Tools: cmdguard-cli: Your Terminal's Safety Net for Risky Commands – Built with GitHub Copilot CLI

What I Built ## My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge Submission This is a submission for the GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge cmdguard-cli is a lightweight, standalone Node.js CLI tool that acts as a "safety preview" for potentially dangerous shell commands right in your terminal. Before running something scary like rm -rf node_modules, docker system prune -a --volumes, git push --force, or even chmod 777 ., cmdguard analyzes it for risks (data loss, permission escalation, resource exhaustion, security issues), shows color-coded warnings (red = high risk, yellow = medium, green = low), suggests safer alternatives, and asks for confirmation before executing. It's simple but powerful: pattern-matching for common dangerous tools (rm, git, docker, dd, sudo, chmod/chown, piped curl/wget), piped input support, and flags like --simulate (explain only) and --rewrite (output safer version). No hooks, no cloud/Slack setup—just install globally and use it inline. To me, this project means peace of mind in the terminal. I've nuked directories or force-pushed the wrong branch too many times—cmdguard is the quick guardrail I wish existed, especially when experimenting with Copilot-generated scripts or late-night commands. Repo: https://github.com/gabrieltemtsen/cmd-guard NPM: https://www.npmjs.com/package/cmdguard-cli (install with npm i -g cmdguard-cli) https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gabrieltemtsen/cmd-guard/feature/readme-walkthrough-video/public/cmd-guard-demo-ezgif.com-optimize.gif GitHub Copilot CLI was the secret weapon that turned this from "cool idea" to shipped MVP in a short sprint. I started with a single descriptive prompt outlining the core idea (CLI structure, commander for args, chalk for colors, child_process for exec, risk patterns), and it generated a solid plan + initial files (package.json, bin/cmdguard.js, analyzer module).Key ways it helped:Rapid scaffolding: One prompt created the CLI parser, stdin handling, and basic execution flow—saved hours of boilerplate. Smart code generation: Asked it to "implement risk pattern matching for rm/git/docker commands with suggestions" → got clean, modular functions I could iterate on. Debugging & iteration: When piped input broke or child_process output wasn't captured right, natural language fixes like "add error handling and stdout/stderr streaming" worked instantly. Testing boost: Prompted for Jest test skeletons → quickly added analyzer.test.js to verify patterns. Meta-story: Ironically, building a "safety net for commands" (including those Copilot might suggest) using Copilot CLI itself felt poetic—agentic loops for reasoning about risks, then applying them to the tool. Without Copilot CLI, this would have taken days of manual grinding. With it, I focused on refining UX (colors, emojis, clear prompts) and adding the challenge's "how it enhances dev process" narrative. The interactive session (plan → approve files → iterate) made building feel collaborative and fast.Thanks to the GitHub team and DEV community for this challenge—excited to see what everyone built! Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse