decodemachineterminal mastery
Start free
Curriculum

Terminal mastery, one module at a time.

33 modules. 230 graded labs. Five acts, from your first command to production on-call. Search the directory or expand a module.

Start with 15 free labsSee Pro
sam@decodemachine: ~curriculum
sam@decodemachine:~$ curriculum --list
37 modules · 246 labs
01Survive the BoxYou can live on any Linux server8 modules · 61 labs
m01Foundations: Fluency Drill6 labs · 2.5h3 FREE
m01-l1Inventory the filesystem with findfreem01-l2Log forensics: find the top talkersfreem01-l3Ownership and symlink hygienefreem01-l4Triage a runaway process and its portprom01-l5Find by size and ageprom01-l6Batch with xargspro
m02Data Wrangling & System Introspection8 labs · 3.5h3 FREE
m02-l1Parse application config with jqfreem02-l2Aggregate logs with awkfreem02-l3Config surgery with sed -ifreem02-l4Diff discipline before you deployprom02-l5jq arrays and filtersprom02-l6jq numbers and raw outputprom02-l7Rank request paths with awkprom02-l8Unique values with sort -u and teepro
m03Viewing & Text Processing12 labs · 4h3 FREE
m03-l1Pipes and redirectionfreem03-l2Searching with grepfreem03-l3Cutting, sorting, countingfreem03-l4Transforming with sed and awkprom03-l5Recursive grepprom03-l6Extended regex with grep -Eprom03-l7Act on finds with -execprom03-l8Delete lines with sedprom03-l9Filter then count with awk and wcprom03-l10Sort by key fieldsprom03-l11Rank with uniq -cprom03-l12Head, tail and word countspro
m04Permissions & Ownership8 labs · 3.5h3 FREE
m04-l1Reading permissionsfreem04-l2chmod with octalfreem04-l3chmod with symbols, chown, chgrpfreem04-l4umask, setuid and stickyprom04-l5Hunt risky permissions with findprom04-l6Files 640, dirs 750prom04-l7Own a deploy tree with chown -Rprom04-l8Setgid team directoriespro
m05Users & Groups8 labs · 3h3 FREE
m05-l1Who am I? id, groups, whofreem05-l2Creating users: useradd / adduserfreem05-l3Groups and sudo accessfreem05-l4Switching users: su and sudoprom05-l5Create groups with groupaddprom05-l6Create a user straight into groupsprom05-l7Inspect password aging with chageprom05-l8Remove a user and group cleanlypro
m06Processes & Jobs7 labs · 3.5hPRO
m06-l1Seeing processes: ps and topprom06-l2Signals and killprom06-l3Jobs, background and nohupprom06-l4Priority: nice and reniceprom06-l5Find processes with ps and grepprom06-l6Stop by pattern with pkill -fprom06-l7Rank CPU hogspro
m07Services & systemd6 labs · 2.5hPRO
m07-l1systemctl status/start/stopprom07-l2Enable and disable at bootprom07-l3Reading logs with journalctlprom07-l4Starting your own unitprom07-l5Ask is-active / is-enabledprom07-l6Reload and restart cleanlypro
m08Filesystems & Storage6 labs · 3hPRO
m08-l1Space: df and duprom08-l2Devices and mountsprom08-l3Persistent mounts with fstabprom08-l4Archives and backups with tarprom08-l5Inodes and mount truthprom08-l6Rank disk hogs with dupro
02Operate & ConnectFresh VPS to working + debuggable7 modules · 51 labs
m17Server Bootstrap: Day-0 Checklist6 labs · 3.5hPRO
m17-l1Update the system firstprom17-l3Create yourself an admin accountprom17-l4Harden SSHprom17-l5Firewall on, default denyprom17-l7Automatic security updatesprom17-l8Set the login bannerpro
m18Ubuntu Server Essentials & Packages6 labs · 2hPRO
m18-l1Install your essential toolboxprom18-l2Query installed packages: dpkgprom18-l3APT in depthprom18-l5Install and enable a serviceprom18-l6Show package details with aptprom18-l7Confirm an installed package filepro
m09Networking12 labs · 4.5hPRO
