12 CLI Tools to Boost Your Workflow

By Sandun Lakshan · Published May 8, 2026 · 1 min read · Source: Level Up Coding

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12 CLI Tools to Boost Your Workflow

As developers, we are always looking for ways to make our workflow simpler, faster, and more automated. That’s exactly why CLI tools have become such an important part of development. They help you manage environments, run scripts, and inspect systems, without unnecessary steps. Whether you’re building, testing, or deploying, they can help you work smarter from the terminal. Here are some powerful CLI tools worth adding to your workflow.

1. VHS 🎬

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If you’ve ever tried to record a high-quality GIF of your terminal, you know how hard it is to get the timing and framing right. With VHS, you can write terminal sessions as code, ensuring perfectly reproducible terminal demos every time.

Instead of recording your screen using a screen recorder, you can write a simple .tape script that tells the terminal what to type and how long to wait. You can even customize the font, theme, and window padding. It outputs GIFs or MP4s that you can use.

# .tape file
Output vhs.gif

Set FontSize 16
Set Width 1200
Set Height 800
Set Padding 20
Set TypingSpeed 0.1s

Sleep 1s

Type "fastfetch"
Enter

Sleep 3s

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