$ cd ../projects

thos@portfolio:~$ cd ~/projects/randanarana && cat README.md

── randanarana ──

personal project · August 9, 2026

[ source ][ live demo ]

[Rust] [CLI] [clap] [Cargo] [CI/CD]

randanarana

Rename files in a directory to random alphanumeric names, keeping their extensions. A Rust reimplementation of an existing bash script, with tests, CI, and the same CLI and behavior. Published on crates.io.

Why randanarana exists

Sometimes a directory full of IMG_2020.jpg and Screenshot from 2026-... files just needs to stop being identifiable — for testing bulk-processing pipelines, anonymizing fixtures, or shuffling photo collections. The original bash script did the job until it didn't; this rewrite keeps the exact CLI and behavior but adds type safety, real error handling, tests, and automated releases.

Try it

$ randanarana ~/Pictures
Target: /home/thos/Pictures
Items to rename (3):
  IMG_2020.jpg -> 7Qkz3YpT.jpg
  photo.png    -> Lw4aVb9x.png
  notes.txt    -> VtS8CwQj.txt

Rename these 3 items? [y/N] y

Done: 3 renamed, 0 skipped, 0 failed.

Made a mistake? Every renaming run records itself in a hidden manifest:

$ randanarana undo ~/Pictures
Target: /home/thos/Pictures
2 items to restore:
  7Qkz3YpT.jpg -> IMG_2020.jpg
  Lw4aVb9x.png -> photo.png

Restore these 2 items? [y/N] y

Done: 2 restored, 0 skipped, 0 failed.

Features

  • Rename: Files get random a-zA-Z0-9 names, extensions are preserved
  • Undo: Restore the last rename run via .randanarana-undo.json
  • Dry-run: Preview changes with -n without touching anything
  • Recursive & Interactive: Process subdirectories with -r, confirm each item with -i
  • Options: Custom length, prefix/suffix, force mode, directory rename with -D
  • Prebuilt binaries: Linux, macOS and Windows on GitHub Releases, plus an installer script

Install

cargo binstall randanarana   # prebuilt binaries (recommended)
cargo install randanarana    # build from source via crates.io

Behavior guarantees

  • Hidden items (leading dot) are never touched — including the undo manifest itself
  • Names already matching the random pattern are skipped unless --force is passed
  • The preview truncates beyond 20 items with an explicit note instead of flooding the terminal
  • Interrupting a run exits with code 130, and the partial run can still be undone from the manifest
  • undo fails safe: entries whose new name no longer exists are skipped; if an original name is taken, nothing is silently overwritten

Release engineering

Releases run themselves: every push to main makes release-plz open a version-bump PR derived from conventional commits and the CHANGELOG. Merging it tags the release, publishes the crate to crates.io, and hands off to cargo-dist, which attaches cross-platform prebuilt binaries and an installer script to the GitHub Release. CI gates every change with fmt, clippy -D warnings, and integration tests built on assert_cmd + tempfile that exercise real renames in throwaway directories.

Tech Stack

  • Rust (edition 2024)
  • clap (CLI parsing)
  • serde / serde_json (manifest)
  • anyhow (error handling)
  • rand (name generation)
  • assert_cmd + tempfile (integration tests)
  • CI with GitHub Actions, release-plz and cargo-dist