devexplain

Explain any regex, SQL, .env, cron expression, JSON, or YAML instantly with AI.

One tool. Every format. No Googling scattered explainer sites again.

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What it does

Pass in any developer syntax and get a plain English explanation — broken down piece by piece, with examples, use cases, and gotchas.

Auto-detects the type. No flags needed.

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Supported types

Type	Example input
Regular Expression	/^[a-z0-9._%+-]+@[a-z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,}$/i
SQL Query	SELECT name, COUNT(*) FROM users GROUP BY name
.env variable	DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db
Cron expression	0 */6 * * *
JSON	{"status": 200, "data": [], "meta": {"page": 1}}
YAML	env: production\ndebug: false\nport: 8080
Code snippet	Any other code

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Demo

$ devexplain "0 */6 * * *"

──────────────────────────── devexplain ─────────────────────────────
  Detected type: Cron Expression
  Backend:       claude

╭──────────────────── Cron Expression Explained ─────────────────────╮
│                                                                     │
│  What it is                                                         │
│  A cron schedule that runs a job every 6 hours.                     │
│                                                                     │
│  Plain English Explanation                                          │
│  This job fires at midnight, 6am, noon, and 6pm every day.         │
│                                                                     │
│  Breakdown                                                          │
│  • 0        — minute 0 (on the hour)                                │
│  • */6      — every 6 hours (0, 6, 12, 18)                         │
│  • *        — every day of the month                                │
│  • *        — every month                                           │
│  • *        — every day of the week                                 │
│                                                                     │
│  Next 3 run times                                                   │
│  00:00, 06:00, 12:00 (today), then repeats daily                    │
│                                                                     │
│  Watch Out For                                                      │
│  Cron uses server local time — if your server is UTC, midnight      │
│  UTC may not be midnight in your timezone.                          │
│                                                                     │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

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Installation

Mac / Linux:

git clone https://github.com/TheChyeahhh/devexplain.git
cd devexplain
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Windows:

git clone https://github.com/TheChyeahhh/devexplain.git
cd devexplain
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e .

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Setup

cp .env.example .env

Open .env and add your key:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key-here
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-key-here
AI_BACKEND=claude

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Usage

# Regex
devexplain '/^[a-z0-9._%+-]+@[a-z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,}$/i'

# SQL
devexplain "SELECT u.name, COUNT(o.id) FROM users u LEFT JOIN orders o ON u.id = o.user_id GROUP BY u.id"

# .env variable
devexplain "DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb"

# Cron expression
devexplain "*/15 9-17 * * 1-5"

# JSON
devexplain '{"token": "abc123", "expires_in": 3600, "scope": "read write"}'

# Pipe from a file
cat query.sql | devexplain
cat .env | devexplain

# Force a type if auto-detect gets it wrong
devexplain "my input" --type sql

# Use OpenAI instead of Claude
devexplain "0 * * * *" --backend openai

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Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• A Claude API key or OpenAI API key

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Future Ideas

• --json output for piping into other tools
• Browser extension version
• VS Code extension
• Support for GraphQL queries, CSS selectors, and Docker Compose files

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License

MIT