd`	Open Finder to current directory
`cdf`	cd to whatever folder Finder has open

Git (Version Control)

Command	Description
`lazygit`	Visual git interface — stage, commit, branch
`tig`	Browse git commit history visually

Help

Command	Description
`help <command>`	Quick examples for any command (tldr)
`helpme`	This cheat sheet in the terminal
`whatcanisay`	List every alias you have loaded

Homebrew

The missing package manager for macOS. Install tools with brew install.

htop

Interactive process viewer. Find and kill processes, sort by CPU or memory.

Injest

Custom ingestion pipeline for Paperless-ngx. Scans source directories, deduplicates files by content hash, and feeds unique PDFs/images to Paperless for OCR and archival. Also available as Injest.app in /Applications.

iTerm2

Feature-rich terminal emulator for macOS with split panes, search, and profiles.

Keyboard Tips

Command	Description
`↑ / ↓`	Scroll through command history
`→`	Accept autosuggestion (the ghost text)
`Option + →`	Accept next word of autosuggestion
`Tab`	Autocomplete files, commands, options
`Ctrl+R`	Search command history

lazygit

Terminal UI for Git — stage, commit, branch, merge, and rebase visually.

Navigation

Command	Description
`z <word>`	Jump to frequent folder (learns over time)
`.. / ... / ....`	Go up 1, 2, or 3 directories
`take <name>`	Create a folder and cd into it

Just type a folder name and hit Enter — no cd needed!

ncdu

Disk usage analyzer with an interactive ncurses interface.

Nerd Fonts

Patched fonts with icons for terminals, editors, and prompts.

Oh My Zsh

Framework for managing Zsh configuration with plugins, themes, and helpers.

Powerlevel10k

Fast, flexible Zsh theme with instant prompt and extensive customization.

Quick Info

Command	Description
`weather`	3-day forecast in your terminal
`weather Columbus`	Forecast for a specific city
`btc`	Live Bitcoin price with ASCII chart
`myip`	Your public IP address and location
`speedtest`	Test your internet speed
`cheat <command>`	Instant cheat sheet for any command
`qr "text or url"`	Generate a QR code in your terminal
`cal`	Calendar (cal 2026 for full year)

ranger

Terminal file manager with Vim keybindings and file previews.

Rsync — File Syncing & Backup

Command	Description
`rsync -av src/ dest/`	Sync folders locally (archive + verbose)
`rsync -av src/ user@host:dest/`	Sync local folder to remote machine
`rsync -av user@host:src/ dest/`	Sync remote folder to local machine
`rsync -av --delete src/ dest/`	Mirror exactly (deletes extras in dest)
`rsync -av --dry-run src/ dest/`	Preview what would be synced (no changes)
`rsync -av --exclude="*.log" src/ dest/`	Sync but skip .log files
`rsync -av --progress src/ dest/`	Show progress during transfer
`rsync -avz src/ user@host:dest/`	Sync with compression (faster over network)

Trailing slash matters! src/ = contents of src · src = the folder itself

Always use –dry-run first to preview before syncing with –delete

speedtest-cli

Test internet bandwidth from the terminal.

SSH — Remote Connections

Command	Description
`ssh user@host`	Connect to a remote machine
`ssh user@host -p 2222`	Connect on a specific port
`ssh-keygen`	Generate a new SSH key pair
`ssh-copy-id user@host`	Copy your key to a server (no more passwords)
`ssh -i ~/.ssh/mykey user@host`	Connect using a specific key
`scp file.txt user@host:~/`	Copy a file to a remote machine
`scp user@host:~/file.txt .`	Copy a file from a remote machine
`scp -r folder/ user@host:~/`	Copy a folder to a remote machine
`ssh -L 8080:localhost:80 user@host`	Forward local port to remote (tunnel)
`exit`	Disconnect from the remote machine

Keys go in ~/.ssh/ · Config file at ~/.ssh/config saves typing

~/.ssh/config example: Host myserver → HostName 192.168.1.10, User bee

Syntax Highlighting

Zsh plugin that highlights valid commands green and errors red as you type.

System & Disk

Command	Description
`btop`	Visual system monitor (CPU, RAM, disk, network)
`htop`	Process viewer — find and kill stuck apps
`ncdu`	Disk usage — find what’s eating space

All three: arrow keys to navigate, q to quit

tig

Text-mode interface for Git — browse commits, diffs, and branches.

tldr

Simplified man pages with practical examples.

Viewing Files

Command	Description
`ls`	List files with colors and icons
`ll`	Detailed list, directories first
`lt`	Tree view (2 levels deep)
`cat <file>`	View with syntax highlighting (bat)

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