Your experiments deserve a home. 🏠
For everyone who constantly creates new projects for little experiments, a one-file Ruby script to quickly manage and navigate to keep them somewhat organized
Ever find yourself with 50 directories named test, test2, new-test, actually-working-test, scattered across your filesystem? Or worse, just coding in /tmp and losing everything?
try is here for your beautifully chaotic mind.
View interactive version on asciinema
Instantly navigate through all your experiment directories with:
- Fuzzy search that just works
- Smart sorting - recently used stuff bubbles to the top
- Auto-dating - creates directories like
2025-08-17-redis-experiment - Zero config - just one Ruby file, no dependencies
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tobi/try/refs/heads/main/try.rb > ~/.local/try.rb
# Make "try" executable so it can be run directly
chmod +x ~/.local/try.rb
# Add to your shell (bash/zsh)
echo 'eval "$(ruby ~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries)"' >> ~/.zshrc
# for fish shell users
echo 'eval (~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries | string collect)' >> ~/.config/fish/config.fishYou're learning Redis. You create /tmp/redis-test. Then ~/Desktop/redis-actually. Then ~/projects/testing-redis-again. Three weeks later you can't find that brilliant connection pooling solution you wrote at 2am.
All your experiments in one place, with instant fuzzy search:
$ try pool
→ 2025-08-14-redis-connection-pool 2h, 18.5
2025-08-03-thread-pool 3d, 12.1
2025-07-22-db-pooling 2w, 8.3
+ Create new: poolType, arrow down, enter. You're there.
Not just substring matching - it's smart:
rdsmatchesredis-serverconnpoolmatchesconnection-pool- Recent stuff scores higher
- Shorter names win on equal matches
- Shows how long ago you touched each project
- Recently accessed directories float to the top
- Perfect for "what was I working on yesterday?"
- Clean, minimal interface
- Highlights matches as you type
- Shows scores so you know why things are ranked
- Dark mode by default (because obviously)
- Everything lives in
~/src/tries(configurable viaTRY_PATH) - Auto-prefixes with dates:
2025-08-17-your-idea - Skip the date prompt if you already typed a name
-
Bash/Zsh:
# default is ~/src/tries eval "$(~/.local/try.rb init)" # or pick a path eval "$(~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries)"
-
Fish:
eval (~/.local/try.rb init | string collect) # or pick a path eval (~/.local/try.rb init ~/src/tries | string collect)
Notes:
- The runtime commands printed by
tryare shell-neutral (absolute paths, quoted). Only the small wrapper function differs per shell.
try # Browse all experiments
try redis # Jump to redis experiment or create new
try new api # Start with "2025-08-17-new-api"
try . [name] # Create a dated worktree dir for current repo
try ./path/to/repo [name] # Use another repo as the worktree source
try worktree dir [name] # Same as above, explicit CLI form
try clone https://github.com/user/repo.git # Clone repo into date-prefixed directory
try https://github.com/user/repo.git # Shorthand for clone (same as above)
try --help # See all optionsNotes on worktrees (try . / try worktree dir):
- With a custom [name], uses that; otherwise uses cwd’s basename. Both are prefixed with today’s date.
- Inside a Git repo: adds a detached HEAD git worktree to the created directory.
- Outside a repo: simply creates the directory and changes into it.
try can automatically clone git repositories into properly named experiment directories:
# Clone with auto-generated directory name
try clone https://github.com/tobi/try.git
# Creates: 2025-08-27-tobi-try
# Clone with custom name
try clone https://github.com/tobi/try.git my-fork
# Creates: my-fork
# Shorthand syntax (no need to type 'clone')
try https://github.com/tobi/try.git
# Creates: 2025-08-27-tobi-trySupported git URI formats:
https://github.com/user/repo.git(HTTPS GitHub)[email protected]:user/repo.git(SSH GitHub)https://gitlab.com/user/repo.git(GitLab)[email protected]:user/repo.git(SSH other hosts)
The .git suffix is automatically removed from URLs when generating directory names.
↑/↓orCtrl-P/N/J/K- NavigateEnter- Select or createBackspace- Delete characterCtrl-D- Delete directory (with confirmation)ESC- Cancel- Just type to filter
Set TRY_PATH to change where experiments are stored:
export TRY_PATH=~/code/sketchesDefault: ~/src/tries
nix run github:tobi/try
nix run github:tobi/try -- --help
nix run github:tobi/try init ~/my-tries{
inputs.try.url = "github:tobi/try";
imports = [ inputs.try.homeManagerModules.default ];
programs.try = {
enable = true;
path = "~/experiments"; # optional, defaults to ~/src/tries
};
}brew tap tobi/try
brew install tryAfter installation, add to your shell:
-
Bash/Zsh:
# default is ~/src/tries eval "$(try init)" # or pick a path eval "$(try init ~/src/tries)"
-
Fish:
eval "(try init | string collect)" # or pick a path eval "(try init ~/src/tries | string collect)"
- One file, no dependencies
- Works on any system with Ruby (macOS has it built-in)
- Fast enough for thousands of directories
- Easy to hack on
Your brain doesn't work in neat folders. You have ideas, you try things, you context-switch like a caffeinated squirrel. This tool embraces that.
Every experiment gets a home. Every home is instantly findable. Your 2am coding sessions are no longer lost to the void.
Q: Why not just use cd and ls?
A: Because you have 200 directories and can't remember if you called it test-redis, redis-test, or new-redis-thing.
Q: Why not use fzf?
A: fzf is great for files. This is specifically for project directories, with time-awareness and auto-creation built in.
Q: Can I use this for real projects? A: You can, but it's designed for experiments. Real projects deserve real names in real locations.
Q: What if I have thousands of experiments? A: First, welcome to the club. Second, it handles it fine - the scoring algorithm ensures relevant stuff stays on top.
It's one file. If you want to change something, just edit it. Send a PR if you think others would like it too.
MIT - Do whatever you want with it.
Built for developers with ADHD by developers with ADHD.
Your experiments deserve a home. 🏠