m09-l1Interfaces and routesprom09-l2Testing connectivity and DNSprom09-l3Ports and sockets: ssprom09-l4HTTP with curl/wget and the firewallprom09-l5Name resolution: dig and hostprom09-l6Full interface state with ipprom09-l7Pin a name in /etc/hostsprom09-l8Audit listeners into a fileprom09-l9Deny and allow with ufwprom09-l10Fetch with curl and wgetprom09-l11Ping with evidenceprom09-l12Trace the path: traceroute and mtrpro
m10Logs & Monitoring8 labs · 3hPRO
m10-l1Where logs liveprom10-l2Following logs liveprom10-l3Hunting in logsprom10-l4Resources: free, top, uptimeprom10-l5Errors only with journalctl -pprom10-l6Logs since a timeprom10-l7Kernel ring and OOM evidenceprom10-l8Preview rotation with logrotate -dpro
m11SSH & Remote Access6 labs · 3hPRO
m11-l1Connecting with sshprom11-l2SSH keysprom11-l3ssh config and copying filesprom11-l4Hardening SSHprom11-l5Run remote compound commandsprom11-l6Grow the ssh configpro
m12Shell Scripting & Cron7 labs · 3.5hPRO
m12-l1Your first scriptprom12-l2Conditionals and exit codesprom12-l3Loops and argumentsprom12-l4Scheduling with cronprom12-l5Read exit codesprom12-l6Prove script contents with grepprom12-l7Sequences with seqpro
m13Debugging & Troubleshooting6 labs · 2.5hPRO
m13-l1Exit codes and 'command not found'prom13-l2Port conflicts with lsofprom13-l3Tracing with straceprom13-l4Incident: a service won't startprom13-l5Count the opensprom13-l6Locate binaries with whichpro
03Ship ItFirst full deploy — celebration moment5 modules · 33 labs
m14Docker & Containers9 labs · 4.5hPRO
m14-l2Running containersprom14-l3Exec, logs and cleanupprom14-l4Building your own imageprom14-l5Multi-container with composeprom14-l6Stop and remove a containerprom14-l7Pull images explicitlyprom14-l8Inspect a containerprom14-l9Named volumes for dataprom14-l10List container networkspro
m15Web Stack: Build & Deploy6 labs · 3hPRO
m15-l1nginx basicsprom15-l2Reverse proxyprom15-l3Run the app with systemdprom15-l5Deploying with gitprom15-l6Test config then reloadprom15-l7Inventory enabled sitespro
m16Capstone: Deploy a Full App6 labs · 2hPRO
m16-l1Capstone briefprom16-l2Capstone: verify and documentprom16-l3Write the deploy notesprom16-l4Capstone: put nginx in frontprom16-l5Capstone: write a health checkprom16-l6Capstone: leave a runbookpro
m19PostgreSQL in Production6 labs · 2.5hPRO
m19-l1Start PostgreSQL and connectprom19-l2Create a database and roleprom19-l3Inspect databases and rolesprom19-l4Logical backups with pg_dumpprom19-l6A second database and roleprom19-l7Dump the second databasepro
m20Caddy & Modern Web Serving6 labs · 2.5hPRO
m20-l1Install Caddyprom20-l2Write a Caddyfile reverse proxyprom20-l3Validate and run Caddyprom20-l4Reload and read Caddy logsprom20-l5Format the Caddyfileprom20-l6Start Caddy properlypro
04Survive ProductionKeep it up at 2am — on-call ready10 modules · 67 labs
m21Monitoring & Observability7 labs · 2hPRO
m21-l1Load average and uptimeprom21-l3Disk and inode pressureprom21-l5Triage with journalctl by priorityprom21-l6Application health endpointsprom21-l7Memory with sar -rprom21-l8vmstat in two secondsprom21-l9One-line health: uptimepro
m22Performance & Load Testing6 labs · 2.5hPRO
m22-l2Modern load testing with hey and wrkprom22-l3Timing individual requests with curlprom22-l4Find the bottleneckprom22-l5Tune the kernel for throughputprom22-l6wrk in detailprom22-l7Per-process IO with pidstatpro
m23Automation & Infrastructure as Code6 labs · 2.5hPRO
m23-l1Robust scripts: set -euo pipefailprom23-l2Functions and argumentsprom23-l4systemd timers: the modern cronprom23-l6Configuration management with Ansibleprom23-l8Lint before you scheduleprom23-l9Ad-hoc ansible pingpro
m24Backups, Restore & Disaster Recovery8 labs · 4hPRO
