Mega

1. Terminal Specs

2. Programs and Optimizations for Our Work

These are the actual tools on Mega that matter for our work, with what each one is for.

Shell, Editing, and Control

  • PowerShell 7.6: the main shell for Windows automation, REST calls, SQL scripts, file movement, JSON handling, and long-running local jobs.
  • Git 2.54: version control for checkpoints, diffs, rollback, branches, and knowing exactly what changed before a publish or data update.
  • GitHub CLI 2.91: command-line access to GitHub repos, issues, pull requests, releases, and authentication when a project lives on GitHub.
  • Visual Studio Code 1.117: the main editor for scripts, SQL, JavaScript, PowerShell, Python, content files, and repo navigation.
  • Visual Studio Community 2026: the full Visual Studio IDE is installed and callable from the terminal through devenv.
  • Codex CLI 0.119: the local codex command is now callable from fresh terminals through the Codex sandbox-bin PATH entry.

Search, Inspection, and File Handling

  • ripgrep 15.1: fast text search across huge folders, scripts, SQL files, manifests, logs, and generated artifacts.
  • jq 1.8: command-line JSON filtering, validation, reshaping, and extraction for API payloads, manifests, exports, and logs.
  • yq 4.53: command-line YAML/XML/TOML-style inspection and edits for config files, manifests, and pipeline metadata.
  • curl.exe: direct HTTP requests from the terminal for REST APIs, downloads, headers, auth checks, and endpoint testing.
  • wget 1.21: reliable command-line downloading when a workflow wants wget specifically instead of curl.
  • tar: unpacking and creating tar archives from the Windows terminal.
  • tree: quick directory maps for checking folder shape before or after asset and data operations.
  • 7-Zip 26: archive extraction and creation for zip, 7z, and source/media bundles. It is on PATH as 7z.

Python, Node, Languages, Build Systems and Browser Automation

  • Python 3.12: local scripting for data cleanup, media helpers, file transforms, API utilities, and one-off conversion jobs; plain python and pip now resolve to the main Python 3.12 install before MySQL Shell’s embedded Python.
  • uv 0.11: faster Python dependency and environment management, useful for isolated task folders and avoiding global package mess.
  • Node.js 24.14: JavaScript runtime for build scripts, publishing scripts, web tooling, content transforms, and local servers.
  • npm 11.9: JavaScript package manager for project dependencies, scripts, Playwright tooling, and frontend/build tasks.
  • Playwright: browser automation for page checks, screenshots, visual verification, form testing, and live-site regression checks.

Databases and Data Stores

  • SQL Server 2022: local SQL Server engine and Microsoft database stack for Windows-native database work.
  • SQL Server Management Studio 20.2: GUI for inspecting, editing, querying, and managing SQL Server databases.
  • sqlcmd 16: terminal SQL Server client for live verification, scripted queries, automation, and remote database checks.
  • SQLite 3.53: direct inspection of local .db files, browser databases, temporary stores, small extracted datasets, and cache files.
  • PostgreSQL 18.3 and psql: local PostgreSQL install plus command-line client for Postgres databases, imports, exports, and testing.
  • MySQL Server 8.4: local MySQL engine for MySQL-backed testing, imports, and compatibility work.
  • mysql: MySQL command-line client for queries, imports, exports, and connection checks.
  • MySQL Shell 8.4: richer MySQL administration shell for JavaScript/Python-style MySQL operations and advanced inspection.

Media, Images, and 3D Assets

  • ImageMagick 7: image conversion, resizing, metadata checks, format repair, thumbnails, and batch image processing.
  • FFmpeg 8.1: audio/video conversion, extraction, normalization, preview generation, and media pipeline automation.
  • Blender 5.1: 3D modeling and asset processing, including terminal-driven import/export jobs for GLB and related model workflows.
  • MeshLab 2025.07: mesh inspection, cleanup, repair, simplification, and conversion for 3D model assets; meshlab is installed and callable from the terminal.

Build Tools and Language Runtimes

  • CMake 4.2: cross-platform build configuration for C/C++ and native projects.
  • Ninja: fast build executor used by many CMake and native build workflows.
  • gcc and g++ 15.2: MinGW-w64 C and C++ compilers for Windows-native native builds.
  • .NET SDK 8: .NET build/runtime support for C#, tooling, and Microsoft-stack utilities.
  • Zulu JDK 21: Java runtime and development kit for Java tools, build systems, and JVM-based utilities.
  • Go 1.26: Go compiler/toolchain for Go projects and single-binary utilities.
  • Rust via rustup: Rust toolchain management, cargo builds, and Rust-based command-line tooling.

Infrastructure and Cloud CLIs

  • WSL 2 + Ubuntu 24.04: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS is installed, running, and set as the default WSL distribution for Linux-first shell work; the default daily user is now chris with sudo access.
  • Docker Desktop 4.71 / docker CLI 29.4: Docker Desktop is installed, the Linux engine is healthy, and hello-world successfully ran through the daemon.
  • kubectl 1.34: Kubernetes command-line client for cluster inspection and deployment workflows.
  • Helm 4.1: Kubernetes package/chart manager for installing and managing chart-based workloads.
  • Terraform 1.14: infrastructure-as-code CLI for reproducible cloud and service configuration.
  • AWS CLI 2.34: command-line access to Amazon Web Services.
  • Azure CLI 2.85: command-line access to Microsoft Azure resources and accounts.
  • Google Cloud SDK 566: gcloud, gsutil, and bq tooling for Google Cloud work.
  • Firebase CLI: command-line tooling for Firebase projects, hosting, functions, and deployments.

Path and Runtime Optimizations

  • Fresh-terminal PATH cleanup: new terminals can resolve the work tools directly, including Codex, Python 3.12, database CLIs, Docker, WSL, Blender, MeshLab, Visual Studio, cloud CLIs, media tools, and MinGW build tools.
  • Blender and Visual Studio aligned: blender and devenv now resolve from the terminal after PATH repair.
  • Database CLIs aligned: psql, mysql, and mysqlsh now resolve from fresh shells after PostgreSQL and MySQL PATH repair.
  • Docker backend verified: Docker Desktop is using the desktop-linux context, with the Linux engine responding after the reboot and WSL feature activation.
  • Storage headroom repaired: safe cache cleanup, hibernation removal, the new M: MEGA-DATA volume, and active M:\pagefile.sys paging moved MEGA out of the low-disk state.

3. What This Terminal Still Lacks