change-directory-cache

README

cdc — change directory cache

A tiny cross-platform CLI to bookmark directories and jump into them. No shell hooks, no PATH editing, no PowerShell — install and use.

Install

Once it's published to GitHub:

go install github.com/danemorgridge/change-directory-cache/cmd/cdc@latest

Or install straight from a local checkout (no push required) — run from the repo root:

go install ./cmd/cdc

Either way, go install drops the cdc binary in your Go bin directory (already on your PATH), so cdc works immediately in a new shell.

Usage

cdc save my project     # bookmark the current folder as "my project"
cdc o proj              # open a shell in a bookmark whose name/path contains "proj"
cdc list                # show all bookmarks as a table
cdc rm                  # forget the current folder
cdc export backup.json  # write all bookmarks to a file (or stdout if omitted)
cdc import backup.json  # merge bookmarks from a file

Command	Aliases	What it does
cdc open <query>	o	Case-insensitive substring match of <query> against every bookmark's name or path. One match opens it; several show an arrow-key picker; none is an error.
cdc save [name...]	s	Save the current directory. The name is all text after s (spaces allowed); with no name it defaults to the folder's basename. If the folder is already saved, it reports the existing name and asks whether to update it.
cdc rm		Remove the current directory from the cache (errors if it isn't saved).
cdc list [-p]	ls	Print a NAME FOLDER table sorted by name. -p sorts by full path instead.
cdc export [file]		Write the whole cache as JSON to file. With no argument (or -) it prints to stdout, so it can be piped.
cdc import <file>		Merge bookmarks from a JSON file (same shape as export). Entries whose directory no longer exists are reported and skipped; entries that duplicate a path already in the cache are reported and ignored. A leading UTF-8 BOM is tolerated.

How "jumping" works

A program can't change its parent shell's current directory — that's an OS-level limitation, which is why tools like zoxide and direnv require you to install a shell hook. cdc avoids all of that: cdc open starts a new shell already sitting in the target directory. Type exit (or Ctrl-D) to return to where you were.

• On Windows it launches cmd.exe (via %COMSPEC%) — no PowerShell needed.
• On macOS / Linux it launches your $SHELL.
• Set the CDC_SHELL environment variable to force a specific shell, e.g. CDC_SHELL=/usr/bin/fish or CDC_SHELL=pwsh.

The bookmarks live in a JSON file at ~/.directory-cache.json.

Build from source

go build -o cdc ./cmd/cdc      # add .exe on Windows: go build -o cdc.exe ./cmd/cdc