m24-l1The 3-2-1 rule and rsyncprom24-l3Encrypted, deduplicated backups with resticprom24-l4Test your restoresprom24-l5Offsite copies with rcloneprom24-l7Verify archives by listingprom24-l8Re-sync the tree verboselyprom24-l9Prove copies with cmpprom24-l10List restic snapshotspro
m25Robust Networking, Diagnostics & Load Balancing8 labs · 4hPRO
m25-l3Packet capture with tcpdumpprom25-l4Scan ports and test connectivityprom25-l5Diagnose latency with mtrprom25-l6Load balancing with nginx upstreamsprom25-l7Socket summary with ss -sprom25-l8Addresses and routes, filedprom25-l9Time HTTP with curl -wprom25-l10Probe ports with ncpro
m26Production Incident Response7 labs · 4hPRO
m26-l1Incident: 502 Bad Gatewayprom26-l2Incident: disk pressureprom26-l3Incident: runaway CPUprom26-l4Incident: OOM kill and mitigationprom26-l5Hunt 5xx in the access logprom26-l6List open sockets with lsofprom26-l7Snapshot load + errors togetherpro
m27Zero-Downtime Deploys & CI/CD6 labs · 3.5hPRO
m27-l1Blue-green switch with nginxprom27-l2Health-gated deploysprom27-l3Container rollout with Composeprom27-l4Trigger and watch a CI pipelineprom27-l5Start a repo the right wayprom27-l6Read pipeline history with ghpro
m28Secrets Management & Security Hardening7 labs · 3hPRO
m28-l1Hunt for leaked secretsprom28-l2Centralise secrets with Vaultprom28-l3Least privilege on diskprom28-l4File integrity & audit with auditdprom28-l6A second Vault secretprom28-l7List audit rulesprom28-l8Case-insensitive secret sweeppro
m29Observability & Alerting6 labs · 2.5hPRO
m29-l1Export host metricsprom29-l2Prometheus scrape configprom29-l3Alert rulesprom29-l5Alertmanager routingprom29-l6Validate Prometheus configprom29-l7Scrape the exporter yourselfpro
m30Capacity Planning & Performance Tuning6 labs · 3hPRO
m30-l1Baseline throughput and headroomprom30-l3Benchmark storage and CPUprom30-l4Raise system limitsprom30-l5Write the capacity planprom30-l6Read the file ceilingprom30-l7Small controlled ab runpro
05Own the MachineChange safely, operate remotely, and run GPU nodes3 modules · 18 labs
m31Git & Change Control6 labs · 2hPRO
m31-l1Initialize a repo and make the first commitprom31-l2Clone a remote and inspect the treeprom31-l3Branch, verify, and inspect statusprom31-l4Trigger and watch a CI runprom31-l5Review the diff before you commitprom31-l6Tag the release and prove itpro
m32Terminal Productivity & Remote Ops6 labs · 2hPRO
m32-l1Create a clean project treeprom32-l2Mirror a home directory with rsyncprom32-l3Remote health check and copyprom32-l4Leave a long job runningprom32-l5Find the disk hogs fastprom32-l6Make repeat commands cheappro
m33AI/GPU Node Operations6 labs · 2hPRO
m33-l1Inventory the GPUsprom33-l2Check driver and CUDA versionsprom33-l3Enable the persistence daemonprom33-l4Query GPU memory for capacityprom33-l5Capture a GPU snapshotprom33-l6Report free GPU memorypro
06Drill Bank · Boss fightsOptional reviews that prove the act without training wheels.4 modules · 16 labs
b1Boss 1 · Log Ambush4 labs · 1hPRO
b1-l1Rank the 404 probersprob1-l2Scrub the log, prove the diffprob1-l3Lock down the evidence lockerprob1-l4Kill the runawaypro
b2Boss 2 · Dark Server4 labs · 1hPRO
b2-l1Firewall intent vs listener truthprob2-l2Prove ssh three waysprob2-l3Ship a script, gate the resultprob2-l4Port 80: two witnessespro
b3Boss 3 · Ship It Live4 labs · 1hPRO
b3-l1Throwaway web, clean dockprob3-l2Where does nginx point?prob3-l3Database parade + readinessprob3-l4Caddy active and validpro
b4Boss 4 · 2AM Meltdown4 labs · 1hPRO
b4-l1Incident bundle in one fileprob4-l2502: bag evidence, restore backendprob4-l3Prove you are backed upprob4-l4Secrets locked, signals validpro
$ hint: select a module to expand its labs.