Bash Scripting: 20 Scripts Every Developer Needs

Every minute you spend doing a repetitive task manually is a minute stolen from building things. Bash scripting is the fastest way to get those minutes back. You do not need to be a shell wizard — you just need working scripts for the jobs that keep coming up. Here are 20 practical Bash scripts built for real developer workflows. Each one is production-tested, annotated, and ready to drop into your toolbox. Bash Script Template (Start Every Script Right) Before the scripts, here is the template every good Bash script starts with: #!/usr/bin/env bash set -euo pipefail # -e: exit on error # -u: treat unset variables as errors # -o pipefail: catch errors in pipes # Usage: ./script.sh [args] # Description: What this script does SCRIPT_DIR = " $( cd " $( dirname " ${ BASH_SOURCE [0] } " ) " && pwd ) " Always use set -euo pipefail . It prevents silent failures that waste hours of debugging. 1. Automated Project Setup Creates a new project directory with standard structure and git initializat