# ouch-org/ouch

Painless compression and decompression in the terminal

Repository: https://github.com/ouch-org/ouch
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ouch
Homepage: https://crates.io/crates/ouch
Language: Rust
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: rust, cli, compression, decompression, hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-08-25T14:52:59+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 92/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 79, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1993, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 61, "gap_med": 34, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3724, forks 147 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:15.610108+00:00)

## What it is
Ouch (Obvious Unified Compression Helper) is a Rust command-line tool for compressing and decompressing files and directories across many formats like zip, tar, gz, zst, and 7z. It auto-detects formats from file extensions and offers subcommands for compressing, decompressing, and listing archive contents.

## Use cases
- compress files into a zip from the terminal
- decompress a tar.gz without remembering flags
- list contents of an archive with tree formatting
- compress a file with stacked formats like lz4 then zst
- extract archives into a specific directory
- replace multiple compression utilities with one tool

## When to choose
- you want a single ergonomic CLI for many compression formats
- you need automatic format detection from extensions
- you want good error messages, shell completions, and an accessibility mode

## When to avoid
- you need to create RAR archives (only decompression is supported)
- you need streaming compression for zip or 7z
- you need programmatic library access rather than a CLI

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: compression, cli, file-system
- domain: files, developer-tools
- platform: cli, windows, cross-platform, rust
- tags: archive-management, decompression, tar, zip, rust, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- ouch-org/ouch (main) score 92

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:15.610108+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:29:17.403148+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ouch-org/ouch (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:15.610108+00:00, sha 154b30fe0fb9)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/ouch (fetched 2026-08-29T09:23:52.338845+00:00, sha c2a3534131d0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.