Just found something cool that I can do with Quicksilver on the Mac.

Normally, Quicksilver doesn’t index bin directories. In fact, you can’t even specify /usr in a path when selecting folders to search in. (Not sure where that limitation lies, perhaps with Apple). But the following bit of info on the Quicksilver site provided the answer:

You can also run Unix commands from the Command Window, and even pass arguments to Unix commands or shell scripts. To do this you need the Terminal plug-in.

If you want to run a Unix command, you need to make sure that the commands you want access to are scanned in the Catalog. Since Unix paths (like /bin and /usr/bin) are not shown in Finder, you can’t select the path to the Source in the Catalog using the normal method (see Catalog). However, there is a trick to allow you to do it. Click the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the Catalog window to create a new source. For now, select any folder in the Open dialog. Open the information drawer for the new item by clicking the ‘i’ button. Choose “Source Options” from the drop-down menu. The panel directly below the label “Path” shows the path of your Source, but what isn’t obvious is that this path is editable. Click in the panel, type the path you require (for example, /usr/bin) and press Tab to enter the path.

Now you can access Unix commands in the Command Window:

1. Activate the Command Window, type a shortcut to find the command (for example, top to find /usr/bin/top, and press Return or Enter.
2. A new Terminal window opens running your command.

To pass arguments to a shell script or Unix command:

1. Activate the Command Window, and type a shortcut to find a shell script or Unix command (see previous steps).
2. Press Tab and choose Run [with arguments].
3. Press Tab again, then enter text mode and enter your arguments in the text box in the third field.
4. Quicksilver executes your command, and places the output in a text clipping in the first field for you to do with as you wish.

Command-line devotees will immediately be able to see the amazing potential of this feature. One word of warning though; don’t try to use Run [with arguments] on an interactive command that doesn’t exit until you tell it to. For example, if you pass arguments to top in this way, it will output the first lines to a text clipping and then hang waiting for input, so that you will have to kill the process manually. Remember – always practice safe command-line techniques.

See, the key that makes this work is something which is here-to-fore hidden in Quicksilver. It is not at *all* obvious that the Path field is editable!! (It just looks like a normal label.) Anyway, score one more for Quicksilvery Productivity Goodness.

Now I can easily use my todo list manager, the ever helpful [todo.cli](http://lifehacker.com/5155450/todotxt-cli-manages-your-tasks-from-the-command-line) written by the ever wonderful Gina Trapani.