Goosh.org: A Command-Line Shell for Google

By Sid Yadav  June 3rd, 2008

As if Google’s UI couldn’t get any simpler and barebones, there’s Goosh.org. What is it? Well, a “UNIX-like command-line interface for Google” would be the best way to describe it, but you should really check it out for yourself, because when I say “UNIX-like command-line”, I mean it.

If you’ve used a UNIX command-line interface before, I think you’ll find Goosh familiar. The font, the welcoming message, the text-pointer, and even the help command (help or h) are presented in the same, bare-bones UNIX style.

There are number of types of searches you can conduct with Goosh, among which:

  • “web [search]” - Google
  • “images [search]” - Google Images
  • “blog [search]” - Google (Blogs)
  • “feed [search]” - Google (Feeds)
  • “video [search]” - Google Video
  • “place [search]” - Google Maps
  • “wiki [search]” - Wikipedia

Additionally, there are a number of cool things you can do with it as well, like:

  • “lucky [search]” - Redirects to the first result (I’m Feeling Lucky)
  • “read [RSS URL]” - Reads an RSS feed
  • “addengine” - Adds Goosh to the Firefox search bar

Unlike some command-line interfaces which redirect you to the actual search page, what I love about Goosh is that it’s 100% command-line. The results themselves are presented in Goosh and in a very appropriate format. While Google will probably do the trick for most people and Goosh may just be one of those “cool things,” I actually think there’s an actual target audience for Goosh. A lot of UNIX geeks I know who have mastered the interface would love a bare-bones interface that gives snappy search results like Goosh, and let’s not forget: it saves clicks.

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