The thing with a lot of these tricks is that you have to get into the habit of using them. I knew `Ctrl+r` for history since I learned about the command line. I even have a nice shell integration with fzf. But I still used the up/down arrow keys for years or scrolled up when I was looking for a previous command, because I never remembered the shortcut and just took the path of least resistance to find something.
Usually what I do is writing these tricks down to a document that is easily accessible at a place where I know that I will look for when failing to remember them. I have a directory of docs where I write stuff like this down by language/tool/etc., so I can quickly look it up without having to search the internet. But I also have to actively remind myself that these things exist whenever I have a problem, stop me from just doing the inefficient thing.
atuin kind of fixes this habit, when you click up you get a list of the latest commands, and you can just start typing to search. It's extremely natural.
I found atuin way too hard/slow to use, I think I went two days before I nuked it and went back to pure omzsh. Has it gotten any better in the past 2ish years?
Not the parent commenter, but I also tried it a year or two ago and my recollection is that I had a similar experience. I have a really long history file that dates back like a decade and if remembering correctly I tried to import it, and it made using my shell very laggy so I ended up removing it. I'm not 100% positive that I'm remembering the exact way that I started experiencing the lag though, so if I have time tomorrow I'll try it out again and see if it's still something I encounter.
I think it was a combo of this + completely screwing my muscle memory haha. I'd give it another shot...but tbh, these days claude/codex are more my command line than bash/zsh.
I'm running into this again now that I'm trying it. I also have the unfortunate habit of sometimes trying to do stuff in the terminal via remote connection over a streaming server from my SteamOS handheld, and in the desktop input layout I have defined, I can really easily hit the up arrow with my thumbstick, whereas any modifier shortcuts need to be defined manually. From glancing through the config file, there does seem to be a lot of customization though, so I think it might still be viable if I can find a sweet spot in how to define the settings.
phforms · · focus · HN ↗
Usually what I do is writing these tricks down to a document that is easily accessible at a place where I know that I will look for when failing to remember them. I have a directory of docs where I write stuff like this down by language/tool/etc., so I can quickly look it up without having to search the internet. But I also have to actively remind myself that these things exist whenever I have a problem, stop me from just doing the inefficient thing.
quirino · · focus · HN ↗
ChickeNES · · focus · HN ↗
ellieh · · focus · HN ↗
yes, it's improved a lot in the last couple of years! what in particular bothered you?
saghm · · focus · HN ↗
ChickeNES · · focus · HN ↗
saghm · · focus · HN ↗