I found the ultimate "No Sudo" toolbox for Linux, and it’s a game-changer

Published Sep 27, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT Graeme Peacock is a seasoned Linux expert with more than 15 years of hands-on experience. He has worked extensively with Ubuntu, Gentoo, Arch Linux, Qubes, and Fedora, gaining deep proficiency in everything from routine terminal operations to highly customized system builds. Graeme began his journey with Ubuntu, quickly mastering the command line and essential system administration skills. A year later, he moved to Arch Linux, where he spent nearly a decade refining his expertise through the installation and configuration of multiple minimalist systems. After some time, he moved to Gentoo, where he configured and compiled both server and desktop environments using normal and hardened profiles and frequently compiled custom kernels. Graeme moved to Qubes in 2016, where he has remained ever since. Graeme has extensive experience with highly configurable tools such as Vim, Neovim, and Emacs, and he maintains his own complex configurations. He is also highly proficient with Bash, Zsh, and dozens of utilities. Graeme holds a B.S. in software engineering and has a strong passion for programming and web development. He is proficient in Golang, Python, Bash, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, and CSS. He also has considerable experience with Docker and is currently working on learning Kubernetes. Have you ever found yourself on a system that's lacking the necessary tools? Maybe it was a rescue or installation environment, an unfamiliar system you were repairing, or a Docker container you were debugging. If you've used Linux for a while, you've likely encountered these scenarios, and installing the required tools can be a hassle when all you want is to finish the job. That's where a convenient toolkit becomes a lifesaver, and I have one that fits the bill perfectly. X-cmd describes itself in many ways, but at its core, it's portable, convenient, and hassle-free. In keeping with that spirit, you can deploy it to any system with a simple curl command: curl https://get.x-cmd.com | sh After that, execute the following command for your particular shell: x --setup X-cmd is lightweight and automatically locates and installs any missing commands or dependencies. It provides access to over 500 third-party tools, installs them in a private environment, and keeps the system free from pollution. It runs entirely from your home directory (~/.x-cmd), requires no special privileges, and offers many other benefits. Modules: Command augmentation and quality of life features Baby steps X-cmd modules are a suite of augmented commands, some built directly into the core distribution, others available on demand. Examples include x choco (for Chocolately), x brew (for Homebrew), x fzf, and x jq, among others. These modules enhance the original commands with shell and awk code, offering additional utility and features. The distribution comes with over 300 bundled modules, each with enhanced capabilities. You can view available modules with x help: Or by visiting the website: Command augmentation has one simple aim: quality of life improvements. For instance, it extends the ls command to offer preview panes for each directory you visit, providing a comprehensive view of the directory structure as you go. You can navigate these directories using Vim keymaps, which feels like a lightweight terminal-based file manager. Another example of augmentation is a convenient fuzzy selector for the tldr command: Or a fuzzy selector for the ps command: Fuzzy selectors everywhere, I say. These are much-needed improvements and always welcome. In addition, some of the commands allow you to produce JSON from the output, like ps: JSON is more structured than plain text and is very suitable for pipeline processing, which is something you're probably interested in, given the administrative nature of x-cmd. While command augmentations may seem intrusive, x-cmd functions as a namespace for the commands it "wraps." For example, you'll need to prefix your augmented commands with "x," such as x ls. The binaries also reside in ~/.x-cmd—separate from your primary system. This approach ensures that existing binaries on your PATH remain free from interference, making it easy to reverse all system changes with a simple rm command. A toolkit like this wouldn't be very useful if it didn't facilitate installation, and x-cmd does exactly that. If the necessary binaries aren't already on your system, they'll be downloaded automatically. This applies to both modules and packages (which we'll cover next). Add any tool to your toolkit While modules are interesting and useful, the packages I feel provide the most benefit. I won't beat around the bush, and in simple terms, x pkg is a package manager that allows you to install over 500 tools with no need for root privileges. There are hundreds of non-standard commands like procs, socat, bandwhich, yq, and jq. It also includes language-specific tools such as Lua and Python, and even AI-powered applications like Claude Code and Codex. To use any of these, prefix them with "x," for instance: x foo. On top of the namespace approach (x foo), there are two other installation modes that may interest you. The first allows you to try a command, giving you direct access to it as if it were natively installed. To demo this, execute x env try jq, and it'll install jq and then update the local shell's PATH. This enables you to run it directly (without the "x" prefix)—but only until you exit the current shell. To make it permanent, execute x env use jq, and it becomes available to all other shells permanently. The magic of permanence occurs because the initial x-cmd installation step modifies your shell environment: x-cmd [your-shell] --setup. Don't neglect x-cmd There are too many modules to cover to do x-cmd justice. You may dismiss x-cmd because augmenting the ps or fzf commands doesn't sound impressive, but it offers hundreds of augmentations; for example, I didn't cover the Docker, Git, cloud, or developer-focused modules. If you require an extensive toolkit at hand and often find yourself in an environment that's lacking, x-cmd makes many powerful tools available, without fuss or leaving a mess. If a toolkit isn't what you want because you manage a single computer, then modules still provide hundreds of useful augmentations that are worth exploring. I also didn't mention the AI integration or sandboxing features, but x-cmd allows you to control your system through AI-generated commands. That may sound like insanity to some, but it's why the sandboxing feature exists. X-cmd has many features to explore, and if you're interested, visit their installation page for instructions and run the provided curl command to get started. If not, you can check out my UBI guide to install it directly from GitHub.