Browse, post and interact without leaving the command line

Skyscraper brings Bluesky to the Linux terminal

What’s better than using a social network? Not using one, I suppose. Or using one in the nerdiest way you can.

Case in point, Skyscraper.

Created by developer Cameron Banga, Skyscraper is an open-source terminal client for Bluesky, written in Rust and available on GitHub. It does the core essentials – timeline browsing, posting, replies, reposts, likes and profile viewing.

Though aimed at macOS (where it’s available to install via brew), Skyscraper compiled easily on Ubuntu with minimal setup – I show you how to do it, if you’re interested.

But before we get that far, let’s answer the big one:

What can Skyscraper do?

Bluesky, for the uninitiated, is a Twitter-like social network built on the AT Protocol, an open and decentralised standard. It has a reasonably active user base and, now, a decent terminal client (Twitter (pre-X’s API restrictions) had several of its own).

Skyscraper gives you command-line access to your home timeline and the means to interact with what you see there. You can reply, repost, like, view threads, browse profiles and post your own updates (just don’t call ’em Skeets).

Navigation is, naturally, keyboard-driven. Your keyboard arrow keys and enter handle most of the zipping around, with esc to go back. Available shortcuts are signposted in the interface as you go, so there’s no ‘cheatsheet’ to swot up and learn.

It’s not a full-featured client, mind. There’s no image viewing (not even via Kitty), no notifications panel to gauge your popularity (or lack thereof) and no direct messaging. What’s there, works – reliably and, arguably, is all that’s needed.

Simplicity is sometimes a feature.

Skyscraper isn’t the only Bluesky terminal client around. Other alternatives worth knowing about include bsky (a Go-based command-line client, better suited to scripting than interactive browsing) and Perch, a Rust-based tool for both Bluesky and Mastodon – in the same TUI!

Install Skyscraper on Ubuntu

Skyscraper is aimed at macOS (it’s already available via Homebrew there), but as it’s open source and written in Rust, building it on Linux is straightforward. The following was tested on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, using a stock install (no extra PPAs or added tools).

Before starting, you need to install the required dependencies:

sudo apt install rustup build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev

These are: rustup, Rust’s official toolchain installer; build-essential which has the C compiler and tools Rust’s build system needs; while pkg-config and libssl-dev are needed for HTTPS support.

Next, download the source from GitHub manually (as a ZIP) or via git, if you have it installed:

git clone https://github.com/CameronBanga/cli-2026-skyscraper_command_line.git

Once done, cd into the build folder to get going.

Next, set the stable Rust toolchain as default:

rustup default stable

The stable channel is the production release (what most Rust software targets), but beta and nightly channels are available if you need them. If anything goes wrong at this step, installing rustup directly from rustup.rs, rather than apt, may help.

Now you can use Cargo, Rust’s build tool and package manager, to compile the app:

cargo build --release

The --release flag outputs an optimised binary, which is placed in target/release/.

Once that’s complete, cd to the /target/release folder and run the ./skyscraper binary inside. You’ll need to navigate here each time you want to run it.

If you’d prefer to install it, move the binary to ~/.local/bin folder. This will let you open any terminal and run skyscraper to launch the TUI, without needing to navigate in to the build folder (or keep them around).

First run setup

On first launch, Skyscraper shows a notice about the developer’s iOS app. Any key will dismiss this, but enter will open the App Store in your default browser, so try to not reflexively hit that if you don’t want an interruption…

…Though you will need to open your browser anyway.

You’ll be prompted to type in your Bluesky handle and an app password – the latter is not your account password. App passwords are generated in Bluesky’s settings, under Privacy and Security, and can be revoked individually without affecting your main credentials.

Generate one there and then paste it in to the app’s auth flow, and hit enter.

Is this worth using? REALLY?

I’m a big fan of TUIs in general, as the ingenuity and creativity they offer – you’ve seen mapscii, right? – offer a refreshingly focused alternative to doing common things.

Browsing Bluesky in a terminal strips away the noise: no images, no link cards, no follow buttons, no incentive to doom scroll. It’s not better than using anything else; it’s just different. If I want to check in without opening a browser tab, Skyscraper earns its keep.

Whether the trade-offs suit you will depend on how you use Bluesky – if you read this far, I can assume you do – and perhaps a little bit on how much you enjoy compiling things from source, heh.

– OMG! Ubuntu is on Bluesky, FYI. If you follow us over there (appreciated) you’ll notice it took me a few moon cycles to get around to writing this up:

Posting from a TUI.
— omg! ubuntu (@omgubuntu.co.uk) 2026-02-20T06:04:35.933621Z