mash

mash up millions of open source packages into monstrously powerful scripts.

Caution

We have not vetted any of the scripts mash can run and (currently) they can do anything they want to your computer.

We fully intend to add sandboxing and user reporting, but you have found mash super early in its life so you must practice caution in your usage.

All scripts can be read in advance via mash.pkgx.sh

 

Getting Started

$ mash  # or https://mash.pkgx.sh
# lists all script categories

You can browse script listings with the TUI or at mash.pkgx.sh:

$ mash ai  # or https://mash.pkgx.sh/ai/
# lists all ai scripts

Note

The above lists all user submitted scripts in the ai category.

Once you’ve found a script you want to run:

$ mash ai chat --help  # or https://mash.pkgx.sh/ai/chat/

Installing mash

To install mash and pkgx:

curl https://mash.pkgx.sh | sh
# ^^ installs /usr/local/bin/mash and  /usr/local/bin/pkgx

If you prefer, you can run mash via pkgx:

$ brew install pkgxdev/made/pkgx  # or curl https://pkgx.sh | sh
$ pkgx mash

# or install it via pkgx:
$ pkgx install mash
$ mash

Tip

• brew install pkgxdev/made/pkgx; or
• curl https://pkgx.sh | sh; or
• docs.pkgx.sh/getting-started

mash is a plain POSIX script. All it needs is bash, curl, and pkgx. So if you like you can just download it by itself.

Note

Keeping mash so minimal isn’t a concrete design choice. We will entertain rewriting it in something better for dev as it gets more complicated.

In fact the minimalist nature of mash is more a testament to pkgx’s powerful and composable packaging primitives.

 

Contributing Scripts

Writing Scripts

Use any shell or scripting language you like. You specify it with the shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env -S pkgx ruby

Generally it is sensible to specify constrained versions:

#!/usr/bin/env -S pkgx [email protected]

Naming Scripts

mash operates with a “categorization by default is good” philosophy. Your scripts must be categorized or namespaced with your user.

Thus if you add a script named foo it can only be used via mash username/foo. But if you add a script called foo-bar if will be listed if a user types mash foo:

$ mash foo

    mash foo bar           # your description about `foo bar` is shown here
    mash foo other-script  # …

Tip

Extensions (eg. .sh, .ts) are recommended for GitHub readability. They will be stripped from the mash execution name, eg. foo-bar.ts is invoked via mash foo bar and not mash foo bar.ts

Installing Language Dependencies

Many languages or interpreters nowadays provide clear methods for importing language dependencies inside scripts, eg. deno, or bun. For other languages, read on.

Ruby

Use Bundler:

#!/usr/bin/env -S pkgx ruby@3

require 'bundler/inline'

gemfile do
  source 'https://rubygems.org'
  gem 'ruby-macho', '~> 3'
end

Python, Go, Rust, Node, etc.

Typically for everything else, use scriptisto, eg for Python:

#!/usr/bin/env -S pkgx [email protected] +virtualenv scriptisto

# snip… type `scriptisto new python-pip` for the rest.

Use scriptisto new for a full listing of platforms Scriptisto makes available.

Making your scripts available to mash

1. Fork pkgxdev/mash
2. Add scripts to ./scripts/
3. Optionally edit the README adding a description
4. Push to your fork
5. Wait an hour and then check mash.pkgx.sh

Note

Do not create a pull request for your scripts against this repo! We index the fork graph.

Important

Step 3 (edit the README) is not optional if you want your script to appear on the mash frontpage!

Running Your Scripts

Assuming a script named foo-bar, while debugging just:

$ chmod +x scripts/foo-bar
$ ./scripts/foo-bar

After pushing we will index your script within 60 minutes. Once indexed your script can be run with:

1. mash foo bar; or
2. mash your-username/foo-bar

Important

mash will not be able to run your script until it is indexed. If you can visit https://mash.pkgx.sh/USERNAME/SCRIPT-NAME then you’re script has been indexed.

Note

• Categorized scripts occur on a first come first served basis. If you create a script called foo-bar and someone already did that then you are too late and users can only call your script with mash youruser/foo-bar.
• Updates are fetched automatically, there is no versioning at this time.
• Single letter categorizations are ignored, eg ./scripts/f-u will not be indexed or made available to mash. If you have a particularly good single letter category that you want an exception made, open a discussion and let’s chat!

Note

Naming Guidelines: A Call for Consideration

Think for a little about the names you are picking. We reserve the right to rename egregious abuse of names and/or namespaces. If you feel a script is misnamed open a ticket for discussion.

 

Anatomy of Scripts

Thanks to pkgx, mash scripts can be written in any scripting language using any packages in the entire open source ecosystem.

The Shebang

The shebang is where you instruct pkgx on what scripting language you want. For example, if you want to write your script in fish:

#!/usr/bin/env -S pkgx fish

You can also use pkgx +pkg syntax to add additional packages to the script’s running environment:

#!/usr/bin/env -S pkgx +gh +git +gum +bpb bash

pkgx knows what packages to cache (it doesn’t pollute the user system with installs) based on the commands you want to run. There’s no figuring out pkg names, just type what you would type to run the command.

https://docs.pkgx.sh/scripts

Documenting Your Script

Rewrite the README in your fork so there is a ## mash category scriptname section. If your script is not globally categorized then you would do ## mash username/scriptname instead.

• The paragraph after the ## will be the mash.pkgx.sh description
  • Keep it short or it’ll get truncated when we display it
• If you add a ### Usage section we’ll list it on the web

Important

If you don’t provide a description your script won’t be listed on the mash frontpage (but the scripts can still be run by mash).

Example Fork

https://github.com/mxcl/mash

 

Appendix

mash has no secret sauce; users can just cURL your scripts and run them directly via pkgx:

$ curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mxcl/mash/main/scripts/gh-stargazer
$ pkgx ./gh-stargazer

Even pkgx isn’t required, they can source the dependencies themselves and run the script manually:

$ bash ./stargazer
# ^^ they will need to read the script to determine deps and interpreter

Hackers can use your script without installing pkgx or mash first via our cURL one-liner. This executes the script but doesn’t install anything:

sh <(curl https://mash.pkgx.sh) <category> <scriptname>