Atuin

Replaces ~/.zsh_history with a SQLite database you can actually search.

What it does

Atuin records each command with its exit status, duration, working directory, hostname and session, into SQLite. Ctrl-R becomes a full-screen fuzzy search over that, filterable by directory or host.

It also offers end-to-end encrypted sync across machines, either through the hosted server or one you run yourself — for a homelab, self-hosting the sync server is the point.

atuin import auto     # pull in existing shell history
atuin stats           # what you actually run all day
atuin search --cwd .  # commands run in this directory

Notes

The local database is the source of truth and works with no account at all. Sync is opt-in; atuin server start runs your own.

Alternative to

Alternative	Type	Trade-off
McFly	Open source	The other well-known history replacement, with a neural ranking model
fzf’s `Ctrl-R` widget	Open source	Fuzzy history with nothing extra to run
zsh-histdb	Open source	SQLite history without the sync service
`HISTSIZE` plus `setopt HIST_IGNORE_DUPS`	Built in	Better than the defaults