Install

git clone https://github.com/evagreendev/BashTab.git
cd BashTab

Optional dependencies:

Tool	Why
fzf	Interactive dropdown completions, history search, inline editing
tree-sitter + tree-sitter-bash (npm)	CST-based command-line parsing for accurate pipe/variable/substitution detection
file	File-type hints in autocomplete (text/json/exe/png tags)

sudo apt install fzf          # or your package manager
npm install tree-sitter tree-sitter-bash   # optional, for tree-sitter parser

Activate

From the repo root:

source ./activate

This loads all core modules and registers built-in commands. Add this to your .bashrc for persistent setup:

source /path/to/BashTab/activate

Customize the CLI name

BU_USER_DEFINED_CLI_COMMAND_NAME=mycli source ./activate
# Now use `mycli` instead of `bu`

Enable tree-sitter parser

BU_AUTOCOMPLETE_USE_TREE_SITTER=true

The hand-written parser is the default (zero dependencies). Tree-sitter handles complex pipelines, nested $(...), and $VAR expansions more accurately. The daemon starts automatically on shell init.

Explore

bu                           # list all commands, aliases, keybindings
bu get-command               # query commands by namespace, verb, noun
bu get-command --verb module # find module-related commands
bu get-module               # list loaded modules

Autocomplete

bu <TAB>                     # fzf dropdown with metadata hints
bu new-command --<TAB>       # colored type tags (flag, enum, str)
ls <TAB>                     # file completions with type + size hints
echo $HO<TAB>                # variable name completion

Key bindings

Keys	Action
Alt-E	Edit the current command line in $EDITOR
Alt-A	Fuzzy-search command history
Alt-Z	Toggle Tab between default and fzf completion
Tab	Confirm fzf selection
Ctrl-T / Ctrl-R	fzf file / history search (if available)

Create your first command

bu new-command --dir commands --name my-first-cmd

This scaffolds a script with argument parsing, help generation, and autocomplete already wired up. See the Creating Custom Commands guide for details.

Build a module

bu new-module --name myapp

Generates:

myapp/
├── activate                   ← source to activate
├── myapp_bu_module.sh         ← appends to BU_MODULE_LIST
├── myapp_bu_preinit.sh        ← imports commands directory
└── commands/                  ← your subcommands

Then add commands:

cd myapp
source activate
bu new-command --dir commands --name my-first-cmd

See the Workflow Guide for using BashTab as a project dependency.