CMD-Watch notices when you repeatedly mistype terminal commands and offers to create a permanent alias — right there, in the moment.
Type push instead of git push twice? CMD-Watch interrupts with a clean prompt, suggests the right command, and with a single keypress writes a permanent alias to your .zshrc. No configuration needed.
git clone https://github.com/MattX23/CMD-Watch.git ~/.cmd-watch
~/.cmd-watch/install.sh
source ~/.zshrcOr manually add to your ~/.zshrc:
source "/path/to/cmdwatch.zsh"CMD-Watch hooks into zsh's built-in command_not_found_handler — called automatically whenever a command isn't found. It tracks how many times each unknown command is typed. Once you hit the threshold (default: 2), it shows an interactive prompt.
"Did you mean?" suggestions come from:
- Git subcommands —
push→git push,check→git checkout - Args you typed — shown in the prompt for context, but the saved alias is always the bare command.
merge main→ shown asgit merge main, saved asalias merge='git merge'so it works with any branch later. - npm/yarn scripts — if a
package.jsonexists in the current directory tree
Aliases are written directly to your .zshrc under a # cmdwatch aliases section, activated immediately in the current session, and the original command runs right away — no need to retype it or open a new terminal.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
1–9 |
Alias to that suggestion and run the command immediately |
a |
Enter a custom expansion |
s |
Skip — keep tracking |
n |
Never ask about this command again |
cmdwatch # same as cmdwatch stats
cmdwatch stats # show aliases, miss counts, and ignored commands
cmdwatch add [<cmd> [<expansion>]] # manually create an alias
cmdwatch remove <cmd> # remove an alias and resume tracking
cmdwatch unignore <cmd> # resume watching a silenced command
cmdwatch reset <cmd> # reset the miss count for a command
cmdwatch reset-all # wipe all aliases, counts, and ignored commands
cmdwatch help # show all subcommandscmdwatch remove push does all of this in one step:
- Removes
alias push='...'from the# cmdwatch aliasessection of your.zshrc - Unaliases it in the current session immediately
- Clears the miss count so cmdwatch starts tracking from zero again
- Removes it from the ignored list (if you had previously pressed
n)
After running it, typing push will behave as if cmdwatch had never seen it.
Wipes everything cmdwatch has written — use this for a clean slate:
- Removes all aliases from the
# cmdwatch aliasessection of your.zshrc - Unaliases them in the current session
- Deletes all miss counts and the ignored list
Asks for confirmation before doing anything.
CMD-Watch only ever touches lines inside the # cmdwatch aliases section it creates. Your own aliases and config above or below that block are never modified.
Before any write (add, remove, reset-all), a backup of your .zshrc is saved to ~/.cmdwatch/zshrc.bak. To restore it manually:
cp ~/.cmdwatch/zshrc.bak ~/.zshrcSet these in your .zshrc before sourcing cmdwatch.zsh:
CMDWATCH_THRESHOLD=3 # misses before prompting (default: 2)
CMDWATCH_DIR=~/.cmdwatch # where counts and state are stored
CMDWATCH_ZSHRC=~/.zshrc # which file aliases are written toAll state lives in ~/.cmdwatch/:
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
count_<cmd> |
Miss count for that command |
ignored |
Commands silenced with n — never prompted again |
zshrc.bak |
Backup of .zshrc taken before the last write operation |
- zsh 5.0+
- macOS or Linux
thefuck— corrects and reruns your last command when you typefuck. Reactive and ephemeral, doesn't create persistent aliases.alias-tips— reminds you when you type a command you've already aliased. Complementary to CMD-Watch.
CMD-Watch fills a different niche: it watches for patterns in failed commands and turns them into permanent shortcuts.
Issues and PRs welcome. The entire tool is a single cmdwatch.zsh file — easy to read and expand on.