Nu Shell

Nu Shell is a modern command-line interface designed to make it easier to work with data on your computer. Instead of treating everything as plain text (like traditional shells do), Nu treats your data as structured information—like tables and objects—that you can filter, search, and transform in intuitive ways. This makes it far simpler to explore files, check running processes, parse configuration files, or chain together complex workflows.

The core idea is that every command produces structured output that can flow into the next command. For example, when you list files in a directory, you get back an organized table with columns for name, size, and modification date. You can then pipe that table into a filter command (like "show only directories") and see the results instantly. This is similar to piping commands in Unix or Linux, but Nu extends the concept to work with structured data rather than just raw text streams. If a command isn't built into Nu, the shell will happily fall back to running traditional system commands—so your existing scripts and workflows, like git or vim, work without changes.

You might use Nu as your daily shell if you frequently explore data, write scripts to process files, or want a command-line experience that feels more modern and intuitive. System administrators, data analysts, and developers who spend time in the terminal would find it especially useful. The project is cross-platform, running on Windows 10, macOS, and Linux, and it's still evolving—the README notes it has reached a minimum-viable product level of quality, meaning it's stable enough to use daily but some features are still being polished.

Nu is written in Rust and can be installed via cargo (Rust's package manager), through Docker containers, or via your system's package manager on some Linux distributions. The project is actively maintained with an engaged community on Discord and Twitter, and there's an in-progress book available online to help you learn both how to use the shell and how to contribute to its development.