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Recommended Tools

Not required, but these tools make the AI CLIs more capable. Install any that seem useful.

Homebrew (Mac only)

Most of the tools below install via Homebrew on Mac. If you don't have it yet:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

After it finishes, follow any instructions it prints about adding Homebrew to your PATH. Then reload:

exec zsh

Verify:

brew --version

gh (GitHub CLI)

Manage repositories, pull requests, and issues from the terminal. Claude Code can use gh to interact with GitHub on your behalf.

brew install gh

Don't have Homebrew? Install it first.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install gh

Verify:

gh --version

Log in:

gh auth login

Searches through file contents faster than anything built in. Claude Code uses it automatically when available.

brew install ripgrep

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ripgrep

Verify:

rg --version

jq (JSON wrangling)

Parses and transforms JSON data. Useful when working with APIs or data files.

brew install jq

sudo apt update && sudo apt install jq

Verify:

jq --version

pandoc (document conversion)

Converts between document formats — markdown to Word, HTML to PDF, and dozens of others.

brew install pandoc

sudo apt update && sudo apt install pandoc

Verify:

pandoc --version