📟 cmd-tracker

A developer tool that auto-captures, categorizes and saves terminal commands per project for easy revision

🎯 What is cmd-tracker?

cmd-tracker is an npm package that automatically captures, categorizes and saves every terminal command you type in a project.

Perfect for:

• 🎓 Students learning Linux, Git, Docker, Angular etc.
• 👨‍💻 Developers who want to track commands used in a project
• 📝 Anyone who wants to revise terminal commands they've used

How it works

You work normally in terminal
         ↓
Commands auto-captured in background
         ↓
Saved to .tracker/commands.json in your project
         ↓
Run tracker list → see entire command history

📦 Installation

Install in your learning/project repo:

npm install @adithya-naik/cmd-tracker

🚀 Quick Start

Step 1 — Initialize in your repo:

npx tracker init

Step 2 — Enable automatic capture:

npx tracker hook
source ~/.bashrc                # bash
source ~/.zshrc                 # zsh (Mac)
source ~/.config/fish/config.fish  # fish

Step 3 — Work normally! Then revise:

npx tracker list

That's it! Every command you type is now saved automatically 🪄

📋 All Commands

| Command | Description | |---|---| | tracker init | Initialize tracker in your project | | tracker hook | Enable automatic command capture | | tracker unhook | Disable automatic command capture | | tracker list | Show all saved commands | | tracker list <category> | Filter by category | | tracker search <query> | Search through commands | | tracker stats | Show statistics by category | | tracker favorite <cmd> | Toggle command as favorite | | tracker favorites | Show all favorites | | tracker export | Export as JSON | | tracker export --csv | Export as CSV (opens in Excel) | | tracker clear | Clear all commands | | tracker clear <category> | Clear specific category |

🗂️ Categories

Commands are automatically categorized into:

| Category | Commands | |---|---| | 🔀 git | git status, git push, git commit... | | 📦 npm | npm install, npx, npm run... | | 🐳 docker | docker ps, docker build... | | 🐧 linux | ls, cd, mkdir, chmod... | | 🟢 node | node, nodemon... | | 🔴 angular | ng new, ng serve, ng generate... | | 🐍 python | python, pip install... | | 🔷 go | go build, go run, go get... | | ☕ java | java, javac, mvn, gradle... | | 🦀 rust | cargo build, cargo run, rustc... | | 🔷 dotnet | dotnet run, dotnet build... | | ☸️ kubernetes | kubectl get pods, helm install... | | 🗄️ database | mysql, psql, mongosh, redis-cli... | | ☁️ cloud | aws s3 ls, gcloud, az login... | | 📥 packageManagers | yarn, pnpm, brew, snap... | | 🧪 testing | jest, vitest, playwright, cypress... | | 🤖 ai | claude, gemini, opencode, aider... | | 📌 others | everything else |

💡 Usage Examples

Filter by category:

tracker list git      # see all git commands
tracker list linux    # see all linux commands
tracker list npm      # see all npm commands

Search commands:

tracker search "install"   # find all install commands
tracker search "git"       # find all git related commands

Save favorites for quick revision:

tracker favorite "git rebase -i HEAD~3"
tracker favorites   # see all starred commands

Export for sharing/backup:

tracker export          # creates tracker-export.json
tracker export --csv    # creates tracker-export.csv (opens in Excel!)

📁 Project Structure

After running tracker init, a .tracker folder is created:

your-project/
├── .tracker/
│   └── commands.json   ← your personal command history
├── your-files...
└── package.json

✅ .tracker/ is automatically added to .gitignore Your command history stays local — never pushed to GitHub

🔒 Automatic Secret Redaction

Security is a core priority of cmd-tracker. Before any command is written to .tracker/commands.json, it is automatically scanned for sensitive information.

If a command contains credentials such as API keys, access tokens passwords, or private keys, the sensitive value or credential segment is replaced with [REDACTED], while the rest of the command is preserved. This keeps your command history useful without exposing secrets.

Example

AWS example — Before

export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=mySecretKey

AWS example — Saved as

export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=[REDACTED]

Another example:

curl example — Before

curl -u sampleuser:examplePass https://api.example.com

curl example — Saved as

curl -u [REDACTED] https://api.example.com

🛡️ Supported Secret Types

The sanitizer automatically detects and redacts:

• AWS credentials (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, etc.)
• API keys
• Access tokens
• Authentication tokens
• Passwords
• Bearer tokens
• HTTP Basic Authentication credentials
• curl -u / curl --user credentials
• GitHub Personal Access Tokens
• GitLab Personal Access Tokens
• Slack tokens
• SSH private keys
• PEM private keys

⚠️ Commands That Are Not Saved

If a command consists entirely of sensitive information (for example, only a GitHub token or a private key), cmd-tracker will not save it.

Example:

Input

ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Result

Command not saved (contains only sensitive data)

✅ Why This Matters

This feature helps prevent accidental exposure of secrets while keeping your command history clean and useful.

• 🔒 Prevents credentials from being stored in .tracker/commands.json
• 📖 Preserves the readable parts of commands for future reference
• 🚫 Avoids saving commands that contain nothing except sensitive information
• 💻 Works automatically—no configuration required

🖥️ Platform Support

| Platform | Support | |---|---| | Mac (zsh) | ✅ Full support | | Linux (bash) | ✅ Full support | | Windows (Git Bash) | ✅ Supported | | Windows (PowerShell) | ⚠️ Manual save only | | Fish | ✅ Full support |

Windows CMD/PowerShell users: use tracker save "command" manually or use Git Bash / WSL for automatic capture

🐟 Fish Shell Support

Install Fish Shell

Mac:

brew install fish

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install fish

Fedora:

sudo dnf install fish

Windows (WSL):

sudo apt install fish

Setup tracker in Fish

npx tracker init
npx tracker hook
source ~/.config/fish/config.fish

That's it! Every command you type in fish will now be saved automatically! 🎉

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Open an issue for bugs or feature requests
• Submit a pull request

📄 License

MIT © Jatoth Adithya Naik

⭐ Star this repo if you find it useful!

GitHub • npm • Issues