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Why I Prefer CLI and TUI over GUI - alavi.me
(alavi.me)
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this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
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CLI: Here's a txt file, now memorize it you peasant
Good GUI: Welcome back my friend, straight the thing again? Btw on the right you can see some relevant info and links.
yeah good GUIs are really important for people who use a lot of programs lol.
I can't remember everything at once, I've got better things to do
CLI: Welcome back my friend, forgot a command or argument? Just type
--helpand read the super terse and bullshit free txt file in less time it takes for the GUI startup animations to finish. Too long? Type| grepto directly search for it in less time than it takes for the search button to expand and let you start typing! Realize you keep doing the same few steps? Just write a script instead of memorizing what specific sequence of buttons to click or hope that the GUI remembers where you left off! Need to tell a team member how to do something? Just send them the commands or a full script in chat instead of jumping on a video call and walking them through which of these abstract, indescribable icons they need to click which they'll definitely get wrong and open some weird submenu you then have to tell them how to leave!GUI: Ooh a GPU and gigabytes of VRAM just for my animations? You shouldn't have! Ooh you mouseovered something for one millisecond while moving it to the actual thing you want? Let me lag the entire window and cover up the thing you wanted with this popup that takes longer to disappear the more irrelevant it is! Also none of the text in mouseover popups is selectable so you can't copy from it even if you did need it (Visual Studio static analysis messages I'm looking at you). Still need help? Well you first have to find where the help button is if there even is one! We're increasingly not including help files because it "should" "just" be intuitive. Or just watch a 10 minute video walking through how to do something that could have been two lines in the terminal, stupid! Want to automate something that takes like ten clicks because we hid everything in nested submenus to "avoid clutter"? Go ahead and install a third party macro suite and record your mouse clicks and movements that will break as soon as the next update drops and slightly shift the margins around!