A powerful, lightweight CLI (Go) that persistently records your interactive bash command history with timestamps and working directory into a local SQLite database. Provides fast fuzzy‑style searches, statistics, configurable exclusions, and safe local storage with zero telemetry.

• Automatic Command Tracking: Records each executed bash command with timestamp + working directory using a prompt hook
• SQLite Storage: Small, single-file database; transactional writes (no lost records on crash)
• Smart Filtering: Regex exclude patterns to skip noisy or sensitive commands (configurable at runtime)
• Search & Analytics: Filter, free‑text search, top commands/directories, basic activity stats
• Cleanup & Retention: Built‑in pruning of old entries by age
• Cross-Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows (WSL / Git Bash / MSYS2)
• Privacy-First: 100% local; no network calls; sensitive patterns excluded by default
• Zero Shell History Mutation: Reads, but does not rewrite your original history file

Go install github.com/JFK20/bashtrack@latest

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/JFK20/bashtrack
cd bashtrack

2. Build the application:

go mod tidy
go build -o bashtrack

3. Put the binary on your PATH:

sudo mv bashtrack /usr/local/bin/
# or (no sudo)
install -m 755 bashtrack "$HOME/.local/bin/"  # ensure ~/.local/bin is in PATH

Two alternative integration methods. Prefer Method 1 (fc) for accuracy & zero race conditions.

Method 1 (Recommended: fc built‑in)
Add to your ~/.bashrc (append near the end):
Remove the 2>/dev/null after bashtrack record "$last_cmd" if you want to see errors

# BashTrack command recording (Method 1)
bashtrack_record() {
    local last_cmd=$(fc -ln -1 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^[ \t]*//')
    if [[ -n "$last_cmd" && "$last_cmd" != bashtrack* ]]; then
        bashtrack record "$last_cmd" 2>/dev/null
    fi
}
export PROMPT_COMMAND="${PROMPT_COMMAND:+$PROMPT_COMMAND$'\n'}bashtrack_record"

Method 2 (Fallback: history -a) Use if fc is unavailable / restricted:

# Enable immediate history append
shopt -s histappend
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups
export HISTSIZE=10000
export HISTFILESIZE=20000

bashtrack_record() {
    local last_cmd=$(history 1 | sed 's/^[ ]*[0-9]*[ ]*//')
    if [[ -n "$last_cmd" && "$last_cmd" != bashtrack* ]]; then
        bashtrack record "$last_cmd" 2>/dev/null
    fi
}
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; ${PROMPT_COMMAND:+$PROMPT_COMMAND$'\n'}bashtrack_record"

Reload your shell:

source ~/.bashrc

Verify:

bashtrack list

# Record an arbitrary command manually (rarely needed)
bashtrack record "echo hello"

# List recent commands
bashtrack list

# List with custom limit
bashtrack list -l 50

# Filter by substring/pattern within the command
bashtrack list -f docker

# Filter by directory substring
bashtrack list -d "/home/user/projects"

# Search (same as list -f but capped at 50 and optimized)
bashtrack search "docker build"

# Show statistics
bashtrack stats

# Remove commands older than N days (default 90)
bashtrack cleanup -d 120

# Show current configuration
bashtrack config show

# Add regex exclude pattern
bashtrack config add-exclude "^vim.*"

# Remove pattern (exact string match)
bashtrack config remove-exclude "^ls.*"

The initial config excludes noisy navigation, history invocations, sensitive keywords, and self‑referential tracker usage:

• ^ls.*, ^cd.*, ^pwd.*, ^clear.*, ^exit.*
• ^history.*
• .*password.*, .*secret.*, .*token.*, .*key.*
• .*bashtrack.* (prevents recursion)

You can relax or extend these via bashtrack config add-exclude / remove-exclude.

Stored at ~/.bashtrack/config.json (auto-created on first run):

{
  "exclude_patterns": [
    "^ls.*",
    "^cd.*",
    "^pwd.*",
    "^clear.*",
    "^exit.*",
    "^history.*",
    ".*password.*",
    ".*secret.*",
    ".*token.*",
    ".*key.*",
    ".*bashtrack.*"
  ],
  "database_path": "/home/user/.bashtrack/commands.db"
}

Edits can be made manually or through bashtrack config subcommands. Invalid JSON will be rejected on next start.

• All data stored locally (single SQLite file)
• Sensitivity patterns (password/secret/token/key) excluded by regex by default
• No network calls; no telemetry
• Easy manual purge: delete ~/.bashtrack or use bashtrack cleanup

• search offers cd into found directories
• Export functionality (JSON, CSV)
• Additional shell integrations (zsh, fish)