howdoi

howdoi is a command-line tool that retrieves programming solutions directly from StackOverflow and other StackExchange sites. Instead of opening a browser to search for coding help, developers can query howdoi with natural language questions and receive code snippets and solutions in their terminal.

The tool accepts queries like howdoi format date bash or howdoi print stack trace python and returns relevant code examples extracted from community Q&A sites. It supports multiple search engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo), can return multiple answers with the -n flag, and includes features like colorized output, answer caching, and JSON formatting for scripting.

howdoi includes a stashing system for saving useful answers locally, supports environment variables for configuration, and can search specific StackExchange properties like cooking.stackexchange.com. The tool integrates with various platforms including Slack, Telegram, Discord, Emacs, VSCode, and Alfred, making it accessible across different development workflows.

Installation

# via pip
pip install howdoi

# via Homebrew
brew install howdoi