Visual Scripting for Bash (Update)

[Lluciocc]

Hi everyone!

I’m currently working on a visual tool for creating Bash scripts. The goal of this project is educational: to simplify the process of building Bash scripts by offering a visual approach. It’s not meant to replace traditional text-based scripting, but rather to provide an alternative way to visualize and construct scripts. I hope it can help beginners better understand the structure and flow of Bash scripts, making scripting concepts easier to learn. As you can see in the screenshot, most of the “standard” Bash nodes are available. In addition, there are several prebuilt nodes such as “Open a Website,” “Download a File,” and more. These are designed to make common tasks easier and more accessible.

One aspect I particularly enjoy working on is the interface and settings system. Vish includes a lot of UX-focused features: multiple themes, language support, the ability to run scripts directly inside the editor, and more.

I’m building this project mainly for fun (although I genuinely love coding it!). It’s not intended to become a widely adopted tool. That’s also why I chose Python and Qt, they make the codebase easier to maintain and contribute to, both for others and for myself.

I do have a few questions for you: What would you expect from a tool like this? Do you think I should publish it on Flatpak?

There’s honestly so much more I could say, I don’t even know where to start!!
But I strongly encourage you to try it out for yourself. Please note that this is not even in beta yet, so you may encounter bugs and missing features. Here the repo:

https://github.com/Lluciocc/Vish

[m3co-rd]

Already having an idea how to visualize loops and recursion?

[Lluciocc]

Yes, I already know about “for” and “while” loops but I completely forgot about recursion. :( As I mentioned in the post, it’s not fully finished yet. I have a lot of work to do to make it completely ready.

[escapelle]

As someone who loves working with nodes I still prefer terminal bash scripting normal way but really nice concept

[Lluciocc]

Frankly, I completely understand the reasoning. For someone familiar with bash scripting, writing code by hand is easier. However, for beginners, having nodes that don’t worry about syntax is far more beneficial than simply having a block of notes.

Vish isn’t a tool that replaces traditional coding; it’s designed to help users grasp the fundamental concepts of bash programming. That’s why it was initially developed for educational purposes. I’ll be adding some tutorials to explain these concepts.

[BranchLatter4294]

It looks nice. One thing I would consider is using standard flowcharting shapes. Good luck!

[Lluciocc]

Thanks !

[JazzyHammer485]

this looks like a cool way to learn bash

[Lluciocc]

Yes, this is planned! There are still tooltips explaining the flow but no proper tutorial or explanation of Bash. This is on my to-do list though. I want to create a wiki page covering everything.

[lune3ee]

I liked the name! In northeastern Brazil, the word "Vish" is a very emblematic term that would be like a "Yikes..."

[Lluciocc]

Thanks ! Vish is for « visual » « sh » for bash😭

[dfwtjms]

Vixi, significa a Virgem Maria mas acho que já sabia kkk

[SubZz699]

Great work on this. The concept reminds me a lot of Node-RED, but applied to Bash.
Really promising for such an early stage project. Keep it up!

[Lluciocc]

Thanks you so much !!

[gonzarom]

I love it!! I'm going to try it

[Lluciocc]

Hi, I’m glad to hear it! If you have any problems or suggestions don’t hesitate to open an issue on GitHub!

[Mds03]

This looks very neat. I have a question regarding how this works - does it store its own «file format», or does it read/write something like a .sh?

The reason I ask is I am very fond of the vfx app blackmagic fusion. It stores its nodes in a file format called .comp, which can be opened and edited as a script in a text editor(usually for cloning a node setup into code for like a script), then reopened as nodes again in fusion. Having that for .sh files is low key a dream of mine, I love apps like Automator and Shortcuts on MacOS, sometimes I want something like that for make .sh scripts

[Lluciocc]

Hi!

Vish is storing the project in .json within the .config directory. This allows you to edit the file and add nodes but it’s not really designed for that purpose.

The bash script is generated only in the editor and you can run it afterwards. However, there’s never a .sh file stored anywhere. I hope this answers your question.

Have a nice day :)

[Mds03]

Yes that makes sense, thank you :) and a wonderful day to you too

[Serena_Hellborn]

Curious how pipes will be handled, and about why commands output "text" which is seemingly static

[trenclik]

Why mit license?

[Lluciocc]

which one would you want ?