exa
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
exa is ls but pretty. It color-codes file types, shows git status inline, renders tree views, and generally makes your terminal directory listings look like they belong in this century. It's written in Rust (spotting a theme?) and makes every 'ls' feel like an upgrade. Note: its successor is 'eza' since exa is unmaintained.
Real Talk
A modern replacement for the ls command written in Rust, providing color-coded output, git integration, tree view, extended attributes, and human-readable file sizes. The actively maintained fork eza continues development after exa became unmaintained, adding features like hyperlinks and icons.
When You'll Hear This
"exa --tree --git-ignore shows my project structure without node_modules clutter." / "We alias ls to eza now since exa is no longer maintained — same idea, active development."
Related Terms
bat
bat is cat with wings. It does the same thing — prints file contents — but with syntax highlighting, line numbers, git integration, and pretty formatting.
ripgrep
ripgrep (rg) does what grep does but much faster and smarter. It automatically skips node_modules, .git dirs, and anything in your .gitignore.
zoxide
zoxide remembers every directory you've visited and lets you jump to them by typing just a few letters. Instead of 'cd ~/Desktop/projects/my-app/src/compon