nic-cli 0.1.2

A clean, readable cross-platform network interface CLI for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

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nic

nic is a cross-platform CLI that turns native network tooling into a compact interface view you can scan quickly.

It keeps the default output focused on the active interfaces that matter right now: physical adapters, VM or virtual networks, and VPN or tunnel interfaces. Detailed per-interface data is still available when you explicitly ask for it.

Features

• compact default summary for active interfaces only
• grouped tables for Physical / Host, VM / Virtual, and Tunnel / VPN
• detail, physical, all, show <iface>, and --json modes
• platform-native collection on macOS, Linux, and Windows
• stable output shape with graceful fallback when a field is unavailable
• no third-party runtime dependencies

Platform Support

• macOS Uses ifconfig -a, netstat -rn -f inet, and cached system_profiler SPNetworkDataType -json.
• Linux Uses ip -j addr, ip -j route, and /etc/resolv.conf, with text-command fallback when JSON output is unavailable.
• Windows Uses ipconfig /all, route print -4, and getmac /v /fo csv when available.

nic raw runs the native raw command for the current platform:

• macOS: ifconfig -a
• Linux: ip addr
• Windows: ipconfig /all

Install

Latest release:

• Release page: https://github.com/Kidder1/nic/releases/tag/v0.1.2
• Wheel: nic_cli-0.1.2-py3-none-any.whl

Option 1: install from GitHub Release

Recommended for normal users.

macOS / Linux:

python3 -m pip install --upgrade https://github.com/Kidder1/nic/releases/download/v0.1.2/nic_cli-0.1.2-py3-none-any.whl

Windows:

python -m pip install --upgrade https://github.com/Kidder1/nic/releases/download/v0.1.2/nic_cli-0.1.2-py3-none-any.whl

Option 2: pip install from source

Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

git clone https://github.com/<your-name>/nic.git
cd nic
python3 -m pip install .

On Windows, use python -m pip install . if python3 is not available.

Releases

nic is a pure Python CLI, so the best release format is not per-platform binaries. Each GitHub release publishes:

• a source tarball
• a universal wheel: py3-none-any.whl

The same wheel works on macOS, Linux, and Windows as long as the target machine has a supported Python version.

Version history is also tracked in CHANGELOG.md.

Option 3: local launcher

For macOS and Linux shells, you can install the repo launcher into ~/.local/bin:

git clone https://github.com/<your-name>/nic.git
cd nic
./scripts/install.sh

Usage

nic
nic detail
nic physical
nic all
nic show en0
nic --json
nic raw

Commands

• nic Compact grouped summary of active interfaces with IFACE, TYPE, IPv4, MAC, and Subnet.
• nic detail Verbose active summary with per-interface detail sections.
• nic physical All physical adapters on the current platform.
• nic all Full inventory of physical, system or virtual, and tunnel interfaces.
• nic show <iface> Detailed view for one interface.
• nic --json Machine-readable JSON payload.
• nic raw Native raw network command for the current platform.
• nic --refresh Refreshes cached metadata when the platform supports it. Today this mainly affects macOS.

Example

Network summary
  Primary       : en0 (Wi-Fi)
  Default route : en0 -> 172.17.6.1
  Active        : 1 physical, 3 vm/virtual, 1 tunnel/VPN

Physical / Host
  IFACE  TYPE   IPv4             MAC                Subnet
  en0    Wi-Fi  172.17.6.246/23  5a:41:83:8a:50:40  172.17.6.0/23

VM / Virtual
  IFACE      TYPE        IPv4            MAC                Subnet
  bridge100  Bridge      10.211.55.2/24  be:d0:74:73:20:64  10.211.55.0/24
  bridge101  Bridge      10.37.129.2/24  be:d0:74:73:20:65  10.37.129.0/24
  vmenet1    VM network  -               ce:8a:fb:1c:07:34  -

Tunnel / VPN
  IFACE  TYPE        IPv4           MAC  Subnet
  utun4  Tunnel/VPN  198.18.0.1/30  -    198.18.0.0/30

Notes

• The default view is optimized for human scanning, not full completeness.
• Interface names and adapter labels vary by platform.
• Some fields such as hardware MAC, DNS, or gateway may be unavailable on certain systems; nic degrades gracefully.
• macOS can show different current and hardware MAC addresses when Private Wi-Fi Address is enabled.

Local Development

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v
python3 -m nic --help

License

MIT