Magic Shell

Transform natural language into terminal commands with built-in safety features.

Magic Shell is an open-source CLI tool that translates plain English (or any natural language) into shell commands using AI. It supports multiple AI providers, includes a beautiful interactive TUI mode, and features a comprehensive safety system to protect you from dangerous commands.

Features

• Natural Language Translation: Describe what you want to do in plain English
• Multiple AI Providers: OpenCode Zen (with free models!) and OpenRouter
• Project Context Aware: Opt-in detection of package.json scripts, Makefile targets, etc.
• Interactive TUI Mode: Full-featured terminal interface with themes
• Command Safety Analysis: Multi-level safety checks before executing commands
• Auto Updates: Automatic update checking with one-command upgrades
• Cross-Platform: macOS, Linux, and Windows support
• Shell-Aware: Automatically detects and adapts to your shell (bash, zsh, fish, PowerShell, etc.)
• Secure Credential Storage: Uses system keychain (macOS Keychain, Linux secret-tool, Windows Credential Manager)
• Command History: Context-aware translations based on your recent commands
• Beautiful Themes: 8 built-in themes including Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Dracula, and more

Installation

Via Package Manager (Recommended)

# bun (recommended)
bun add -g @austinthesing/magic-shell

# npm
npm install -g @austinthesing/magic-shell

# pnpm
pnpm add -g @austinthesing/magic-shell

# yarn
yarn global add @austinthesing/magic-shell

From Source

Prerequisites: Bun runtime (v1.0 or higher)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/austin-thesing/magic-shell.git
cd magic-shell

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Build
bun run build

# Link globally (optional)
bun link

Quick Start

# Run setup to configure your API key
msh --setup

# Or set via environment variable
export OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY="your-key-here"

Usage

Use msh for CLI mode and mshell for TUI mode.

Basic Commands

# Translate a query to a command (prints the command)
msh "list all javascript files"
# Output: find . -name "*.js"

# Translate and execute
msh -x "show disk usage"

# Dry run - preview with safety analysis
msh -n "delete all node_modules folders"

# Launch interactive TUI mode
mshell

Command Reference

Examples

# File operations
msh "find all files larger than 100MB"
msh "count lines of code in this project"
msh "show the 10 most recently modified files"

# Git operations
msh "undo my last commit but keep changes"
msh "show commits from the last week"
msh "create a branch from main called feature-login"

# System operations
msh "check which process is using port 3000"
msh "show memory usage"
msh "list all running docker containers"

# Execute directly
msh -x "show current git branch"

# Pipe to clipboard (macOS)
msh "compress this folder to a zip file" | pbcopy

Interactive TUI Mode

Launch with mshell for a full interactive experience.

Keyboard Shortcuts

All shortcuts use the Ctrl+X chord (press Ctrl+X, then the key):

Direct Commands in TUI

You can also type commands directly in the TUI:

• !help - Show help
• !model - Change model
• !provider - Switch provider
• !dry - Toggle dry-run mode
• !config - Show current configuration
• !history - Show command history
• !clear - Clear output

AI Providers

OpenCode Zen (Recommended)

OpenCode Zen provides curated models optimized for coding tasks, including free models.

Free Models:

• big-pickle - Stealth model (default)
• grok-code - xAI's Grok Code Fast 1
• glm-4.7 - GLM 4.7
• minimax-m2.1-free - MiniMax M2.1

Premium Models:

• Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Opus 4.5
• Kimi K2, Kimi K2 Thinking
• Qwen3 Coder 480B
• GLM 4.6
• And more...

Get your API key at: https://opencode.ai/auth

OpenRouter

Access to a wide variety of models from different providers.

Free Models:

• MiMo V2 Flash
• DeepSeek V3

Premium Models:

• Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Opus 4.5
• DeepSeek R1
• GLM 4.7
• And many more...

Get your API key at: https://openrouter.ai/keys

Safety System

Magic Shell includes a comprehensive safety analysis system that categorizes commands by risk level:

Severity Levels

Safety Levels

Configure your preferred safety level:

• Strict: Confirm all potentially risky commands
• Moderate (default): Confirm high and critical severity commands
• Relaxed: Only confirm critical severity commands

Blocked Commands

Certain dangerous patterns are always blocked:

• Fork bombs
• Direct disk writes (> /dev/sda)
• Filesystem formatting (mkfs)
• Recursive permission changes on root (chmod -R 777 /)

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.magic-shell/config.json.

