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Show HN: Kmdr – Explains the syntax of CLI commands you select in the browser

11 points by ediardo 6y ago

ediardo 6y ago
Maker here. kmdr works on any website where code is selectable, including on GitHub or GitLab, in official documentation, StackOverflow, or web-based chat. In a pop-up window, kmdr will describe each attribute of the commands: programs, options, subcommands, operators, etc.. All feedback welcome! Thanks! Start a free trial at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kmdr/lbigelojleemicaaaogihjnabfndkdii https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kmdr/lbigelojleemi...
abeyer 6y ago
I'm disappointed the cli version seems to be getting short shrift in the push to monetize. I'd be far more likely to want to use this from the cli or from another tool, than in a browser.
- ediardo 6y ago
  hey abeyer, thanks for the feedback. kmdr-cli[0] won't go away. It's definitely our base and when we launched with it initially, we learned that people are willing to install and wanting to have something that's running in their terminal. What prompted us to focus on the browser, was that a huge number of our queries (55%) were coming from our demo page on our website. We're a team of 3, so investing in the browser extension meant a hault to progress in kmdr-cli but we fully intend to re-invest there and bridge browser and kmdr-cli. This morning we updated the kmdr-cli to leverage the same definitions available on the browser extension. Next will be to leverage the same parser. [0] https://github.com/ediardo/kmdr-cli https://github.com/ediardo/kmdr-cli
  - abeyer 6y ago
    Cool, thanks! The FAQ still says that the cli uses the old parser/definitions...you might want to update that to reflect that you're changing that and it's not intentionally being left behind.
    - Ianeta 6y ago
      Done! Thank you!!
abendy 6y ago
Very slick. Nicely done. But this service is available for free [0] with a PopClip extension [1]. What does this have that I can't already get for free? [0] - https://explainshell.com/ https://explainshell.com/ [1] - https://github.com/pilotmoon/PopClip-Extensions/blob/master/source/ExplainShell/Config.plist https://github.com/pilotmoon/PopClip-Extensions/blob/master/...
- Ianeta 6y ago
  Thanks abendy. Explain shell is awesome, no doubt. But we saw it's limitations given the parser it is using and being based on manpages. With a different parser and separate backend of descriptions that we control and can improve upon, the differences today include being able to explain complex commands (docker, kubectl, npm, go, apt, etc) and more complicated bash constructs (multiline, variable assignments, command expansions, and subshells). Then extending beyond explanations, we're moving in a direction of leveraging accounts. We'll allow folks to have their own `cheatsheets` by being able to save the commands they query and want to hold on to. Also we'd like to bridge back to our CLI client through accounts, and be able to connect browser and terminal more seemlessly.
  - Ianeta 6y ago
    We go into a bit more depth in our FAQ[0] [0] https://kmdr.sh/faq/ https://kmdr.sh/faq/

11 points by ediardo 6y ago

Maker here. kmdr works on any website where code is selectable, including on GitHub or GitLab, in official documentation, StackOverflow, or web-based chat. In a pop-up window, kmdr will describe each attribute of the commands: programs, options, subcommands, operators, etc.. All feedback welcome! Thanks! Start a free trial at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kmdr/lbigelojleemicaaaogihjnabfndkdii https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kmdr/lbigelojleemi...

abeyer 6y ago

I'm disappointed the cli version seems to be getting short shrift in the push to monetize. I'd be far more likely to want to use this from the cli or from another tool, than in a browser.

ediardo 6y ago
hey abeyer, thanks for the feedback. kmdr-cli[0] won't go away. It's definitely our base and when we launched with it initially, we learned that people are willing to install and wanting to have something that's running in their terminal. What prompted us to focus on the browser, was that a huge number of our queries (55%) were coming from our demo page on our website. We're a team of 3, so investing in the browser extension meant a hault to progress in kmdr-cli but we fully intend to re-invest there and bridge browser and kmdr-cli. This morning we updated the kmdr-cli to leverage the same definitions available on the browser extension. Next will be to leverage the same parser. [0] https://github.com/ediardo/kmdr-cli https://github.com/ediardo/kmdr-cli
- abeyer 6y ago
  Cool, thanks! The FAQ still says that the cli uses the old parser/definitions...you might want to update that to reflect that you're changing that and it's not intentionally being left behind.
  - Ianeta 6y ago
    Done! Thank you!!

abendy 6y ago

Very slick. Nicely done. But this service is available for free [0] with a PopClip extension [1]. What does this have that I can't already get for free? [0] - https://explainshell.com/ https://explainshell.com/ [1] - https://github.com/pilotmoon/PopClip-Extensions/blob/master/source/ExplainShell/Config.plist https://github.com/pilotmoon/PopClip-Extensions/blob/master/...

Ianeta 6y ago
Thanks abendy. Explain shell is awesome, no doubt. But we saw it's limitations given the parser it is using and being based on manpages. With a different parser and separate backend of descriptions that we control and can improve upon, the differences today include being able to explain complex commands (docker, kubectl, npm, go, apt, etc) and more complicated bash constructs (multiline, variable assignments, command expansions, and subshells). Then extending beyond explanations, we're moving in a direction of leveraging accounts. We'll allow folks to have their own `cheatsheets` by being able to save the commands they query and want to hold on to. Also we'd like to bridge back to our CLI client through accounts, and be able to connect browser and terminal more seemlessly.
- Ianeta 6y ago
  We go into a bit more depth in our FAQ[0] [0] https://kmdr.sh/faq/ https://kmdr.sh/faq/