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explainshell

Explainshell is a self-hosted web tool that explains Linux and Unix shell commands by parsing man pages and matching each argument to the relevant help text.

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Explainshell is a self-hosted web tool that explains Linux and Unix shell commands by parsing man pages and matching each argument to the relevant help text. Paste a command into its search box and it breaks down what every part does, making it ideal for anyone new to the command line or working through Unraid setups.

Platform availability

Available on 1 of 9 platforms

  • Unraid
  • TrueNAS (not listed)
  • Umbrel (not listed)
  • ZimaOS (not listed)
  • Proxmox (not listed)
  • Helm (not listed)
  • Mac (not listed)
  • Windows (not listed)
  • Linux (not listed)

Health score?A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). When the source code has been checked, a fifth factor, security check (20%: automated scan for committed secrets, unsafe desktop-app settings, known-vulnerable dependencies and project hygiene; any serious finding caps it at 20), is added. Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

78/100 Good

Maintained
96last commit 48 days ago
Popular
8314,278 GitHub stars
Easy to install
351 install platform, install notes, Docker image
Light to run
No data

Based on 3 of 4 factors.

Availability: platform listings confirmed today, links checked 5 days ago

GitHub stars
14,278
Open issues
57
Last commit
2026-08-26
License
GPL-3.0
Activity
stale

Checked 4 days ago - source: GitHub (idank/explainshell)

Resources & Compatibility

ARM (e.g. Raspberry Pi) is not supported.

Checked 15 days ago - source: Docker Hub image tags and published docs

First-install notes

  • Deployment options Self-host with Docker (community image spaceinvaderone/explainshell on Docker Hub) or a standard Flask/SQLite server install; a step-by-step setup guide is published on selfhost.directory. source

Fetched 6 days ago - each note links to its source

Alternatives (3)

  • Termio - Modern terminal and SSH manager with AI, workspaces, and full privacy.
  • Warp Terminal - Warp is a blazingly fast, Rust-based terminal that makes you and your team more productive at coding and DevOps.
  • Wave Terminal - Wave is an open-source, AI-native terminal built for seamless developer workflows with inline rendering, a modern UI, and persistent sessio…

Checked 12 days ago - source: AlternativeTo

Common questions

What port does explainshell listen on locally?

The Flask web server is started with make serve and is available at localhost:5000.

Where is the explainshell database stored?

Processed manpages are stored in a single SQLite database named explainshell.db, containing tables for manpages, parsed manpages, and mappings.

How can I update the manpage database after self-hosting?

You can download the live database with make download-latest-db, and the live service database is published as a GitHub release.

Can I extract options from manpages without using the live database?

Yes, the manager CLI can parse a manpage and extract options, including an LLM-based extraction mode.

Answers sourced from github.com

Community

Collected 14 days ago - public community threads