Nushell

Nushell is a modern, cross-platform shell that reimagines how we interact with command-line interfaces by treating data as structured rather than raw text streams. Unlike traditional shells that work with plain text, Nu views everything as tables, records, and structured data that can be easily manipulated through pipelines. When you list files, query processes, or open configuration files, you get back structured data that can be filtered, sorted, and transformed using consistent commands.

The shell draws inspiration from PowerShell's structured approach while incorporating functional programming concepts and modern CLI design principles. Nu excels at working with structured file formats like JSON, YAML, and TOML, automatically parsing them into navigable data structures. Its pipeline-based architecture allows you to chain commands together where each step can produce, filter, or consume structured data streams.

Nushell is designed for developers, system administrators, and power users who want a more intuitive and powerful shell experience. It provides first-class cross-platform support for Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring that commands and workflows remain consistent across different operating systems. While it has reached a minimum viable product level of quality with many users adopting it as their daily driver, some commands may still be unstable as the project continues to mature.

Installation

# via Homebrew (Linux/macOS)
brew install nushell

# via Winget (Windows)
winget install nushell