Config Options

{
  "provider": "opencode-zen",
  "defaultModel": "big-pickle",
  "safetyLevel": "moderate",
  "dryRunByDefault": false,
  "repoContext": false,
  "theme": "opencode",
  "blockedCommands": [...],
  "confirmedDangerousPatterns": [...]
}

Environment Variables

Themes

Magic Shell includes 8 beautiful themes:

• opencode (default) - Orange and blue tones
• tokyonight - Soft purple and blue
• catppuccin - Pastel Mocha variant
• gruvbox - Retro warm tones
• nord - Arctic cool blues
• dracula - Purple vampire vibes
• one-dark - Atom-inspired
• matrix - Classic green terminal

Change themes:

# CLI
msh --theme tokyonight

# TUI
Ctrl+X T

Shell Support

Magic Shell automatically detects and adapts to your shell:

• Bash - Full support with bash-specific syntax
• Zsh - Extended globbing and array syntax
• Fish - Fish-specific syntax (no $(), different variable syntax)
• PowerShell / pwsh - Cmdlet syntax and object pipelines
• CMD - Windows command syntax
• Nushell - Structured data syntax
• POSIX sh - Portable fallback

Platform Support

Development

# Run in development mode
bun run dev

# Run TUI in development mode
bun run dev:tui

# Type check
bun run typecheck

# Build for distribution
bun run build

Project Structure

src/
  index.ts          # CLI entry point
  cli.ts            # TUI mode
  lib/
    types.ts        # Type definitions and model configs
    config.ts       # Configuration management
    api.ts          # AI provider integrations
    safety.ts       # Command safety analysis
    theme.ts        # Theme system
    keychain.ts     # Secure credential storage
    shell.ts        # Shell/platform detection

Publishing to npm

Prerequisites

1. Create an npm account at https://www.npmjs.com/signup
2. Login to npm:

   npm login

Preparing for Release

1. Update package.json - Ensure these fields are set correctly:

   {
     "name": "@austinthesing/magic-shell",
     "version": "0.2.2",
     "description": "Natural language to terminal commands with safety features",
     "main": "dist/index.js",
     "bin": {
       "msh": "./dist/index.js",
       "mshell": "./dist/tui.js"
     },
     "files": [
       "dist",
       "README.md",
       "LICENSE"
     ],
     "repository": {
       "type": "git",
       "url": "https://github.com/austin-thesing/magic-shell.git"
     },
     "homepage": "https://github.com/austin-thesing/magic-shell#readme",
     "bugs": {
       "url": "https://github.com/austin-thesing/magic-shell/issues"
     },
     "keywords": [
       "cli",
       "terminal",
       "natural-language",
       "shell",
       "ai",
       "openrouter",
       "opencode",
       "command-line"
     ],
     "author": "Your Name <your@email.com>",
     "license": "MIT"
   }

2. Build the project:

   bun run build

3. Test locally before publishing:

   # Create a tarball
   npm pack
   
   # Install it globally to test
   npm install -g ./magic-shell-0.1.0.tgz
   
   # Test it works
   msh --help
   
   # Uninstall test version
   npm uninstall -g magic-shell

Publishing

# Publish to npm (first time)
npm publish

# Publish with public access (for scoped packages like @your-username/magic-shell)
npm publish --access public

Releasing New Versions

1. Update version (follows semver):

   # Patch release (bug fixes): 0.1.0 -> 0.1.1
   npm version patch
   
   # Minor release (new features): 0.1.0 -> 0.2.0
   npm version minor
   
   # Major release (breaking changes): 0.1.0 -> 1.0.0
   npm version major

2. Push tags to GitHub:

   git push origin main --tags

3. Publish the new version:

   npm publish

Automated Releases with GitHub Actions

Create .github/workflows/release.yml:

name: Release

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v1
        with:
          bun-version: latest
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: bun install
      
      - name: Build
        run: bun run build
      
      - name: Publish to npm
        run: npm publish
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
      
      - name: Create GitHub Release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
        with:
          generate_release_notes: true

Add your npm token to GitHub:

1. Generate token at https://www.npmjs.com/settings/tokens (use "Automation" type)
2. Add to repository secrets as NPM_TOKEN

Version Management Tips

• Use npm version commands - they automatically:

  • Update package.json version
  • Create a git commit
  • Create a git tag

• Consider using Changesets for monorepo or complex versioning

• Add a prepublishOnly script to ensure builds are fresh:

  {
    "scripts": {
      "prepublishOnly": "bun run build"
    }
  }

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built with Bun
• TUI powered by @opentui/core
• Theme colors inspired by OpenCode

Magic Shell - Type what you mean, execute what you need.