One Year of Nushell: History, Contributors, and What Nushell Is

--- title: One year of Nushell author: The Nu Authors author_site: https://twitter.com/nu_shell author_image: https://www.nushell.sh/blog/images/nu_logo.png excerpt: Hard to imagine that it's already been a year since Nu first went public. A year later and we've learned a lot, and made a few mistakes along the way. In this post, we look back over the year and see how we did and where we might be going in the future. --- # One year of Nushell Hard to imagine that it's already been a year since Nu first went public. At the time, it was largely a demo of what could be possible, but still needed quite a bit of work to make it ready for everyday use. A year later and we've learned a lot, and made a few mistakes along the way. In this post, we look back over the year and see how we did and where we might be going in the future. # History When Nu first started, it started with a simple idea: the output of `ls`, `ps`, and `sysinfo` should all output the same thing. Taking a page from PowerShell, we explored outputting structured data and quickly settled on a table design that would support the output of each of the three commands, with the added ability of streaming the output as it became available. Around this idea, we then built a set of "filters", like the `where` clause, borrowed from SQL, and a growing set of data types we would support natively. Soon, we were able to write more complex statements like `ls | where size > 10kb`. This became the crux of the idea - commands that output values from a core set of data types into a stream, composed together with the traditional UNIX pipe (`|`), so that you could build up a complex set of commands that work over the data as it streams through. # Nushell today ## Contributors Before we got started talking about Nushell today, we wanted to give a _big_ "thank you!" to everyone who has contributed to Nu to get us to this point. Nu is what it is because of your help. 1ntEgr8, AaronC81, AdminXVII, aeosynth, aeshirey, aidanharris, almindor, Aloso, Amanita-muscaria, amousa11, andrasio, Andrew-Webb, arashout, arnaldo2792, avandesa, avranju, bailey-layzer, BatmanAoD, bndbsh, Bocom, boisgera, Borimino, BradyBromley, BurNiinTRee, Byron, candostdagdeviren, casidiablo, charlespierce, chhetripradeep, cjpearce, coolshaurya, cristicismas, DangerFunPants, daschl, daveremy, davidrobertmason, Delapouite, dependabot[bot], Detegr, devnought, Dimagog, djc, drmason13, DrSensor, elichai, eltonlaw, EmNudge, eoinkelly, equal-l2, est31, fdncred, filalex77, Flare576, gilesv, gorogoroumaru, GuillaumeGomez, hdhoang, he4d, hilias, HiranmayaGundu, hirschenberger, homburg, iamcodemaker, incrop, ineol, Jacobious52, jankoprowski, JCavallo, jdvr, jerodsanto, JesterOrNot, johnae, johnterickson, JonnyWalker81, jonstodle, JosephTLyons, jzaefferer, k-brk, Kelli314, klnusbaum, kloun, kornelski, kubouch, kvrhdn, landaire, lesichkovm, LhKipp, lightclient, lincis, lord, luccasmmg, marcelocg, matsuu, mattclarke, mattyhall, max-sixty, mfarberbrodsky, mhmdanas, mike-morr, miller-time, mistydemeo, mlbright, mlh758, morrme, nalshihabi, naufraghi, nespera, neuronull, nickgerace, nmandery, notryanb, oknozor, orf, orientnab, oskarskog, oylenshpeegul, pag4k, Paradiesstaub, philip-peterson, piotrek-szczygiel, pizzafox, pka, pmeredit, pontaoski, Porges, pulpdrew, q-b, quebin31, rabisg0, ramonsnir, rimathia, ritobanrc, rnxpyke, romanlevin, routrohan, rrichardson, rtlechow, rutrum, ryuichi1208, Samboy218, samhedin, sandorex, sdfnz, sebastian-xyz, shaaraddalvi, shiena, siedentop, sophiajt, Sosthene-Guedon, Southclaws, svartalf, taiki-e, Tauheed-Elahee, tchak, thegedge, tim77, Tiwalun, twe4ked, twitu, u5surf, UltraWelfare, uma0317, utam0k, vsoch, vthriller, waldyrious, warrenseine, wycats, yaahc, yahsinhuangtw, yanganto, ymgyt, zombie110year # What is Nushell? Nushell is an interactive programming language for working with your files, your system, and your data as a shell, a notebook, and more. ## Nu is more than a shell It's easy to think of Nushell as just a shell. It's even got 'shell' in the name. It's the first and probably main way you'll interact with it. So why say it's "more than a shell"?

This document reflects on the first year since Nushell's public release. It outlines the project's origins, centered around structured data output and composable commands, and acknowledges the numerous contributors who have shaped Nu. It defines Nushell as an interactive programming language designed for managing files, systems, and data, emphasizing that it extends beyond a traditional shell.