🐧 Linux Command Builder

A beautiful, cross-platform GUI application for building complex Linux shell commands with ease

Features • Installation • Usage • Commands • Development

📖 Overview

Linux Command Builder is a modern, intuitive desktop application that helps users construct complex Linux shell commands through a user-friendly graphical interface. Perfect for system administrators, DevOps engineers, students, and anyone who works with Linux systems.

Why Linux Command Builder?

🎯 No More Syntax Errors - Build commands visually with validation
🔒 Security First - Built-in shell injection prevention
🎨 Beautiful Dark Theme - Easy on the eyes during long sessions
🚀 Fast & Responsive - Optimized performance with smart caching
🤖 AI-Powered - Optional AI command analysis (Claude integration)
🌍 Cross-Platform - Runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS

✨ Features

Core Functionality

📝 Dynamic Form Generation - Context-aware input fields based on command type
🔍 Real-Time Validation - Instant feedback on invalid inputs
📋 One-Click Copy - Copy generated commands to clipboard
🔎 Smart Search - Filter commands with fuzzy search
💾 Command History - Quick access to recently used commands
🎨 Dark Theme UI - Professional, customizable interface

Advanced Features

🤖 AI Command Analysis - Explain what your command does (requires API key)
🔄 Auto-Updates - Built-in command definition updater
⚙️ Customizable - Adjust settings to your preferences
📊 Command Preview - See the final command before copying
🛡️ Security - Automatic escaping and sanitization

Supported Input Types

Type	Description	Example
Text Input	Standard text fields	File names, paths
Dropdowns	Predefined options	File types, permissions
Checkboxes	Boolean flags	`-l`, `-a`, `-r`
Date Pickers	Date selection	Modified dates
File Pickers	Browse filesystem	Input/output files
Permission Grids	chmod permissions	755, 644
Size Inputs	File size filters	+100M, -5k

🚀 Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.8 or higher
pip package manager

Option 1: Run from Source (Recommended for Development)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/crenta/Linux-Commander.git
cd Linux-Commander

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the application
python main.py

Option 2: Standalone Executable

⚠️ COMING SOON... Yet to be implemented.

Download the latest release for your platform:

Requirements

Python>=3.8
tkinter (included with Python)
Pillow>=9.0.0
pyperclip>=1.8.2
validators>=0.20.0

🎮 Usage

Basic Workflow

Select a Command from the left sidebar
Fill in Parameters using the dynamic form
Preview the generated command at the bottom
Copy the command to your clipboard
Run on your Linux system

Example: Building a `find` Command

# Generated command:
find /var/log -name '*.log' -type f -mtime -7 -size +10M

Steps:

Select find from "Search and Filter" category
Enter search path: /var/log
Set name pattern: *.log
Select type: file
Set modified time: -7 (last 7 days)
Set size: +10M (larger than 10MB)

Keyboard Shortcuts

⚠️ COMING SOON... Yet to be implemented.

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+C`	Copy command
`Ctrl+L`	Clear form
`Ctrl+F`	Focus search
`Escape`	Clear search

📚 Supported Commands

File & Directory Management

find - Search for files and directories
ls - List directory contents
cp - Copy files and directories
mv - Move/rename files
rm - Remove files and directories
mkdir - Create directories
touch - Create empty files

File Content

cat - Display file contents
grep - Search text patterns
sed - Stream editor
awk - Text processing
head - Display file beginning
tail - Display file end
wc - Word/line/byte count

Archiving & Compression

tar - Archive files
gzip - Compress files
zip - Create ZIP archives
unzip - Extract ZIP archives

System Information

df - Disk space usage
du - Directory size
free - Memory usage
top - Process viewer
ps - Process status
uname - System information

Permissions

chmod - Change file permissions
chown - Change file owner
chgrp - Change file group

Networking

ping - Test connectivity
curl - Transfer data
wget - Download files
netstat - Network statistics
ssh - Remote login

Process Management

kill - Terminate processes
killall - Kill by name
pkill - Kill by pattern

Package Management

apt - Debian/Ubuntu packages
yum - Red Hat/CentOS packages
dnf - Fedora packages

...and many more!

🤖 AI Features

⚠️ Compatibility Note: This feature is currently only tested on Mistral & Gemini. You may have to edit the specific model string in settings.json.

Setup

Click "AI Settings ⚙️" button
Enter your API KEY
Click "Save Settings"

Using AI Analysis

Build a command
Click "Analyze with AI 🤖"
Get detailed explanation including:
- Check the syntax
- What the command does
- Potential risks/warnings
- Alternative approaches
- Usage examples

Example AI Output

🤖 Command Analysis

Command: find /var/log -name "*.log" -type f -mtime -7 -delete

📋 Explanation:
This command searches for all log files in /var/log modified 
in the last 7 days and deletes them.

