devlens-cli 0.2.0

Privacy-first search engine for developers

🔍 devLens

Privacy-first search engine for developers — right in your terminal.

devLens is a CLI tool built on a self-hosted SearXNG instance. It ranks results by developer relevance (official docs → GitHub → StackOverflow → blogs), reads the top pages, and uses AI to give you a direct answer — no ads, no tracking.

---

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Search (dlens s)
• Web Search (dlens web)
• Error Search (dlens error)
• Package Lookup (dlens pkg)
• Shortcuts (dlens save / dlens look)
• Piping Errors
• Configuration

---

Installation

From PyPI

pip install devlens-cli

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Arya-shivam/devLens.git
cd devLens
pip install -e .

Prerequisites

devLens needs a running SearXNG instance for search:

git clone https://github.com/searxng/searxng-docker.git
cd searxng-docker
docker compose up -d

By default, devLens connects to http://localhost:8080. Change this in Configuration.

---

🔎 Search · dlens s

The main command. Searches with developer-focused ranking and drops you into an interactive REPL.

dlens s "python asyncio gather"

What you see:

  🔍 devLens  ·  5 results  ·  0.4s

  1  asyncio.gather — Python docs                    · Docs
     docs.python.org  · https://docs.python.org/3/library/asyncio-task.html
     Run awaitable objects concurrently. If any awaitable is a coroutine...

  2  How to use asyncio.gather — Stack Overflow       · Stack Overflow
     stackoverflow.com  · https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...
     234 votes · The key difference between gather and wait is...

  3  asyncio best practices — GitHub                  · GitHub
     github.com  · https://github.com/python/cpython/...
     CPython source for asyncio.tasks — gather implementation.

  ── o <n> open · s summarize · / <query> search · q quit ──

  >

Interactive commands:

You type	What happens
1 or o 1	Opens result 1 in your default browser
o 3	Opens result 3 in your browser
s	AI reads the top pages and gives you a synthesized answer
/ new query	Starts a new search without leaving the session
q or Ctrl+C	Quit

Options

dlens s "fastapi middleware" --open 2     # skip interactive, open result 2 directly
dlens s "rust ownership" --lang rust      # filter by language
dlens s "react hooks" --source docs       # filter: docs, github, stackoverflow
dlens s "python decorators" --json        # output raw JSON (for scripting)
dlens s "async python" --no-ai            # disable AI classification
dlens s "flask routes" --limit 5          # show only 5 results

---

🌐 Web Search · dlens web

General internet search — no developer-specific filtering or ranking. Good for non-code questions.

dlens web "what is QUIC protocol"
dlens web "best mechanical keyboards 2026"
dlens web "coffee shops near tokyo station"

Same interactive REPL as dlens s. Same --open, --json, --limit options.

---

🐛 Error Search · dlens error

Paste an error message and devLens finds solutions. Optimized for StackOverflow and GitHub Issues.

dlens error "TypeError: cannot unpack non-iterable NoneType object"
dlens error "ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:5432" --lang node
dlens error "segfault at 0x0" --source stackoverflow

Options

dlens error "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'cv2'" --lang python
dlens error "error[E0382]: borrow of moved value" --lang rust --open 1

---

📦 Package Lookup · dlens pkg

Find docs, repos, and registry pages for any package.

dlens pkg httpx                      # searches PyPI, GitHub, docs
dlens pkg httpx --lang python        # adds language context
dlens pkg tokio --lang rust          # finds crates.io + docs.rs
dlens pkg express --lang node        # finds npmjs.com + GitHub

---

⚡ Shortcuts

Save commands you'll forget. Find them later with fuzzy search.

Save a command

dlens save "<command>" "<memorable tag>" [--cat <category>]

Examples:

dlens save "git log --oneline --graph --all --decorate" "pretty git log" --cat git
dlens save "docker system prune -af --volumes" "nuke docker" --cat docker
dlens save "ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec aac -crf 23 output.mp4" "compress video for web" --cat ffmpeg
dlens save "ssh -L 5432:localhost:5432 user@server" "tunnel postgres" --cat ssh
dlens save "curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/:owner/:repo/releases/latest | jq '.tag_name'" "latest github release" --cat curl

Find a command · dlens look

Fuzzy matches your tags — doesn't need to be exact:

dlens look "git graph"             # → finds "pretty git log"
dlens look "docker clean"          # → finds "nuke docker"
dlens look "video compress"        # → finds "compress video for web"
dlens look "postgres tunnel"       # → finds "tunnel postgres"

What you see:

  1  pretty git log  [git]  (match: 52%)
     git log --oneline --graph --all --decorate
     used 0x · last used never · id 1aec7efe

  ── c copy · r run · e edit · d delete · q quit ──

  >

Interactive commands:

You type	What happens
c or c 1	Copy command to clipboard
r or r 1	Execute the command immediately
e or e 1	Edit the command or tag
d or d 1	Delete (asks for confirmation)
q	Quit

List all shortcuts

dlens shortcuts                    # grouped by category
dlens shortcuts --cat git          # show only git shortcuts
dlens shortcuts --top              # sort by most used
dlens shortcuts --recent           # sort by last used

Output:

  devLens shortcuts  · 3 saved

  docker
  ── nuke docker                    docker system prune -af --volumes

  ffmpeg
  ── compress video for web         ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 ...

  git
  ── pretty git log                 git log --oneline --graph --all --decorate

Delete shortcuts

dlens rm "git graph"               # fuzzy find → confirm → delete
dlens rm --cat docker              # delete all docker shortcuts
dlens rm --all                     # nuclear option (confirms first)

---

🔀 Piping Errors

Pipe stderr from any command directly into devLens:

python myapp.py 2>&1 | dlens          # pipe a crash
cargo build 2>&1 | dlens              # pipe Rust compiler errors
cat error.log | dlens                  # pipe a log file
npm run build 2>&1 | dlens            # pipe Node errors

devLens auto-detects the error, searches for solutions, and gives an AI-generated answer.

---

⚙️ Configuration

Settings live in ~/.devlens/config.toml:

[search]
engine_url = "http://localhost:8080"    # your SearXNG instance
default_limit = 8                       # results per search

[ai]
openrouter_api_key = "sk-or-..."       # for AI answers (get one at openrouter.ai)

[browser]
command = "firefox"                     # optional: override default browser
# command = "open -a Arc"              # macOS example

Shortcuts are stored separately in ~/.devlens/shortcuts.json — human-readable, easy to back up or sync.

---

All Commands at a Glance

Command	What it does
dlens s "query"	Dev search (interactive)
dlens web "query"	General web search
dlens error "message"	Error/stacktrace search
dlens pkg <name>	Package lookup
dlens save "cmd" "tag"	Save a command shortcut
dlens look "fuzzy tag"	Fuzzy find a saved shortcut
dlens shortcuts	List all saved shortcuts
dlens rm "tag"	Delete a shortcut
dlens --version	Print version

---

License

MIT