up

up is a terminal-based interactive tool for building Linux pipelines with instant live preview. It accepts text input from any command or pipeline, then provides a TUI where users can incrementally build complex bash pipelines while seeing their output in real-time. The tool displays command results in a scrollable preview window below the input field, allowing rapid iteration and exploration of textual data.

The interface supports standard navigation with PgUp/PgDn and Ctrl-arrow keys for browsing output. Users type bash pipelines in the top input box and press Enter to execute them, with results immediately displayed below. Commands are passed verbatim to bash -c, supporting all bash syntax. When satisfied with a pipeline, pressing Ctrl-X saves the command to a numbered shell script file (up1.sh, up2.sh, etc.) in the current directory.

up handles long-running input streams through buffer controls - Ctrl-S freezes the input buffer (useful for commands like wc or sort that wait for complete input), while Ctrl-Q unfreezes it. The tool uses a fixed 40MB input buffer and provides visual indicators for buffer state and input status in the top-left corner of the interface.

Installation

# via Homebrew
brew install up

# via FreeBSD
pkg install up

# via Binary
wget https://github.com/akavel/up/releases/latest/download/up