⚠️ Warnings:
- DESTRUCTIVE: Files will be permanently deleted
- Consider backing up first
- Test with -print before using -delete

💡 Safer Alternative:
find /var/log -name "*.log" -type f -mtime -7 -print

⚙️ Configuration

Application Settings

Settings are stored in:

Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\LinuxCommander\
Linux: ~/.local/share/LinuxCommander/
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/LinuxCommander/

Command Definitions

Command definitions are JSON files in the commands/ directory. You can:

✏️ Edit existing commands
➕ Add new commands
🔄 Update via built-in updater

Debug Mode

Enable verbose logging:

# Windows
set DEBUG=1
python main.py

# Linux/macOS
DEBUG=1 python main.py

Logs are saved to app.log in the data directory.

🛠️ Development

Project Structure

linux-commander/
├── main.py                    # Application entry point
├── ui_controller.py           # Main UI coordination
├── theme_manager.py           # Visual theming
├── command_manager.py         # Command loading & parsing
├── form_builder.py            # Dynamic form generation
├── command_generator.py       # Shell command assembly
├── logger_config.py           # Logging configuration
├── constants.py               # Application constants
├── ai_analyzer.py             # AI integration (optional)
├── settings_panel.py          # Settings UI (optional)
├── update_manager.py          # Update system (optional)
├── settings_manager.py        # Manages the AI setttings
├── commands/                  # Command definitions (JSON)
│   ├── file_operations.json
│   ├── system_info.json
│   └── ...
├── settings.json              # ** API KEYS & model info **
├── LOGO.png                   # Application icon
├── requirements.txt           # Python dependencies
├── README.md                  # This file
└──  LICENSE                    # License

Adding New Commands

Create a JSON file in commands/:

{
  "Category Name": {
    "command_name": {
      "description": "What this command does",
      "example": "command_name -flag value",
      "requires_sudo": false,
      "sudo_optional": true,
      "fields": [
        {
          "type": "text",
          "label": "Input File",
          "flag": "-f",
          "tooltip": "Path to input file"
        },
        {
          "type": "checkbox",
          "label": "Verbose Output",
          "flag": "-v"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Field Types Reference

{
  "type": "text",           // Standard text input
  "type": "checkbox",       // Boolean flag
  "type": "dropdown",       // Selection from options
  "type": "file_picker",    // Browse for file
  "type": "dir_picker",     // Browse for directory
  "type": "date_input",     // Date selector
  "type": "size_input",     // File size with units
  "type": "permission_grid", // chmod permission grid
  "type": "number_input",   // Numeric input only
  "type": "url"             // URL with validation
}

Running Tests

# Run specific test file
python tester1.py
python tester2.py
python tester3.py

Building Executable

⚠️ Untested: I haven't built and tested the EXE yet

# Install PyInstaller
pip install pyinstaller

# Build for current platform
pyinstaller LinuxCommander.spec

# Output in dist/ folder

🔒 Security

Built-in Protections

✅ Shell Injection Prevention - All inputs sanitized with shlex.quote()
✅ Path Validation - Invalid filesystem characters blocked
✅ Input Length Limits - DoS prevention (8000 char max)
✅ URL Validation - Malformed URLs rejected
✅ JSON Schema Validation - Command definitions validated on load

Best Practices

🔍 Review commands before running them on production systems
🧪 Test in safe environment first
💾 Backup important data before destructive operations
🔐 Use sudo carefully - only when necessary
📝 Read command descriptions and tooltips

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

Reporting Bugs

Check existing issues
Create a new issue with:
- Clear description
- Steps to reproduce
- Expected vs actual behavior
- Screenshots (if applicable)
- Log file (app.log)

Suggesting Features

Open an issue with:

Feature description
Use case / motivation
Proposed implementation (optional)

Submitting Code

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Make your changes
Add tests if applicable
Commit with clear messages (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to your fork (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Code Style

Follow PEP 8 guidelines
Use descriptive variable names
Add docstrings to functions
Keep functions focused and small
Add comments for complex logic

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Crenta

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Python Community - For the amazing ecosystem
Tkinter - For the cross-platform GUI framework
Contributors - Thank you for your contributions!

Built With

Python - Programming language
Tkinter - GUI framework
Pillow - Image processing

📞 Support

Need Help?

💬 Open an issue

Found a Bug?

Please report it on our issue tracker with:

Description of the problem
Steps to reproduce
Expected behavior
Actual behavior
Log file contents

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 59 Commits
OLD_COMMANDS		OLD_COMMANDS
commands		commands
LICENSE		LICENSE
LOGO.png		LOGO.png
README.md		README.md
ScreenShot.png		ScreenShot.png
ai_analyzer.py		ai_analyzer.py
command_generator.py		command_generator.py
command_manager.py		command_manager.py
constants.py		constants.py
form_builder.py		form_builder.py
logger_config.py		logger_config.py
main.py		main.py
requirements.txt		requirements.txt
settings_manager.py		settings_manager.py
settings_panel.py		settings_panel.py
theme_manager.py		theme_manager.py
ui_controller.py		ui_controller.py
update_manager.py		update_manager.py

License

crenta/Linux-Commander

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