🛠 Toolbox – Advanced CLI Utilities

Developed by: Syed Shaheer Hussain Year: 2026 Copyright: © 2026 Syed Shaheer Hussain

One-line description:

Toolbox is a comprehensive Rust-based CLI utility suite offering a collection of developer, security, cryptography, and productivity tools in a single command-line interface.

📌 Introduction

Toolbox is a multi-functional command-line utility built in Rust. It combines tools for cryptography, encoding/decoding, text manipulation, scheduling, random generation, compression, JSON/JSON Web Token handling, terminal UI, and more.

Purpose:

• To have a single, portable CLI tool for developers and security enthusiasts.
• To provide utilities that are normally scattered across multiple scripts or software.
• To help users handle encryption, encoding, formatting, and system tasks safely.

Perfect! Since your project now builds cleanly, let’s summarize how you can run, install, and execute each tool command. I’ll go step by step so everything works as expected.

---

1️⃣ Run commands using Cargo

Use:

cargo run -- <command> [arguments]

Examples:

Command	Example	What it does
uuid	cargo run -- uuid	Generates a new UUID
timestamp	cargo run -- timestamp	Prints current UNIX timestamp
jsonpretty	cargo run -- jsonpretty '{"foo": "bar"}'	Pretty-prints JSON
jsonminify	cargo run -- jsonminify '{"foo": "bar"}'	Minifies JSON
base64encode	cargo run -- base64encode "hello world"	Encodes string in Base64
base64decode	cargo run -- base64decode "aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ="	Decodes Base64
aesencrypt	cargo run -- aesencrypt "mysecretkey1234567890123456" "Hello"	AES-256 encrypts text
aesdecrypt	cargo run -- aesdecrypt "mysecretkey1234567890123456" "<iv>:<ciphertext>"	AES-256 decrypts text
password	cargo run -- password 12	Generates a random 12-character password

Note: For AES encryption/decryption, the key must be exactly 32 bytes (Aes256).

2️⃣ Build a standalone executable

To build a release version:

cargo build --release

This creates the binary at:

target/release/toolbox.exe   # on Windows
target/release/toolbox       # on Linux/macOS

You can then run it without Cargo:

.\target\release\toolbox.exe uuid

or

./target/release/toolbox timestamp

3️⃣ Install globally (optional)

If you want to use toolbox like any system command:

cargo install --path .

After that, toolbox will be in your PATH, so you can run anywhere:

toolbox uuid
toolbox jsonpretty '{"a": 1}'
toolbox password 16

4️⃣ Run TUI (terminal UI)

cargo run -- tui

It will open the Ratatui interface.

✅ Notes & Tips

1. Case-sensitivity: Currently, commands are case-sensitive (uuid works, UUID does not).

   • If you want fully case-insensitive commands, I can update the code using Clap’s ArgEnum or manual mapping.

2. AES Encryption/Decryption:

   • Always use 32-character key (Aes256)
   • Decryption input must be <iv>:<ciphertext> in hex format.

3. Clipboard or stdin support:

   • Some commands like base64encode read stdin if no argument is passed.

Why it was made:

• To save time and effort in using multiple tools for small tasks.
• To provide a secure and local environment for sensitive operations.
• To explore Rust capabilities for fast, reliable, and memory-safe CLI applications.

🎯 Objectives

1. Provide a unified CLI for multiple development and security tasks.
2. Offer tools for cryptography: AES encryption, hashing, HMAC, UUID generation.
3. Include encoding/decoding utilities: Base64, Base32, URL encoding.
4. Facilitate JSON handling: pretty-print, minify, JWT signing/decoding.
5. Include randomization tools: passwords, numbers, lorem text.
6. Offer compression and decompression with gzip.
7. Provide a terminal-based UI for easier interaction (tui command).
8. Generate command completions for PowerShell.

🧩 Features

• UUID & Timestamp: Generate unique identifiers and current UNIX timestamp.
• JSON Tools: Pretty-print and minify JSON strings.
• JWT Tools: Sign and decode JSON Web Tokens.
• Encoding/Decoding: Base64, Base32, URL encoding/decoding.
• Regex Tester: Test regular expressions against text.
• Cryptography: AES-256 encryption/decryption, SHA-256 hashing, HMAC-SHA256.
• Text & Random Utilities: Lorem generator, random numbers, password generator, ASCII codes.
• Compression: Gzip compress/decompress files.
• Cron Scheduler: Compute next run times from cron expressions.
• Terminal UI: Interactive Ratatui interface.
• Command Completions: Generate PowerShell completions.

