here is a list of all tools mentioned in the thread. unfortunately, including descriptions and links made the comment to large, so for now just the names. the number in front is the number of mentions.

links to other lists:

https://beyondgrep.com/feature-comparison/

https://code.kiwi.com/lesser-known-tools-we-love-at-kiwi-com...

https://github.com/agarrharr/awesome-cli-apps#terminal-utili...

https://github.com/alebcay/awesome-shell#applications

https://paste.pound-python.org/raw/Uqc8XTFk73Y3PpbRe9hC/

http://suckless.org/rocks/

https://www.networkworld.com/article/3091139/linux/who-needs...

2048
2fa
abcde
abook
[3] ack (ack-grep)
[5] ag (silver searcher)
alex
[2] alpine
[2] amigamml
aplay
archiver
[4] aria2c
asciinema
[2] asdf
atom
[2] autojump (aka j)
autossh
autosub
[3] awk
awless
[2] bash
bash-it
bass
[5] bat (cat)
bcal
[3] bc -l
[2] beets
bitlbee
[3] BorgBackup
[2] bpython
[2] brew
btrfs
buku
[2] byobu
calcurse
cal
cat
[2] cd
Chocolatey
[2] climate (shell utility tools)
[3] cmus
Coinmon
colordiff
column
comm
convert
[2] cowsay
cp
[4] curl
GNU datamash
ddgr
ddrescue
dict
diff
diff2html
direnv
diskus
docker
[2] Doom Emacs
dosage
dstat
[2] dtrx
[2] duplicacy
ed
[2] elinks
[7] emacs
[2] entr
[2] exa
[2] exiftool
fab
Farbfeld Utilities
[3] fasd
[5] fd
[5] ffmpeg
finch
[2] find
findutils
[8] fish-shell
frp
fselect
[6] fzf
gawk
[13] git
git-annex
git-annex assistant
git-bulk-toolkit
git number
[3] gitsh
Git Standup
glances (top)
Goaccess
go-jira
tuijam
[2] googler
gpg
graphicsmagick
[2] grc
[5] grep
Gron
gst123
gzip
hangups (instant messaging)
hd -c
head
heirloom-mailx
hledger
hollywood (tmux UI)
howdoi
hr
[11] htop
[4] httpie
hub
Hugo
hyperfine
iftop
[2] ImageMagick
imgpaste
imgp
import-mailbox-to-gmail
inotifywait
Insect (unit converter)
ip
irssi + jmp.chat
iw
journalctl
[7] jq
kakoune
keysniffer
keychain
khal
khard
Kubectx
[2] lazygit
ledger-cli
links2
lnav
localhost.run
locate
[3] ls
[2] lsof
lumail
Ly
man
mcabber
mediainfo
[2] megadl
mg
[4] midnight commander
Miller (CSV tool)
mkdir
mlocate
[2] mocp
Moon Buggy (game)
moreutils
[3] mosh
[2] most
mountsshfs
mpv
multitail
[5] mutt
mv
[3] mycli
[6] nano
[3] nc
ncat
[7] ncdu
ncmpcpp
neofetch
neomutt + notmuch
[2] neovim
netcat
nethogs
newsboat
[4] Ngrok
nload
nmap
[3] nnn
notmuch
nyancat
od
ohmyfish
[4] ohmyzsh
oh-my-zsh git plugin
[2] open
p7zip
[2] Pandoc
GNU parallel
[5] pass
passgo
pass-otp
paste
pbedit
pbpaste
pdd
pdfgrep
peco
peerflix
[3] perl
[3] pgcli
pgrep
pianobar
pine
ping
pip
pipe
pkill
playmod
prettyping
prezto
progress
proselint
psql
[2] ptpython/ptipython
[4] pv
[2] pwgen
pytest
[2] python
pythonPackages.powerline
qemu
[4] ranger
rclone
recoll
[2] remind
[2] rename
renameutils
[2] restic
[13] rg (ripgrep)
rm
[4] rsync
rtorrent
rtv
sage
Saw (AWS Cloudwatch)
sc-im
sclack
SCM Breeze
[2] Scoop
[4] screen
[4] sed
serve
serveo
[3] shellcheck
SHPaint
shuf
[3] sl
[4] socat
solaar
sort
sox
[2] sqlite shell
[2] ssh
[3] sshfs
subliminal
supmua
surfraw
sym
systemctl
tabview
tail
[2] tar
[3] Taskwarrior
tcpdump
tee
TeX
[2] The Fuck
[6] tig
[4] tldr
tmate
[21] tmux
todo.txt
toilet
top
totp-cli
touch
[2] tr
[2] tree
tshark
ts
ttp
ttyclock
ttysolitaire
rainbowstream
unimatrix
uniq
[2] units
up
vdirsyncer
[2] vi
vifm
[7] vim
[4] Visidata
vnstat
Vue-cli
[2] w3m
[6] watch
watch (python)
watchman
wd
webcomix
[2] websocketd
WebTorrent
[3] weechat
[2] wee-slack
[2] wget
wordgrinder
wttr
[2] xargs
Xdg
xdotool
xiki
xmlstarlet
xrdb
[2] xsv
XTree Gold
xxd
xz
[6] Youtube-dl
youtube-viewer
[2] z
zamzar-bash
zgen
zplug
[4] zsh