Replacing Python CLI tools with Rust alternatives

The motivation

Python CLI tools work great until your input file hits 100MB. At that point, startup time alone becomes noticeable.

The swap

| Python tool | Rust replacement | Speedup | |---|---|---| | ripgrep | grep | 5-7x | | fd | find | 3-4x | | bat | cat | 2x (with syntax highlighting) |

These aren't micro-optimizations. When you're searching 10GB of logs, a 5x speedup saves minutes per query.

Installing

cargo install ripgrep fd-find bat

The DX improvement

The real win isn't just speed — it's DX. fd has sensible defaults (no -type f needed), bat shows line numbers by default, and ripgrep respects .gitignore out of the box.

If you haven't tried these yet, start with fd. It's the lowest friction upgrade with the biggest daily impact.