Caligula is a lightweight terminal-based disk imaging tool that replaces the complexity of dd with an intuitive interface. It automates the entire disk burning workflow while maintaining strict safety checks to prevent accidental data loss.

Key capabilities include automatic disk detection that identifies connected drives and displays their size and hardware information, built-in decompression for common formats like .gz, .bz2, .xz, and .zst, and hash verification supporting md5, sha1, sha256 and more to validate image integrity before writing. The tool features post-write validation to confirm data was written correctly, real-time visualization with cool graphs showing write speed, and intelligent permission handling that prompts for root access when needed.

Designed for developers, system administrators, and hobbyists managing homelabs, Caligula keeps you in the terminal while handling the tedious details. The binary is remarkably small at under 5 megabytes even when statically linked. Rich confirmation dialogs ensure you never accidentally overwrite the wrong disk, and the tool supports multiple installation methods including package managers for Arch Linux, Nix, Homebrew, and Cargo. Full end-to-end testing on Linux x86_64 ensures reliability for critical disk imaging tasks.