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Native Windows Linux-style commands | ~900KB single binary | No WSL required | Windows commands and Linux-style filters work together

WinuxCmd is built for one practical goal: make common Linux command workflows work naturally on Windows terminals.

• Native Windows executable (winuxcmd.exe), no WSL required
• Linux-style commands and flags (ls, grep, sed, ps, lsof, ...)
• Fast startup and small footprint
• Works well with AI-generated shell commands
• Cross-tool pipelines between Windows and Linux-style commands

irm https://dl.caomengxuan666.com/install.ps1 | iex

1. Download from Releases
2. Extract to any folder
3. Enter bin and run:

.\create_links.ps1

Optional:

.\create_links.ps1 -UseSymbolicLinks
.\create_links.ps1 -Remove

winuxcmd ls -la
winuxcmd grep -n "TODO" README.md
winuxcmd help
winuxcmd help sort

After links are created, you can call commands directly:

ls -la
grep -n "TODO" README.md

• Entered from PowerShell/pwsh: unknown commands fallback through PowerShell
• Entered from cmd: unknown commands fallback through cmd
• PowerShell completion entries (for example Get-Process, Where-Object) are enabled only in PowerShell sessions

WinuxCmd provides a C Foreign Function Interface (FFI) for integration with other languages and applications.

• winux_execute() - Execute commands via daemon with zero start-up overhead
• winux_get_all_commands() - Retrieve all available command names
• winux_is_daemon_available() - Check if daemon is running
• winux_get_version() - Get WinuxCmd version string
• winux_free_buffer() - Free allocated memory
• winux_free_commands_array() - Free command array allocated by winux_get_all_commands()

#include "ffi.h"

int main() {
    // Check daemon availability
    if (!winux_is_daemon_available()) {
        printf("Daemon not available\n");
        return 1;
    }

    // Get all available commands
    char** commands = NULL;
    int count = 0;
    if (winux_get_all_commands(&commands, &count) == 0) {
        printf("Available commands:\n");
        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
            printf("  %s\n", commands[i]);
        }
        winux_free_commands_array(commands, count);
    }

    // Execute a command
    char* output = NULL;
    char* error = NULL;
    size_t output_size = 0;
    size_t error_size = 0;

    int exit_code = winux_execute("ls", NULL, 0, NULL,
                                  &output, &error,
                                  &output_size, &error_size);

    if (output) {
        fwrite(output, 1, output_size, stdout);
        winux_free_buffer(output);
    }
    if (error) {
        winux_free_buffer(error);
    }

    return 0;
}

See examples/ffi/ffi_example.c for a complete example. The FFI library (winuxcore.dll) is built when BUILD_FFI=ON is set.

Add this to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE) to auto-enter WinuxCmd for interactive terminal sessions:

# Automatically entering winuxcmd REPL env.
$cliArgs = [Environment]::GetCommandLineArgs() | ForEach-Object { $_.ToLowerInvariant() }
$isNonInteractiveLaunch = ($cliArgs -contains '-command') -or ($cliArgs -contains '-c') -or ($cliArgs -contains '-file') -or ($cliArgs -contains '-f')
$isRealTerminal = $env:WT_SESSION -or $env:TERM_PROGRAM
if ($Host.Name -eq 'ConsoleHost' -and -not $isNonInteractiveLaunch `
    -and $env:WINUXCMD_BOOTSTRAPPED -ne '1' -and $isRealTerminal) {
    $env:WINUXCMD_BOOTSTRAPPED = '1'
    $winuxExe = (Get-Command winuxcmd -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Source
    if (-not $winuxExe) {
        $devExe = 'your\winuxcmd.exe\path'  # replace with your local path
        if (Test-Path $devExe) {
            $winuxExe = $devExe
        }
    }
    if ($winuxExe -and (Test-Path $winuxExe)) {
        & $winuxExe
    }
}

Replace $devExe with the actual local path to your winuxcmd.exe.

Using a registry AutoRun hook for cmd is risky: it also affects background usages such as cmd /c and Run dialog launches, and can force unexpected interactive WinuxCmd sessions.

Recommended approach:

• If you entered from plain cmd, manually run winuxcmd to enter the completion-enabled interactive environment.
• Avoid cmd AutoRun registry hooks: they also affect non-interactive/background calls such as cmd /c.
• Prefer Windows Terminal, and launch cmd with:

%SystemRoot%\System32\cmd.exe /k winuxcmd

WinuxCmd supports user-defined completion entries.

• Default file: %USERPROFILE%\.winuxcmd\completions\user-completions.txt
• Override path via env var: WINUXCMD_COMPLETION_FILE

Example format:

cmd|git|Distributed version control
opt|git|pull|Fetch from and integrate with another repository

Template file:

• scripts/user-completions.sample.txt

netstat -ano | grep 8080
tasklist | grep -i chrome
ipconfig | grep -i "ipv4"
ps -ef | grep winuxcmd

137 commands are currently implemented. See full compatibility and option details:

• Command Compatibility Matrix (EN)
• 命令兼容性矩阵 (ZH)

Full execution benchmark (startup + execution + exit), 1000-file directory, 20 runs per command.

Summary:

• WinuxCmd wins in 7/8 commands
• Average time: WinuxCmd 6.28ms vs uutils 6.85ms
• Overall: about 1.09x faster

Benchmark details and notes:

• Build Modes
• Custom Containers and Benchmarks

• Stabilize Linux-style core commands on Windows
• Improve REPL fallback correctness for cmd/PowerShell
• Keep binary size and startup performance targets

• Better completion relevance and ranking
• More compatibility fixes for mixed Windows/Linux pipelines
• Improved test coverage for shell-edge scenarios

• Better integration docs and templates
• Contributor tooling and automation improvements
• Long-term cross-platform abstraction planning

A: No. WinuxCmd complements PowerShell. Use whichever syntax is best for the task.

A: Unknown commands are intentionally routed to the parent shell environment for compatibility.

A: Yes. Use %USERPROFILE%\.winuxcmd\completions\user-completions.txt or set WINUXCMD_COMPLETION_FILE.

A: Windows handle/process visibility depends on privilege level. WinuxCmd degrades gracefully and reports partial-result warnings instead of crashing.

• Many users in daily usage scenarios
• Limited contributor capacity
• Strong need for focused, high-quality contributions

If you want to help, the most valuable areas are:

1. Bug fixes for shell compatibility
2. Test coverage for REPL/fallback behavior
3. Documentation clarity and examples

• CONTRIBUTING.md

• Overview (EN)
• Shell Integration (EN)
• 概览 (ZH)
• Shell 集成 (ZH)
• Build Modes
• Testing Framework

MIT License (c) 2026 caomengxuan666. See LICENSE.