The command line is extremely useful on Windows. It’s fast, efficient, and saves you a lot of time once you figure out how to use it. For example, you can use the CLI to download apps directly instead of going to the developer's website, installing them manually, and dealing with the whole setup process. The CLI also makes it easier to troubleshoot your PC, identify what’s eating up your storage, CPU, or battery. If you know the right utilities, you’ll rarely feel the need to use GUI apps for most tasks. And if you’re already actively using the terminal, you’ll want to master some essential command-line utilities that can give you an even bigger productivity boost.

Chocolatey & Scoop

Streamlined package management

Chocolatey and Scoop bring a Linux-style package management experience to Windows. You can install and update software entirely from the terminal with commands instead of hunting down installers online.

Chocolatey focuses on installing applications system-wide with admin permissions and adds them to the Start menu, while Scoop installs lightweight command-line utilities in your user directory without requiring admin rights, which is especially useful on work machines with restrictions.

Power users can make use of these tools to script entire development environments in minutes, installing browsers, programming languages, editors, and CLI tools with a single command sequence. Instead of manually clicking through installation wizards, you can type choco install git or scoop install ripgrep and move on.

Both tools also handle dependencies automatically and make software updates easy with commands like choco upgrade all. Winget exists as a native alternative, but Chocolatey and Scoop still remain the more flexible and mature choices if you want to make the most out of the command-line.

Ripgrep

Lightning-fast file searching

Ripgrep, commonly used as rg, is a search tool designed to find text inside files at incredible speed, far outpacing older tools like findstr or even GNU grep. It scans directories recursively and respects .gitignore rules by default, automatically skipping hidden or irrelevant files, so results stay clean and readable.

For anyone dealing with large codebases, logs, or configuration folders, ripgrep becomes an instant time-saver by returning search results almost instantly, even across thousands of files. Windows users who rely on graphical search tools in editors or Explorer quickly realize how slow those interfaces feel once they try rg for the same tasks.

If you want to make the most out of ripgrep, you’ll want to integrate it into scripts or pair it with other tools like fzf for interactive search flows, creating workflows that are much faster than any GUI equivalent. Once you start using ripgrep, traditional search tools feel outdated and sluggish in comparison.

Fd

User-friendly file finder

Fd is a modern alternative to dir /s or the classic find command, built to quickly locate files and folders using clean and simple syntax. Instead of typing verbose commands with multiple flags, you can just type fd report .txt and instantly get a filtered list of matching files. It performs recursive searching by default, ignores hidden and system files unless specified otherwise, and offers fuzzy matching and extension filtering without the need for complicated patterns.

For anyone working across multiple project directories or managing large collections of documents, fd makes locating files significantly faster than using Windows Explorer’s built-in search or the traditional command prompt. It also integrates well with PowerShell pipelines, allowing results to be passed directly into other commands for further processing. For example, fd -e log backup can list all log files containing “backup” in their name, ready to be piped into a compression or cleanup command.

Zoxide

Smarter directory navigation

Zoxide is a smarter way to move between folders in the terminal, replacing the repetitive cd path navigation workflow with a system that learns from your habits. Instead of typing long Windows paths like C:\Users\Name\Documents\Projects\2025, you can just type z projects, and it intelligently jumps to the directory you’ve accessed most frequently that matches that name.

The more you use it, the more accurate it becomes, making it feel like an autocomplete layer for your filesystem. This dramatically reduces keystrokes and eliminates the frustration of remembering deep directory structures, especially useful for developers and power users juggling multiple project folders.

Yazi

Terminal file manager written in Rust

Yazi is a fast, feature-rich terminal file manager that brings a graphical-like experience to the command line without sacrificing speed or efficiency. It offers a clean text-based interface with tabs, previews, multi-select file operations, and vim-style navigation that makes browsing files dramatically faster compared to using Windows Explorer.

What sets Yazi apart is its ability to preview files directly inside the terminal, including images, markdown, PDFs, and source code with syntax highlighting. It integrates with other command-line tools like ripgrep and fd, letting you trigger searches and file actions without ever leaving the interface.

I particularly like how it handles batch renaming, quick directory jumps via zoxide, and immediate navigation through deep folder trees with minimal keystrokes. Despite being a TUI, Yazi feels lightweight and responsive even in large directories, thanks to its asynchronous backend.

Bat

Better file viewing with syntax highlighting

Bat upgrades the simple act of viewing files in the terminal by replacing plain text output with syntax-highlighted, line-numbered, and git-aware formatting. Instead of using type or cat to dump file contents, bat shows structured output with clear visual separation between code, comments, and strings.

This is especially useful when inspecting scripts, config files, JSON, logs, or code snippets directly in PowerShell or CMD. Bat also integrates with Git, highlighting modified lines and showing inline diff markers, which helps quickly understand changes without launching a full editor. It can act as a pager-like less, allowing you to scroll smoothly through large files while preserving formatting.

Command line is where it’s at.

Command-line tools are super helpful whether you’re using Windows, Linux, or macOS. If you’re not sure where to start, you might want to check out our ultimate guide to PowerShell in Windows 11. Once you’re up to speed, try these PowerShell scripts that can make your Windows experience much easier. And while you’re at it, it’s worth learning a few best practices to work even more efficiently.