Clarity: a minimal wrapper that makes terminal output human

Posted by rosmaneiro@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 22 comments

I wrote a small tool called Clarity. It wraps any command, filters useless noise, and prints a short human-readable summary.

Tools like npm, git, docker, etc. become predictable and calm.

Example:

clarity npm install ✔ Installed successfully → audited 8 packages → 0 vulnerabilities run with --full for details

The goal: reduce cognitive load when working in the terminal.

Feedbacks pls...

Repo: https://github.com/ruidosujeira/clarity

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DividedContinuity@reddit

Tough sell for the linux crowd, we tend to like our tools crunchy. I can see the value in having a summary though.

This seems to be a dev related tool.. might be worth getting feedback from a more dev orientated sub reddit. As a regular linux user, i don't use npm, docker, git etc.

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

Thanks for the tip, I’ll throw it in some dev subreddits too.

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theother559@reddit

so do I, how is that relevant? if I can't read the text, I just enlarge it (Ctrl+Plus on most emulators)

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

So you understand how tiring it is to read line after line of something you probably don't want to read? I only have the right to choose when I receive a wall of irrelevance or not.

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theother559@reddit

Yes, but one can just grep through it surely? How does the tool work, anyway - does it work on things other than non?

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

Grep helps when you already know what you're looking for. Clarity helps when you don’t.

It wraps any command, captures stdout/stderr, and generates a human-focused summary. npm is just an example, it works with git, docker, system tools, or anything you can type in the terminal.

If you ever need the full raw output, you can still get it with --full.

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theother559@reddit

"any command" src/plugins/generic.js (triggered for all but a handful of commands) just echoes the exit code?! also, why is it written in JS lmao

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

The generic plugin is a fallback, not the core logic. It's only used when there's no dedicated summarizer for a command, which is why it just reports the exit status.

npm, git and others have their own parsers, and more plugins are coming as people contribute.

As for JS... fast prototyping and wide contributor reach. If it ever needs to move to Rust or Go later, it’s an easy rewrite.

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theother559@reddit

there are 9 plugins (which implement a subset of the features of the commands) and you are the only contributor. cool project ig but I personally wouldn't want to use it

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ben2talk@reddit

What a weird idea... using a terminal with no feedback!

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

It has feedback. Just not 300 lines of it.

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Realistic-Pizza2336@reddit

I feel like this would be good for beginners. I see a lot of Linux beginners who are overwhelmed by the terminal. I could see this being helpful.

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ben2talk@reddit

I feel like this would be good for beginners.

I feel like this will hide essential information from beginners. Just being a beginner doesn't mean that people are stupid - having the output to be readily selectable and searchable is vital for any command that doesn't easily succeed.

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Furdiburd10@reddit

If I run it again with --full will I get the output from the command that ran or it will be run again but output shown?

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

It runs the command again.
--full only switches from summarized output to the raw one.
Clarity doesn’t cache previous executions, so every run actually re-executes the command.

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xXBongSlut420Xx@reddit

wait a minute, you're asking it for verbose output and then made a tool to cut it down? how's that make sense.

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

Because it is an example

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iMuskMelon@reddit

I feel like people who read that stuff for troubleshooting don't want it circumcised, I wouldn't know because its all google for me.

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rosmaneiro@reddit (OP)

Clarity doesn’t remove output. It just changes the default view. If you need the raw log for troubleshooting, run --full and you get everything back, untouched.