forge suggest

Get AI-powered shell command suggestions from natural language

The suggest command translates natural language descriptions into shell commands, helping you discover and execute the right commands without memorizing syntax.

Usage

forge suggest <PROMPT>

Arguments

prompt · string · required

Natural language description of the desired command.

forge suggest "find all JavaScript files"
forge suggest "list processes using port 8080"
forge suggest "compress directory into tar.gz"

Examples

File Operations

forge suggest "find all JavaScript files in src directory"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
find src -name "*.js"
─────────────────────────────

This command finds all files with .js extension in the src directory.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

Process Management

forge suggest "show which process is using port 8080"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
lsof -i :8080
─────────────────────────────

Shows the process listening on port 8080.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

Git Operations

forge suggest "undo last git commit but keep changes"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
git reset HEAD~1
─────────────────────────────

Resets the last commit while preserving your changes.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

Archive Operations

forge suggest "compress this directory into a tar.gz file"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
tar -czf archive.tar.gz .
─────────────────────────────

Creates a compressed tar.gz archive of the current directory.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

System Information

forge suggest "show disk usage for all mounted drives"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
df -h
─────────────────────────────

Displays disk space usage in human-readable format.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

Network Operations

forge suggest "test connection to google.com"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
ping -c 4 google.com
─────────────────────────────

Sends 4 ping requests to google.com to test connectivity.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

Text Processing

forge suggest "count lines in all Python files"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
find . -name "*.py" -exec wc -l {} + | awk '{sum+=$1} END {print sum}'
─────────────────────────────

Finds all Python files and counts total lines.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

Docker Operations

forge suggest "stop all running docker containers"

Example output:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
docker stop $(docker ps -q)
─────────────────────────────

Stops all currently running Docker containers.

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: 

Interactive Prompts

After suggesting a command, Forge prompts for action:

• Y (yes) - Execute the command immediately
• n (no) - Cancel without executing
• e (edit) - Edit the command before executing

Execute Command

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: y

Executes the suggested command.

Cancel

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: n

Cancels without executing.

Edit Before Executing

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: e

Opens the command in your default editor for modification before execution.

Use Cases

Learning New Commands

forge suggest "recursively change file permissions to 644"

Helps you learn the correct syntax:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} +
─────────────────────────────

Complex One-Liners

forge suggest "find files larger than 100MB modified in last week"

Generates complex commands:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
find . -type f -size +100M -mtime -7
─────────────────────────────

Safe Exploration

forge suggest "safely delete all node_modules directories"

Provides safe commands with explanations:

Suggested command:
─────────────────────────────
find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -exec rm -rf {} +
─────────────────────────────

Recursively finds and removes all node_modules directories.

Best Practices

Be Specific

More specific prompts yield better results:

# Good
forge suggest "find JavaScript files modified in last 24 hours"

# Less specific
forge suggest "find files"

Include Context

Mention the tools or operations you want:

forge suggest "use rsync to backup home directory"

Review Before Executing

Always review suggested commands, especially:

• File deletion operations
• System-wide changes
• Commands with sudo/root access
• Network operations

Use Edit Mode

For complex commands, use edit mode to refine:

Run this command? [Y/n/e]: e

Command Categories

Forge can suggest commands for:

• File operations: find, grep, sed, awk, xargs
• Process management: ps, kill, lsof, top
• Git operations: commit, branch, merge, rebase
• Network: curl, wget, ping, netstat
• Docker: container, image, volume management
• System admin: systemctl, journalctl, cron
• Archive: tar, zip, gzip, bzip2
• Package management: apt, yum, brew, npm

Related Commands

• forge commit - Generate git commit messages
• forge cmd execute - Run custom commands
• forge -p <prompt> - General AI assistance

Shell Integration

For even faster access, add a shell alias:

alias fs="forge suggest"

Then use:

fs "find large files"

Notes

• Commands are tailored to your operating system
• Suggestions consider common best practices
• Always review commands before executing
• Edit mode opens in $EDITOR (defaults to vim/nano)
• Complex commands include explanations
• Safe by default - prompts before execution