cheat
cheat is a command-line tool for creating and viewing plain-text cheatsheets, designed to remind users of options for commands they use occasionally. It supports tags, syntax highlighting, multiple cheatpaths, regex search, and shell autocompletion.
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[](https://opensources.dev/resource/cheat)No licenseLicense unknown or unstated — treat as all-rights-reserved until clarified.
Production readiness
3/5- Actively maintainedCommits in the last 6 months
- No known vulnerabilitiesNot yet scanned
- Clear, usable licenseLicense unknown / unstated
- Proven adoptionWidely used
- Has documentationDocumentation indexed
go get cheatOur analysis
cheat is a Go CLI utility that lets you store and view your own plain-text cheatsheets for shell commands, with community-sourced sheets available and features like tagging, regex search, and syntax highlighting.
When to use cheat
Use it when you want personal, editable reference notes for commands you use infrequently, want to keep cheatsheets version-controlled across multiple directories/repos, or need directory-scoped (.cheat) sheets tied to project roots.
When not to
If you only want crowd-sourced, simplified command examples without maintaining your own files, tldr/tealdeer or cht.sh are lighter. If you want an interactive launcher that builds and runs commands directly, navi is a better fit.
Strengths
- Plain-text, no-extension cheatsheet files that are trivially version-controllable
- Multiple cheatpaths with readonly support to avoid merge conflicts on upstream repos
- Directory-scoped .cheat discovery similar to git
- Regex and tag-based search, plus shell autocompletion for bash/zsh/fish/powershell
- Syntax highlighting via Chroma
Trade-offs
- Ships with no cheatsheets out of the box; relies on community repo or manual creation
- Static reference viewer only — does not execute or interactively assemble commands
- Configuration via conf.yml and cheatpaths adds setup overhead versus zero-config alternatives
- Scope is narrow: it's a niche productivity tool, not a framework
Maturity
Mature and popular (13k+ stars) with a long history, stable feature set, and an actively maintained community cheatsheet repository. Suitable for everyday personal use.
cheat is a command-line tool for creating and viewing plain-text cheatsheets, designed to remind users of options for commands they use occasionally. It supports tags, syntax highlighting, multiple cheatpaths, regex search, and shell autocompletion.