try - fresh directories for every vibe

Website · RubyGems · GitHub

Your experiments deserve a home. 🏠

For everyone who constantly creates new projects for little experiments, a one-file Ruby script to quickly manage and navigate to keep them somewhat organized

Ever find yourself with 50 directories named test, test2, new-test, actually-working-test, scattered across your filesystem? Or worse, just coding in /tmp and losing everything?

try is here for your beautifully chaotic mind.

What it does

Fuzzy Search Demo

View interactive version on asciinema

Instantly navigate through all your experiment directories with:

  • Fuzzy search that just works
  • Smart sorting - recently used stuff bubbles to the top
  • Auto-dating - creates directories like 2025-08-17-redis-experiment
  • Zero config - just one Ruby file, no dependencies

Installation

RubyGems (Recommended)

gem install try-cli

Then add to your shell:

# Bash/Zsh - add to .zshrc or .bashrc
eval "$(try init)"

# Fish - add to config.fish
try init | source

Quick Start (Manual)

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tobi/try/refs/heads/main/try.rb > ~/.local/try.rb

# Make "try" executable so it can be run directly
chmod +x ~/.local/try.rb

# Add to your shell (bash/zsh)
echo 'eval "$(ruby ~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries)"' >> ~/.zshrc

# for fish shell users
echo '~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries | source' >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

The Problem

You're learning Redis. You create /tmp/redis-test. Then ~/Desktop/redis-actually. Then ~/projects/testing-redis-again. Three weeks later you can't find that brilliant connection pooling solution you wrote at 2am.

The Solution

All your experiments in one place, with instant fuzzy search:

$ try pool
→ 2025-08-14-redis-connection-pool    2h, 18.5
  2025-08-03-thread-pool              3d, 12.1
  2025-07-22-db-pooling               2w, 8.3
  + Create new: pool

Type, arrow down, enter. You're there.

Features

🎯 Smart Fuzzy Search

Not just substring matching - it's smart:

  • rds matches redis-server
  • connpool matches connection-pool
  • Recent stuff scores higher
  • Shorter names win on equal matches

⏰ Time-Aware

  • Shows how long ago you touched each project
  • Recently accessed directories float to the top
  • Perfect for "what was I working on yesterday?"

🎨 Pretty TUI

  • Clean, minimal interface
  • Highlights matches as you type
  • Shows scores so you know why things are ranked
  • Dark mode by default (because obviously)

📁 Organized Chaos

  • Everything lives in ~/src/tries (configurable via TRY_PATH)
  • Auto-prefixes with dates: 2025-08-17-your-idea
  • Skip the date prompt if you already typed a name

Shell Integration

  • Bash/Zsh:

    # default is ~/src/tries
eval "$(~/.local/try.rb init)"
# or pick a path
eval "$(~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries)"

  • Fish:

    ~/.local/try.rb init | source
# or pick a path
~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries | source

Notes:

  • The runtime commands printed by try are shell-neutral (absolute paths, quoted). Only the small wrapper function differs per shell.

Usage

try                                          # Browse all experiments
try redis                                    # Jump to redis experiment or create new
try new api                                  # Start with "2025-08-17-new-api"
try . [name]                                   # Create a dated worktree dir for current repo
try ./path/to/repo [name]                      # Use another repo as the worktree source
try worktree dir [name]                        # Same as above, explicit CLI form
try clone https://github.com/user/repo.git  # Clone repo into date-prefixed directory
try https://github.com/user/repo.git        # Shorthand for clone (same as above)
try --help                                   # See all options

Notes on worktrees (try . / try worktree dir):

  • With a custom [name], uses that; otherwise uses cwd’s basename. Both are prefixed with today’s date.
  • Inside a Git repo: adds a detached HEAD git worktree to the created directory.
  • Outside a repo: simply creates the directory and changes into it.

Git Repository Cloning

try can automatically clone git repositories into properly named experiment directories:

# Clone with auto-generated directory name
try clone https://github.com/tobi/try.git
# Creates: 2025-08-27-tobi-try

# Clone with custom name
try clone https://github.com/tobi/try.git my-fork
# Creates: my-fork

# Shorthand syntax (no need to type 'clone')
try https://github.com/tobi/try.git
# Creates: 2025-08-27-tobi-try

# Paste a GitHub pull request URL to clone and check out that PR
try https://github.com/tobi/try/pull/124
# Creates: 2025-08-27-tobi-try

Supported git URI formats:

  • https://github.com/user/repo.git (HTTPS GitHub)
  • git@github.com:user/repo.git (SSH GitHub)
  • https://gitlab.com/user/repo.git (GitLab)
  • git@host.com:user/repo.git (SSH other hosts)
  • ssh://git@host.com:port/user/repo.git (SSH other hosts with custom port)
  • user@host:path/to/repo.git (nested SCP-style SSH URLs)
  • https://github.com/user/repo/pull/123 (GitHub pull requests)

A GitHub pull request URL clones the main repository, fetches the PR ref, and checks it out in detached HEAD state. The directory name is based on the main repository URL, not the /pull/<number> suffix. The .git suffix is automatically removed from URLs when generating directory names.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • ↑/↓ or Ctrl-P/N/J/K - Navigate
  • Enter - Select or create
  • Backspace - Delete character
  • Ctrl-D - Delete directory (with confirmation)
  • ESC - Cancel
  • Just type to filter

Configuration

Set TRY_PATH to change where experiments are stored:

export TRY_PATH=~/code/sketches

Default: ~/src/tries

Nix

Quick start

nix run github:tobi/try
nix run github:tobi/try -- --help
nix run github:tobi/try init ~/my-tries

Home Manager

{
  inputs.try.url = "github:tobi/try";

  imports = [ inputs.try.homeManagerModules.default ];

  programs.try = {
    enable = true;
    path = "~/experiments";  # optional, defaults to ~/src/tries
  };
}

Homebrew

Quick start

brew tap tobi/try https://github.com/tobi/try
brew install try

After installation, add to your shell:

  • Bash/Zsh:

    # default is ~/src/tries
eval "$(try init)"
# or pick a path
eval "$(try init ~/src/tries)"

  • Fish:

    try init | source
# or pick a path
try init ~/src/tries | source

Why Ruby?

  • One file, no dependencies
  • Works on any system with Ruby (macOS has it built-in)
  • Fast enough for thousands of directories
  • Easy to hack on

The Philosophy

Your brain doesn't work in neat folders. You have ideas, you try things, you context-switch like a caffeinated squirrel. This tool embraces that.

Every experiment gets a home. Every home is instantly findable. Your 2am coding sessions are no longer lost to the void.

FAQ

Q: Why not just use cd and ls? A: Because you have 200 directories and can't remember if you called it test-redis, redis-test, or new-redis-thing.

Q: Why not use fzf? A: fzf is great for files. This is specifically for project directories, with time-awareness and auto-creation built in.

Q: Can I use this for real projects? A: You can, but it's designed for experiments. Real projects deserve real names in real locations.

Q: What if I have thousands of experiments? A: First, welcome to the club. Second, it handles it fine - the scoring algorithm ensures relevant stuff stays on top.

Contributing

It's one file. If you want to change something, just edit it. Send a PR if you think others would like it too.

License

MIT - Do whatever you want with it.

Built for developers with ADHD by developers with ADHD.

Your experiments deserve a home. 🏠