tldr-pages — Simplified, Community-Driven Man Pages

What it is

tldr-pages is a community-curated collection of simplified command-line documentation. Where man tar shows hundreds of lines of options, tldr tar shows the five common invocations with real-world examples.

tldr-pages targets developers, sysadmins, and anyone who uses the terminal but does not want to read full man pages to find the one flag they need. Pages are available for Linux, macOS, Windows, and platform-specific commands.

How it saves time or tokens

tldr-pages eliminates the time spent scrolling through man pages or searching Stack Overflow for common command usage patterns. For AI agents, tldr-pages provides concise command references that fit within small context windows, reducing token consumption compared to full documentation.

How to use

1. Install a tldr client:

# Node.js client
npm install -g tldr
# Rust client (fastest)
brew install tealdeer
# Python client
pip install tldr

1. Look up any command: tldr tar, tldr git commit, tldr ffmpeg.

1. Update your local cache: tldr --update.

Example

$ tldr tar

  tar
  Archiving utility.

  - Create an archive from files:
    tar cf target.tar file1 file2 file3

  - Create a gzipped archive:
    tar czf target.tar.gz file1 file2 file3

  - Extract an archive in the current directory:
    tar xf source.tar

  - Extract a gzipped archive:
    tar xzf source.tar.gz

  - List the contents of an archive:
    tar tf source.tar

Related on TokRepo

• Coding Tools -- Developer productivity tools
• Documentation Tools -- Documentation and reference tools

Common pitfalls

• tldr clients cache pages locally. If a page is missing, run tldr --update to refresh the cache.
• Not every command has a tldr page yet. The project accepts contributions via pull requests to the tldr-pages GitHub repository.
• Different tldr clients (Node, Rust, Python) have slightly different features and update mechanisms. Tealdeer (Rust) is the fastest for local lookups.