Zcmd - Portable Windows Shell Replacement

Zcmd is a portable, single executable Windows shell for cmd.exe-style workflows, with built-in tools for navigation, viewing, editing, monitoring, and media tasks.

Zcmd is a Windows shell implemented as a single native executable. It focuses on the interactive parts of a terminal session: prompt rendering, history, completion, file navigation, and a set of built-in commands.

It does not try to replace the wider Windows command ecosystem. Built-ins are handled directly in C++, and commands outside that set continue through cmd.exe so existing batch files and command-line tools still work.

The core shell is self-contained. Optional tools such as ffmpeg and yt-dlp are only needed for the media-related commands.

What changes in daily use

• ls uses consistent file-type colors and supports sorting, filtering, and hidden-file handling.
• History persists across restarts and can be searched as you type.
• Tab completion works for relative paths such as cd ../someth.
• The prompt shows time, git branch, dirty state, exit code, and long-command timing.
• Paths are displayed with / separators in the UI.

Command model

Zcmd handles a fixed set of built-ins directly and forwards everything else to cmd.exe.

Windows Terminal / VS Code / any terminal host
        |
        +-- zcmd.exe
              |
              +-- built-ins handled directly in C++
              |     prompt, history, hints, ls, cat, edit, explore, resmon...
              |
              +-- everything else -> cmd.exe /c <command>
                    batch files, redirection, pipes, &&, ||, %VAR%, existing tooling

This keeps normal Windows command compatibility while allowing the shell itself to provide its own prompt, history, navigation, and full-screen tools.

Some Windows-specific behaviors are handled explicitly:

• GUI apps can launch detached instead of hijacking the shell.
• Common env-mutating wrappers like version managers can update the current session instead of dying in a child process.
• Full-screen tools use the terminal cleanly and return you to the exact shell view you had before.

Built-in commands

The prompt and file navigation are only part of the shell. Zcmd also includes a set of built-in full-screen and utility commands.

ls

Colored listing, sorting, hidden-file handling, and filtering with grep or findstr.

cat

Syntax-highlighted text, inline image rendering, and terminal video playback when ffmpeg is available.

explore

A full-screen two-panel file explorer built into the shell. It supports sorting, filtering, selection, copy, move, recycle, and delete operations.

play

Play a single MP3 or a folder, with shuffle, track navigation, pause, resume, and volume control.

top

Interactive process viewer with sorting, filtering, and task termination.

resmon

Live CPU, GPU, RAM, battery, and network history graphs in the terminal.

edit and view

Built-in file editor and viewer with syntax highlighting.

Other built-in tools

Zcmd also includes yt, ip, calc, json, clip, clock, stopw, matrix, and notes.

help

Shows the built-in command list and short usage hints.

Common commands

This is not the full manual. These are common examples:

• ls -al, ls -tr, ls | grep foo
• cd -, cd --, cd ~~
• cat file.cpp, cat image.png
• edit path/to/file
• top
• explore
• resmon
• play folder/of/mp3s
• yt mp3 <url>
• which <command>
• alias ll=ls -l

Everything else still falls through to cmd.exe, so existing Windows batch files and external toolchains keep working.

Install and run

Download zcmd.exe from Releases, put it in a stable location, and point your terminal profile at it.

Windows Terminal:

{
  "commandline": "D:/tools/zcmd/zcmd.exe"
}

VS Code:

{
  "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
    "Zcmd": {
      "path": ["D:/tools/zcmd/zcmd.exe"]
    }
  },
  "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Zcmd"
}

Optional extras:

• ffmpeg enables terminal video playback and powers yt
• yt-dlp enables yt mp3 and yt mp4
• a terminal with ANSI and Unicode support is recommended

Build

Build requirements:

• Windows
• g++ on PATH, typically from MinGW-w64
• standard Windows system libraries available on the machine: advapi32, shell32, iphlpapi, psapi, winmm, dxgi, pdh

Run:

build.bat

That builds zcmd.exe and bumps the patch version on success.