mprocs

mprocs runs multiple commands in parallel and shows output of each command separately.

When you work on a project you very often need the same list of commands to be running. For example: webpack serve, jest --watch, node src/server.js. With mprocs you can list these command in mprocs.yaml and run all of them by running mprocs. Then you can switch between outputs of running commands and interact with them.

It is similar to concurrently but mprocs shows output of each command separately and allows to interact with processes (you can even work in vim inside mprocs).

Screenshots

Installation

Download binary (Linux, Macos, Windows)

Download executable for your platform and put it into a directory included in PATH.

npm (Linux, Macos, Windows)

npm install -g mprocs

yarn global add mprocs

homebrew (Macos, Linux)

brew install mprocs

cargo (All platforms)

cargo install mprocs

scoop (Windows)

scoop install mprocs

AUR (Arch Linux)

yay mprocs

yay mprocs-bin

MPR (Debian/Ubuntu)

git clone 'https://mpr.makedeb.org/mprocs'
cd mprocs/
makedeb -si

Usage

1. Run mprocs cmd1 cmd2 … (example: mprocs "yarn test -w" "webpack serve")

1. Create mprocs.yaml file
2. Run mprocs command

Example mprocs.yaml:

procs:
  nvim:
    cmd: ["nvim"]
  server:
    shell: "nodemon server.js"
  webpack: "webpack serve"
  tests:
    shell: "jest -w"
    env:
      NODE_ENV: test

Config

• procs: object - Processes to run.
  • shell: string - Shell command to run (exactly one of shell or cmd must be provided).
  • cmd: array - Array of command and args to run (exactly one of shell or cmd must be provided).
  • cwd: string - Set working directory for the process. Prefix <CONFIG_DIR> will be replaced with the path of the directory where the config is located.
  • env: object<string, string|null> - Set env variables. Object keys are variable names. Assign variable to null, to clear variables inherited from parent process.
  • add_path: string|array - Add entries to the PATH environment variable.
  • autostart: bool - Start process when mprocs starts. Default: true.
  • stop: "SIGINT"|"SIGTERM"|"SIGKILL"|{send-keys: array}|"hard-kill" - A way to stop a process (using x key or when quitting mprocs).

Keymap

Key bindings can be overridden globally in file ~/.config/mprocs/mprocs.yaml or in a local config (mprocs.yaml in current directory by default). Keymaps are separate for process list and terminal windows.

There are three keymap levels:

• Default keymaps
• ~/.config/mprocs/mprocs.yaml
• ./mprocs.yaml (can be overridden by the -c/--config cli arg)

Lower levers override bindings from previous levels. Key bindings from previous levels can be cleared by specifying reset: true field at the same level as keys:

keymap_procs: # keymap when process list is focused
  <C-q>: { c: toggle-focus }
  <C-a>: null # unbind key
keymap_term: # keymap when terminal is focused
  reset: true
  <C-q>: { c: toggle-focus }
  <C-j>:
    c: batch
    cmds:
      - { c: focus-procs }
      - { c: next-proc }

$select operator

You can define different values depending on the current operating system. To provide different values based on current OS define an object with:

• First field $select: os
• Fields defining values for different OSes: macos: value. Possible values are listed here: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/env/consts/constant.OS.html.
• Field $else: default value will be matched if no value was defined for current OS. If current OS is not matched and field $else is missing, then mprocs will fail to load config.

Example mprocs.yaml:

procs:
  my processs:
    shell:
      $select: os
      windows: "echo %TEXT%"
      $else: "echo $TEXT"
    env:
      TEXT:
        $select: os
        windows: Windows
        linux: Linux
        macos: Macos
        freebsd: FreeBSD

Running scripts from package.json

If you run mprocs with an --npm argument, it will load scripts from package.json. But the scripts are not run by default, and you can launch desired scripts manually.

# Run mprocs with scripts from package.json
mprocs --npm

Default keymap

Process list focused:

• q - Quit (soft kill processes and wait then to exit)
• Q - Force quit (terminate processes)
• C-a - Focus output pane
• x - Soft kill selected process (send SIGTERM signal, hard kill on Windows)
• X - Hard kill selected process (send SIGKILL)
• s - Start selected process, if it is not running
• r - Soft kill selected process and restart it when it stops
• R - Hard kill selected process and restart it when it stops
• a - Add new process
• d - Remove selected process (process must be stopped first)
• k or ↑ - Select previous process
• j or ↓ - Select next process
• M-1 - M-8 - Select process 1-8
• C-d or page down - Scroll output down
• C-u or page up - Scroll output up
• C-e - Scroll output down by 3 lines
• C-y - Scroll output up by 3 lines
• z - Zoom into terminal window

Process output focused:

• C-a - Focus processes pane

Remote control

Optionally, mprocs can listen on TCP port for remote commands. You have to define remote control server address in mprocs.yaml (server: 127.0.0.1:4050) or via cli argument (mprocs --server 127.0.0.1:4050). To send a command to running mprocs instance use the ctl argument: mprocs --ctl '{c: quit}' or mprocs --ctl '{c: send-key, key: <C-c>}'.

Commands are encoded as yaml. Available commands:

• {c: quit}
• {c: force-quit}
• {c: toggle-focus} - Toggle focus between process list and terminal.
• {c: focus-procs} - Focus process list
• {c: focus-term} - Focus process terminal window
• {c: zoom} - Zoom into terminal window
• {c: next-proc}
• {c: prev-proc}
• {c: select-proc, index: <PROCESS INDEX>} - Select process by index
• {c: start-proc}
• {c: term-proc}
• {c: kill-proc}
• {c: restart-proc}
• {c: force-restart-proc}
• {c: show-add-proc}
• {c: add-proc, cmd: "<SHELL COMMAND>"}
• {c: show-remove-proc}
• {c: remove-proc, id: "<PROCESS ID>"}
• {c: scrol-down}
• {c: scroll-up}
• {c: scrol-down-lines, n: <COUNT>}
• {c: scroll-up-lines, n: <COUNT>}
• {c: send-key, key: "<KEY>"} - Send key to current process. Key examples: <C-a>, <Enter>
• {c: batch, cmds: [{c: focus-procs}, …]} - Send multiple commands

mprocs vs tmux/screen

mprocs is meant to make it easier to run specific commands that you end up running repeatedly, such as compilers and test runners. This is in contrast with tmux, which is usually used to run much more long-lived processes - usually a shell - in each window/pane. Another difference is that tmux runs a server and a client, which allows the client to detach and reattach later, keeping the processes running. mprocs is meant more for finite lifetime processes that you keep re-running, but when mprocs ends, so do the processes it is running within its windows.