Terminal

You might say

AI gave me a command to run, but I don't know what it will do. Is it safe to run?

Run text commands in a specific folder on your computer or serverA terminal gives you a prompt where commands can start tools, install packages, inspect files, and run a project. The current directory changes what a command affects. Read the command and confirm the path before running anything that changes or deletes files.

zsh — my-first-page

$ npm run dev > my-first-page@0.1.0 dev ✓ Ready in 1.2s → Local: http://localhost:3000 Open this address in your browser and you will be able to see your page

When to use it

Start a development server
Install project dependencies
Run build and test commands
Inspect files, processes, and logs

When NOT to use it

Paste a command you do not understand with elevated permission
Run project commands from an unrelated directory
Share terminal output that contains secrets
Use a destructive command with an unverified path or wildcard

Anatomy

$ npm run dev ✓ Ready in 1.2s → http://localhost:3000

Starting with $ or %; the preceding path represents the current working directory

The first word specifies an external program or shell built-in function, such as npm, cd, ls, git

Supplementary information after the command, such as run dev specifies the script to be executed

Results, warnings, and errors returned by commands; first look for clues that lead to action

Variants

cd & ls

cd my-first-page ls

Go into the project directory and list the files in it

npm run

npm run dev

Execute startup or build scripts declared in package.json

Ctrl+C

Ctrl + C

Stop a command or development service running in the foreground

clear

Clear the display when there is too much content on the screen

Typical use cases

Run a project

zsh — my-first-page

$ npm run dev > my-first-page@0.1.0 dev > vite ✓ Ready in 1.2s → Local: http://localhost:3000 The development service runs in this process; the local address will stop responding after aborting the process

Install packages

zsh — my-first-page

Failed to compile Error: Cannot find module 'react' at build (vite.config.js:12) at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal) ↑ The error message and call stack must be judged together with the execution command

Build and test

zsh

~/Desktop $ ls Documents Downloads my-first-page ~/Desktop $ cd my-first-page ~/Desktop/my-first-page $ ls index.html package.json README.md

Read logs

zsh — my-first-page

✓ Ready — http://localhost:3000 ^C ~/Desktop/my-first-page $ The service has stopped and the terminal returns the prompt Ctrl + C: Abort the command running in the foreground