The Book of Secret Knowledge
A large curated list of links to cheatsheets, manuals, tools and one-liners for sysadmins and security folks.
- Stars
- 255k
- Forks
- 14.8k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- —
- Last update
- 2.0 years ago
- Type
- Curated list
No commits in over a year — check for forks or alternatives before adopting.
What it is
This is a long, hand-curated collection of links to command-line and web tools, manuals, howtos, cheatsheets, blogs and shell one-liners. The author describes it as a set of materials they use in their own daily work, gathered in one place. It is organized into chapters such as CLI Tools, Networks, Containers/Orchestration and Hacking/Penetration Testing, so you can browse by topic rather than search.
- Browse the CLI Tools chapter to find shell plugins, file managers or terminal multiplexers to try
- Look up cheatsheets and manuals in the Other Cheat Sheets or Manuals/Howtos chapters
- Copy shell one-liners and tricks from the Shell One-liners and Shell Tricks sections
- Follow the repository's commit RSS/Atom feed to track changes
Great for
- System and network administrators looking for a reference of tools and howtos
- DevOps engineers who want a starting list of command-line utilities
- Security researchers and pentesters browsing for related tools and manuals
- Learners who want to see what tools exist in a given area before picking one
Not ideal for
- People who want a single tool to install, since this is a list of links to other projects
- Readers who need up-to-date guidance on every entry, because the README notes some URLs are temporarily unavailable and the last push shown is from 2024-11-19
How to get it
- 1
Read it online
Clone the repository locally (optional)
git clone https://github.com/trimstray/the-book-of-secret-knowledge - 2
Run it
- Open the repository page on GitHub or your local clone
- Use the Table of Contents to jump to a chapter such as CLI Tools
- Follow a link to the tool or manual that fits your task
- Check the linked project's own documentation for installation
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use the Table of Contents links to move quickly between chapters
- Watch the commit feed (commits.atom) to see new entries as they are added
- Read the contributing guidelines if you want to suggest a correction or addition
Downloads
Strengths
- Broad coverage across many areas of system administration and security in one place
- Entries are grouped into clear chapters with short descriptions for each link
- Actively starred and maintained under an MIT license, which permits reuse
Trade-offs
- It is a list of links rather than software, so quality depends on each linked project and page
- The README says some URLs may be temporarily unavailable, and it does not clearly state how often entries are reviewed
- The README's stated audience is administrators, DevOps and security people, so other readers may find parts less relevant
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the-book-of-secret-knowledge (this) | 255k | Curated list | beginner | 2.0 years ago | System and network administrators looking for a reference of tools and howtos |
| Front-End-Checklist | 74.6k | Curated list | beginner | 6 days ago | Developers doing a pre-launch review of a website or web app |
| test-your-sysadmin-skills | 11.9k | Curated list | beginner | 2.0 years ago | People preparing for a Linux or sysadmin job interview |
| Front-End-Performance-Checklist | 17.4k | Learning resource | beginner | 24 days ago | Front-end developers who want a structured list of speed practices to review |
| awesome-cpp | 74.2k | Curated list | beginner | 6 days ago | C++ developers looking for a library for a specific task |
| public-apis | 495k | Curated list | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers looking for a third-party API to add to a side project |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.