The Philosophy of Shortcuts
Every tool we use comes with an intended purpose, a way the creators imagined it would function. But as users, we rarely stick to that script. We find workarounds, we break systems, and we mold them to fit our needs. It’s a quiet rebellion against the rigidity of design.
Think about the tools we use daily: Instagram is great for photos, but what if you could strip out Reels and ads? Imagine a version of Twitter that’s just tweets, no trending tab, no algorithm trying to steer your thoughts. It’s not about rejecting the tool itself—it’s about refining it, simplifying it, and removing the noise.
Cheese Box is my way of embracing this philosophy. It’s not about building something revolutionary—it’s about creating an abstraction layer that helps me control the chaos and reclaim focus in my digital interactions.
The Idea Behind Cheese Box
At its core, Cheese Box is a shortcut tool—a CLI utility that makes repetitive tasks faster, simpler, and less distracting. It’s born out of frustration with bloated systems and a desire to work with tools on my own terms.
Cheese Box is about composability: breaking systems into smaller, manageable parts that can be adapted and reused. It doesn’t try to do everything—it just tries to do what I need.
What Cheese Box Does
Here’s what Cheese Box currently handles:
-
Tweeting from the Terminal:
With a simpletcommand, I can send a tweet directly from my machine.
Example:t "Cheese Box CLI makes tweeting so easy!"
No browser tabs, no distractions, no trending topics—just the tweet. -
Home Automation:
Thehcommand lets me control smart devices like lights or plugs.
Example:h light onorh fan off. -
Matrix Protocol Communication (Work in Progress):
I’m working on adding messaging functionality through the Matrix protocol. Once ready, it will allow seamless text-based communication directly from the terminal.
It uses Keychain for secure storage and syncs shortcuts across systems, making it lightweight but efficient.
Why Break Systems?
Modern tools are designed to be everything for everyone, and in doing so, they lose focus. Notifications are a perfect example of this.
Take notification systems in operating systems—they have to adapt to different apps, prioritize some alerts over others, and fit within a broader ecosystem. They manage to integrate seamlessly with the OS, hiding what’s unnecessary and surfacing only what’s important.
But what if all tools worked like that? What if you could strip every app down to its essentials and create your own layers of functionality? A version of Gmail that’s just emails, without promotional tabs. Or Spotify, but only for your playlists.
Cheese Box is my attempt to build something like that—a way to remove the noise and keep only what I care about. It’s not trying to replace systems, just simplify them.
Why I’m Building It
Cheese Box isn’t revolutionary. It’s a personal project to make my life easier. I’m building it because I don’t like being forced to use tools the way they were designed if that design doesn’t work for me.
It’s also a way to reflect on how we interact with technology. Why do we tolerate tools that don’t adapt to us? Why do we let features we don’t use dictate our experience? Cheese Box is my way of asking those questions while building something small and practical.
Maybe I’m Just Lazy
Or maybe I’m just lazy. Maybe I just don’t want to open Instagram for the fifth time today, only to scroll past Reels I don’t care about. Maybe I don’t want to click through three menus to turn off my bedroom lights.
Cheese Box saves me a few seconds here and there, and honestly, that’s enough.
It’s not revolutionary, but it’s personal. And for now, that’s all it needs to be.