CLI tool discovery for AI agents
Search, compare, and install 440+ command-line tools with structured YAML/JSON output.
AI agents like Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI can run terminal commands — but they don't know which tools exist beyond the basics. An agent uses grep when ripgrep is 10x faster, or find when fd is simpler.
Clidex bridges this gap. It's a local CLI that returns structured metadata about CLI tools: what they do, how to install them, and where to find docs. No web search API calls, no HTML parsing, no cost — just a fast local lookup.
| awesome-cli-apps / cli-anything | Clidex | |
|---|---|---|
| Target user | Humans | AI agents (+ humans) |
| Output | Markdown / TUI | YAML / JSON / Pretty |
| Install info | Links only | brew install jq — ready to run |
| Docs access | Click a link | llms.txt URL for agents to read |
| Pipeline | No | clidex ... | next_tool (YAML by default) |
| Compare | No | clidex compare jq dasel yq |
cargo install clidexLinux / macOS:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/syshin0116/clidex/main/install.sh | shWindows:
curl -fsSL -o clidex.zip https://github.com/syshin0116/clidex/releases/latest/download/clidex-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
tar -xf clidex.zip
move clidex.exe %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\Or download directly from Releases.
After installing, download the tool index:
clidex update # Downloads ~/.clidex/index.yamlclidex "csv to json" # YAML output (default, agent-friendly)
clidex "csv to json" --pretty # Pretty-printed table (human-friendly)
clidex "csv to json" --json # JSON output
clidex "file manager" -n 3 # Limit to top 3 resultsDefault output (YAML):
- name: jq
desc: JSON processor
category: Data Manipulation > Processors
tags: [data, manipulation, processors, json, jq]
install:
brew: brew install jq
links:
repo: https://github.com/stedolan/jq
homepage: https://jqlang.github.io/jq/clidex info ripgrep # YAML output (default)
clidex info ripgrep --pretty # Human-friendly outputclidex compare jq dasel yq # YAML output (default)
clidex compare jq dasel yq --pretty # Side-by-side table jq dasel yq
────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────── ──────────────────
Description JSON processor JSON/YAML/TOML/XML processor… YAML processor
Category Processors Processors Processors
Stars ★ 30.8k ★ 5.3k ★ 2.6k
Install brew install jq brew install dasel brew install yq
clidex trending # Top tools by GitHub stars
clidex trending -n 10 # Top 10
clidex trending --category git # Top Git toolsclidex --categories # List all categories with tool counts
clidex --category docker # All tools in a category
clidex --category "file manager" -n 5clidex update # Download latest index
clidex stats # Show index statistics| Flag | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
| (none) | YAML | Default. Structured, agent-friendly |
--pretty |
Pretty | Human-friendly table |
--json |
JSON | Machine-parseable JSON |
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
-n <N> |
Max number of results (default: 10) |
Clidex is built for AI agents to consume programmatically. The typical workflow:
- Agent runs
clidex "task description"(YAML by default) - Parses the structured result
- Extracts
install.breworinstall.cargocommand - Installs and uses the tool
Each tool in the result contains:
name: string # Tool name
binary: string? # Binary name (if different from name)
desc: string # One-line description
category: string # Category path (e.g. "Files and Directories > Search")
tags: [string] # Search tags
install: # Install commands by package manager
brew: string?
cargo: string?
npm: string?
stars: number? # GitHub stars
links:
repo: string? # GitHub repository
homepage: string? # Project homepage
docs: string? # Documentation URL
llms_txt: string? # llms.txt URL (LLM-readable docs)The llms_txt field is especially useful — it points to llms.txt files that agents can fetch to learn how to use a tool.
Clidex uses BM25 text search with domain-specific optimizations:
- Field weighting: Tool name (3x) > tags + category (2x) > description (1x)
- Synonym expansion:
grep→ also matchessearch,find,ripgrep,rg - Category boost: Query terms matching category names get +8 points each
- Popularity boost: GitHub stars add 0–10 bonus points
- Fuzzy matching: Catches typos and partial name matches
- Alias mapping:
rg→ ripgrep,btm→ bottom,z→ zoxide (24 pairs)
Search performance: ~3ms per query on the full 440-tool index.
| Source | What it provides | Count |
|---|---|---|
| awesome-cli-apps | Curated tool list with categories | 427 tools |
| Homebrew | brew install commands + popular CLI tools |
186 matched + 15 added |
| GitHub API | Stars, last updated, homepage | Metadata |
| crates.io | cargo install commands |
42 tools |
| npm | npm install -g commands |
12 tools |
The index is rebuilt weekly via GitHub Actions and published as a release asset.
cargo run --bin build_index -- index.yaml| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
GITHUB_TOKEN |
— | GitHub API token (increases rate limit from 60 to 5000/hr) |
GITHUB_LIMIT |
50 |
Max GitHub API requests |
CRATES_LIMIT |
100 |
Max crates.io lookups |
NPM_LIMIT |
50 |
Max npm registry lookups |
LLMS_LIMIT |
100 |
Max llms.txt probes |
Contributions are welcome! Some areas that could use help:
- Adding tools to the index: Suggest popular CLI tools that are missing
- Search quality: Report queries that return unexpected results
- New data sources: Integrations with other package managers
- Platform support: Testing on different OS/architecture combinations
# Development
cargo build
cargo test
cargo clippy
cargo fmt