try

try [query | . | clone uri | init [path] | worktree ...] [options]

try (gem name try-cli, Arch package tobi-try) is a one-file Ruby CLI by Tobi Lütke for keeping short-lived coding experiments in one place. Directories live under TRY_PATH (default ~/src/tries; Omarchy uses ~/Work/tries) and are named like 2025-08-17-redis-experiment.The interactive selector fuzzy-matches names, ranks recently used directories higher, and can create a new dated directory from the current query. try clone (or a pasted git URL) clones into a date-prefixed folder. try . / try worktree create a dated directory and, inside a git repo, a detached-HEAD worktree.try itself prints a small shell snippet to change directory. You must eval the wrapper from try init (bash/zsh) or `try init | source` (fish) so the try function can cd for you.

init [PATH]

Print the shell wrapper. Optional path sets the experiments root.

Clone a git URL into the tries root. Default name is YYYY-MM-DD-user-repo. A GitHub pull-request URL clones the repo and checks out that PR.

Create a dated directory from the current (or given) repo; add a git worktree when inside a repository.

Override the tries root for this invocation.

Show usage.

TRY_PATH

Root directory for experiments (default ~/src/tries).

Destination used when graduating a try into a real project (default: parent of TRY_PATH).

Without the try init wrapper, the binary cannot change your shell's working directory. Name collides with the English word "try" and with unrelated tools; this page is Tobi Lütke's try-cli, which Omarchy ships as tobi-try.

fzf(1), git(1), zoxide(1)

Source code · Homepage