Getting Started

This guide will help you get up and running with prun in just a few minutes.

Prerequisites

• prun installed (see Installation)
• A project directory where you want to run multiple commands

Step 1: Create a Configuration File

Create a prun.toml file in your project root. This file defines the tasks you want to run in parallel.

Here's a simple example:

tasks = ["app", "redis"]

[task.app]
cmd = "npm run dev"

[task.redis]
cmd = "redis-server"

Step 2: Run Your Tasks

Simply run:

prun

This will start all tasks defined in your prun.toml file in parallel. You'll see output from all tasks with prefixes like [app] and [redis] to distinguish between them.

Step 3: Run Specific Tasks

You can also run only specific tasks by passing their names as arguments:

prun app

Or multiple specific tasks:

prun app redis

Interactive Mode

For a better experience, especially when running many tasks, use interactive mode:

prun -i

Interactive mode provides:

• A task list showing the status of each task
• Filtered log view for each task
• Keyboard navigation to switch between tasks
• Scrollable logs with PgUp/PgDn, Home/End

Interactive Mode Controls

• ↑/↓ or k/j - Navigate between tasks
• PgUp/PgDn - Scroll logs up/down
• Home/End - Jump to top/bottom of logs
• Space - Page down in logs
• q or Esc or Ctrl-C - Quit and stop all tasks

File Watching

Enable automatic restarts when files change:

prun -w

Or combine with interactive mode:

prun -i -w

You can also configure per-task watching in your prun.toml:

[task.app]
cmd = "npm run dev"
watch = true  # Restart this task on file changes

Common Use Cases

Full-Stack Development

Run your frontend, backend, and database together:

tasks = ["frontend", "backend", "database"]

[task.frontend]
cmd = "npm run dev"
path = "./frontend"

[task.backend]
cmd = "go run main.go"
path = "./backend"

[task.database]
cmd = "docker-compose up postgres"

Microservices

Run multiple services in parallel:

tasks = ["api", "auth", "worker"]

[task.api]
cmd = "python -m uvicorn api:app --reload"
path = "./services/api"

[task.auth]
cmd = "python -m uvicorn auth:app --reload"
path = "./services/auth"

[task.worker]
cmd = "celery -A tasks worker"
path = "./services/worker"

Development Tools

Run your app alongside development tools:

tasks = ["app", "redis", "vite"]

[task.app]
cmd = "bun dev"

[task.redis]
cmd = "redis-server"

[task.vite]
cmd = "vite build --watch"

Next Steps

• Learn about Configuration options
• Check out the Original Spec for detailed behavior
• Explore all available CLI flags with prun --help