20 Terminal Commands That Cover 90% of Daily Work

20 Terminal Commands That Cover 90% of Daily Work

The copy-paste cheat sheet: navigate, search, run code, and launch Expert AI with one letter.

Reading time 1 min read

Command | What it does pwd | Print where you are. ls / dir | List files (macOS/Linux vs Windows). cd <folder> | Change directory. cd .. | Go up one level. clear | Clean the screen.

Inspect & search files

cat <file> | Print a file to screen. less <file> | Page through a file. grep "text" <file> | Search inside a file. find . -name "*.md" | Find files by name pattern. wc -l <file> | Count lines. head / tail <file> | First / last lines.

The real install flow (from ssv.asia/install)

  1. Install Node.js (LTS) — the free tool that powers most modern apps. Windows/macOS download, or nvm on Linux. Already have Node? Skip.
  2. Run the one-liner — npm install -g expert-ai and hit Enter. That is the whole install.
  3. Type x — one letter launches Expert AI from any folder, in any terminal.
  4. Sign in once — the browser opens your free ssv.asia account. Back in the terminal, press 1 for Research and type your first question.
10 free messages to start. No card. Runs inside your existing shell. Pay only when you need more — 6-hour passes over UPI that stack (time + tokens both double).

The AI commands that matter

expert-ai | Launch the interactive AI terminal. expert-ai --prompt "<ask>" | Ask once, get an answer, exit. expert-ai doctor | Check your setup is healthy. expert-ai status | See your plan and token pools. expert-ai model list | See switchable models. expert-ai deepresearch "<topic>" | Run a cited research brief.

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