gist

Log in to gist on this computer

$ gist --login

$ gist [file.txt] [file2.txt]

$ gist [[-p|--private]] [[-d|--description]] "[A meaningful description]" [file.txt]

$ [echo "hello world"] | gist

$ gist [[-l|--list]]

$ gist [[-l|--list]] [username]

$ gist [[-u|--update]] [GIST_ID] [file.txt]

gist [OPTION]... [FILE]...

-c, --copy
    Copy resulting gist URL to clipboard

-d, --delete ID
    Delete a gist by ID

-l, --list
    List your gists

-p, --paste
    Paste from clipboard or stdin

-r, --read ID
    Read and display a gist by ID

-u, --update ID
    Update existing gist with new content

-D, --description DESC
    Set gist description

-P, --public
    Make gist public (default: private)

-t, --type TYPE
    Set content-type for files

-a, --anon
    Upload anonymously (no login)

-o, --open
    Open gist URL in browser after upload

-f, --filename NAME
    Specify filename for stdin

-m, --message MESSAGE
    Set commit message

--version
    Display version info

-h, --help
    Show help message

The gist command is a lightweight utility for creating, managing, and interacting with GitHub Gists directly from the terminal. It allows users to quickly share code snippets, notes, or files publicly or privately on GitHub's Gist service without needing a web browser.

Primarily used by developers, gist reads input from files or stdin, uploads it to GitHub via their API, and returns a shareable URL. It supports anonymous uploads, private gists, custom descriptions, filenames, and content types. Additional features include listing personal gists, reading or deleting existing ones, updating gists, and copying URLs to the clipboard.

To use it, install via RubyGems (gem install gist) or package managers like Homebrew. Authentication requires a GitHub personal access token stored in ~/.gist or environment variables. It's ideal for scripting workflows, logging, or rapid prototyping where sharing code is needed.

While powerful for GitHub users, it's not a core Linux utility and depends on network access and Ruby runtime.

Requires GitHub token in ~/.gist; Ruby dependency; network required; not installed by default on most distros.

RubyGems: gem install gist
Debian/Ubuntu: apt install ruby-gist
macOS: brew install gist

Create ~/.gist with token: your_github_token; generate token at github.com/settings/tokens with gist scope.

Created in 2009 by Chris Wanstrath (defunkt) as a Ruby script for GitHub team; evolved into a gem with API v3 support around 2012; maintained on GitHub with contributions for modern features like token auth.

curl(1), git(1), xclip(1)