Still Unbuilt

All 100 ideasDesktop and OS

#22 of 100 · Desktop and OS

A shell with a sane language

A shell with a Python- or PowerShell-like object language, history tied to directory and shared across machines, and help that suggests commands.

17asks, each re-read
17separate threads
14of 19 years
2since 2024
2010first asked

Asks per year

’081’102’1212’1421’161’1811’2011’2211’241’26

What the askers want

  • Would pay0%
  • Want it local or private29%
  • Object to subscriptions0%
  • Want it open source or self-hosted0%
  • Want AI to do it0%

Share of the 17 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.

What exists on Show HN

Built, still asked for1 Show HN launches do this job, and 7 more do part of it. People still ask, so the launches are missed, unknown, or not what they want. Ask what they’re missing before you build.

Instead of: Bash, Zsh, PowerShell

The idea, as matched

A shell or shell add-on with a saner scripting language (Python- or PowerShell-like objects) plus smart history by directory and across machines, and inline help that explains, composes or predicts commands.

Jev first matched 21 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 17 of 21.

Every ask, newest first

Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.

Reader’s note. Two camps: better language vs smarter history.

  1. Jun 2025Wants a tool to sync and unify shell history across machines. Read it: a comment in “Curate your shell history”
  2. Nov 2024Wants Copilot-style command prediction in the terminal that suggests the next command without running anything. Read it: a comment in “Launch HN: Codebuff (YC F24) – CLI tool that writes code for you”
  3. Dec 2023Wants a shell or tool linking navigation with history, showing commands previously used in the current folder. Read it: a comment in “Cdpath: Easily Navigate Directories in the Terminal”
  4. Aug 2022Wants shell history to keep fuller context such as environment variables and working directory. Read it: a comment in “From novice to master, and back again (2013)”
  5. Jan 2021Wants a Python-like shell with built-in support for processes and files. Read it: a comment in “Why Create a New Unix Shell?”
  6. May 2020Wants a command line with graphical assistance for assembling complicated pipelines like package-size listings. Read it: a comment in “Sort of handy”
  7. Oct 2019Wants a lightweight Linux environment designed from scratch around PowerShell-style objects, free of legacy dependencies. Read it: a comment in “Computational survivalist”
  8. Apr 2017Wants a way to share shell history across an organization to ease onboarding and spread tricks. Read it: a comment in “Historian: Because Please Stop Deleting My Bash History”
  9. Mar 2016Wants a PowerShell equivalent for Linux. Read it: a comment in “CoreUtils implemented in pure JavaScript”
  10. Aug 2015Wants a Python-based, object-aware interactive shell to replace zsh, as iPython is not quite the same. Read it: a comment in “In defense of PowerShell”
  11. Aug 2015Wants a simpler, more consistent shell built on an actual modern language instead of POSIX shells. Read it: a comment in “Stronger Shell”
  12. Jul 2014Wants a Python-inspired shell that auto-imports Python libraries while keeping normal shell conveniences. Read it: a comment in “Xiki: An amazing shell”
  13. Jun 2014Wants a modern shell with real functions, completion derived from argument parsing, reactive streams and JSON stream support. Read it: a comment in “Programming languages, operating systems, despair and anger (2009)”
  14. Oct 2013Wants history search by typed prefix with the up arrow, cycling through only matching previous commands. Read it: a comment in “Fish shell 2.1”
  15. Jul 2012Wants a better language than POSIX shells for driving Unix command-line programs. Read it: a comment in “Command line tools for the novice”
  16. Jun 2012Wants a good Linux port of PowerShell. Read it: a comment in “Rob Pike: "Current Unix tools are weakened by the built-in concept of a line"”
  17. Sep 2010Wants a utility to annotate saved shell history lines with dates, comments and working directory. Read it: a comment in “Understanding Bash History”

Building this?

Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.

See all 100How the counts work

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