I’ve been hanging on to a machine with 8GB of RAM for a while now, and for the most part, it does the job. However, these days, it feels like almost every app I use is an Electron app — essentially, a web app bundled with Chromium.

That means more memory usage, more disk space, and more background processes than something that should be quite simple. I’d love to see more developers making proper native apps again, but I’m not holding my breath.

At some point, I figured I’d try a different approach. Instead of waiting for lighter apps to appear, why not replace as many of my daily tools as possible with terminal-based ones? They’re usually only a few megabytes in size, barely touch system resources, and work just fine even on older hardware.

Neovim

For all your text-editing needs

I’ve been using Neovim as my main text editor for a couple of years now, starting back in my freshman year of university, and it’s easily one of my favorite apps of all time. If you are a computer science student or someone who codes a lot, it is worth checking out. For those unfamiliar, Neovim is essentially a modern fork of Vim, a minimal text editor that comes pre-installed on most UNIX-based systems, but with plenty of improvements and extra functionality.

The biggest shift from most editors is how it changes the way you interact with text. Instead of clicking around to place your cursor, Neovim keeps you on the keyboard at all times, with every action performed through keybinds.

You are not expected to take your hands off the keyboard, which I actually prefer. If you enjoy customizing your setup, you can also apply a wide range of themes and tweak the interface to look exactly how you want.

I recommend installing the Lazy plugin, which makes it easy to add features like code completion, tabs, and more. I primarily use Neovim for two things: coding in the various languages I work with via plugins, and writing in Markdown, which turns it into a distraction-free writing machine.

Gemini CLI

You don't need Cursor

For most of my coding experiments, Gemini CLI has become a go-to tool alongside Neovim. It is Google’s own command-line interface for the Gemini models, but it is built with coding in mind. Instead of switching to a browser or loading a heavy Electron app, I can call it right from the terminal and get AI assistance on whatever I am working on.

It runs the Gemini 2.5 family of models, which can handle a good amount of context. That means I can put in multiple big files, and it will still understand what is going on. I have used it to write boilerplate, clean up messy functions, explain unfamiliar code, and even walk me through how to fix a bug step by step. That said, Gemini CLI does get a bit dramatic at times, but it does the job.

What I like most is that it fits naturally into my workflow. If I am editing a project in Neovim, I can split 2 windows, run Gemini CLI, and keep both my code and the LLM in view.

Newsboat

Your RSS feed, right inside your terminal

Newsboat is another neat TUI-based app that essentially functions as an RSS feed right in your terminal. You simply put your OPML file or a list of RSS URLs into Newsboat's directory, and it will function just like any other RSS app, such as Feedly, which I used to use previously.

Most RSS readers support exporting your feeds via an OPML file, which you just need to put in Newsboat's directory, and you're pretty much ready to go. The concept is largely the same here; you simply keep your hands on your keyboard and don't need to touch your mouse.

That said, I am not a huge fan of the UI, as it's functional but definitely looks dated. However, it's still usable, as you can always open the full article in a browser via a keyboard shortcut.

Taskwarrior

To-dos, straight from your terminal

I used to rely on Todoist as my main to-do app, and while there are plenty of open-source alternatives, I wanted something even lighter, and Taskwarrior turned out to be one of the best CLI apps I have ever used.

It’s a bit different from the other apps on this list because it doesn’t have a dedicated interface within the terminal. Instead, you interact with it by typing commands, just like any other command-line utility.

For example, to add a task and then view your full list, you'd type:

task add Pay utilities bill
task list

While this is just a basic example, you can do a lot more, like setting filters, priority, and other parameters. You can find a complete list of all the arguments on the documentation page.

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While my main purpose for switching over to these apps was definitely resource consumption, I've found something that I didn't know I needed.

I have realized that I am much faster when my hands are stuck on my keyboard, and, oddly enough, I do like the aesthetics of these TUI-based apps, so all in all, it has definitely been a great experience for me, and I don't see myself going back.