⚙️ Functions / Commands

Command	Example	Description
uuid	toolbox uuid	Generates a new UUID
timestamp	toolbox timestamp	Prints UNIX timestamp
jsonpretty	toolbox jsonpretty '{"foo": "bar"}'	Pretty-print JSON
jsonminify	toolbox jsonminify '{"foo": "bar"}'	Minify JSON
base64encode	toolbox base64encode "hello"	Base64 encode string
base64decode	toolbox base64decode "aGVsbG8="	Base64 decode string
base32encode	toolbox base32encode "text"	Base32 encode string
base32decode	toolbox base32decode "MFRA"	Base32 decode string
urlencode	toolbox urlencode "hello world"	URL encode string
urldecode	toolbox urldecode "hello%20world"	URL decode string
regex	toolbox regextest "\\d+" "123"	Test regex
jwt	toolbox jwtsign '{"id":1}' "secret"	Sign JWT
jwtdecode	toolbox jwtdecode "<token>"	Decode JWT
hash	toolbox hash "text"	SHA256 hash
hmac	toolbox hmac "key" "message"	HMAC-SHA256
aesencrypt	toolbox aesencrypt "32charkey..." "text"	AES-256 encrypt
aesdecrypt	toolbox aesdecrypt "32charkey..." "<iv>:<ciphertext>"	AES-256 decrypt
password	toolbox password 12	Random password
random	toolbox random 1 100	Random number
lorem	toolbox lorem 10	Generate lorem words
upper	toolbox upper "text"	Uppercase
lower	toolbox lower "TEXT"	Lowercase
ascii	toolbox ascii "text"	Print ASCII codes
gzipcompress	toolbox gzipcompress file.txt	Compress file
gzipdecompress	toolbox gzipdecompress file.gz	Decompress file
cronnext	toolbox cronnext "* * * * *"	Next cron run
tui	toolbox tui	Launch interactive terminal UI
completions	toolbox completions	Generate PowerShell completion

🏗 Technologies Used

• Rust – System programming language for performance and safety.
• Clap – CLI argument parser.
• Clap Complete – Generate shell completions.
• Ratatui – Terminal UI toolkit.
• AES, HMAC, SHA2 – Cryptography.
• Base64/Base32 – Encoding.
• Flate2 – Gzip compression.
• Regex – Text pattern matching.
• UUID – Universally unique IDs.
• Chrono & Cron – Date/time utilities.
• Rand & OsRng – Randomization.

🗂 Project Structure

toolbox/
├─ src/
│  ├─ main.rs          # Main code with all commands
├─ Cargo.toml          # Rust project config
├─ Cargo.lock          # Dependency lock
└─ target/             # Compilation output

🔧 Installation & Running

1️⃣ Run directly via Cargo

cargo run -- <command> [arguments]

2️⃣ Build Release Executable

cargo build --release

Run without Cargo:

Windows

.\target\release\toolbox.exe uuid

Linux/Mac

./target/release/toolbox uuid

3️⃣ Install Globally

cargo install --path .

Now you can run anywhere:

toolbox uuid

toolbox password 16

4️⃣ Terminal UI

cargo run -- tui

⚙️ How it Works

• Each command is implemented as a Subcommand of Clap’s Parser.
• Arguments are validated and optionally read from stdin.
• Cryptography functions use AES, SHA256, and HMAC implementations.
• Encoding/decoding uses standard Base64/Base32 and URL encoding crates.
• tui command uses Ratatui to render a block-based terminal interface.
• Gzip compress/decompress uses Flate2 streams.

🛡 Safety & Security

• All operations are local, no data is sent to external servers.
• AES key must be 32 bytes, never share keys publicly.
• Passwords & tokens should be handled securely.
• Be cautious with file paths to avoid overwriting files.
• Use cargo install to avoid running unknown binaries from internet.
• Verify commands before running sensitive operations.

⚠️ Disclaimer

Warning

This software is for educational and personal use. The developer is not responsible for misuse, data loss, or security breaches. Always use strong passwords and encryption keys responsibly.

🖥 GUI / Terminal Interface

• tui command provides a terminal UI to navigate tools interactively.
• Uses Ratatui library for cross-platform terminal rendering.
• You can extend it in the future for menus and tool selection.

🔮 Future Enhancements

• Case-insensitive commands.
• Support for more encodings (Hex, URL-safe Base64).
• More TUI features: menus, logging, copy-to-clipboard.
• File-based JSON and encryption pipelines.
• Web-based interface or Electron wrapper.

🔁 Flowchart

User Input
    │
    ▼
Clap Parser (Cli)
    │
    ├─> Command Matching
    │      ├─ Crypto (AES/HMAC/Hash)
    │      ├─ Encoding (Base64/Base32/URL)
    │      ├─ JSON/JWT
    │      ├─ Compression
    │      ├─ Random/Text
    │      └─ TUI/Completions
    │
    ▼
Execution
    │
    ▼
Output to Terminal / Files

💡 Key Concepts

• CLI Utilities: One command line program for multiple functions.
• Subcommands: Each tool has its own argument set.
• Cross-platform: Works on Windows, Linux, macOS.
• Security-first: Local cryptography, safe random generation.
• Extensible: Easily add new tools as subcommands.

🔑 Summary

• Use: Development, cryptography, encoding, random generation, text manipulation.
• Value: Saves time, local secure operations, single tool for multiple tasks.
• Run: Via Cargo, release build, or installed binary.
• Important: Use strong keys, avoid sharing sensitive data.

⭐ Support & Engagement

If you find this repository useful or insightful, please consider:

• ⭐ Starring the repository
• 🔁 Sharing it within your network
• 👤 Following my GitHub profile for future projects and updates

Your support helps drive continued innovation and open-source contributions.

— Syed Shaheer Hussain

✅ Developed by Syed Shaheer Hussain – 2026