9 releases (breaking)
0.6.0 | Jun 18, 2023 |
---|---|
0.5.4 | Jun 3, 2023 |
0.5.2 | May 31, 2023 |
0.4.0 | Sep 14, 2022 |
0.0.1 | Nov 17, 2020 |
#1461 in Development tools
195KB
4.5K
SLoC
Task automation tool on steroids for developers
Overview
devrc is an easy to use task runner on steroids. It's a small and fast utility written in Rust 🦀.
It's userful for project or common routine automation such as minification, compilation, unit testing, linting and many more.
It's just single binary and you don't need to install python
, ruby
or something else.
It allows you to run tasks that are stored in YAML file named Devrcfile
. Just type command, e.g. devrc task_name_1 task_name_2 task_name_3
.
Quick introduction
There are several ways to define task. Here are general variants:
-
Simple command definition without documentation string.
task_name: echo "Hello world"
-
More complex definition with documentation string.
task_name: desc: "Task description" exec: echo "Hello world"
To run task just type command devrc TASK_NAME
, e.g.:
devrc task_name
For more details look into usage section or examples.
Features
Lets start with an overview of features that exist in devrc:
- All tasks can be listed from the command line with documentation
- Template engine and variables interpolation are supported
- Environment variables customization
- Command line completion scripts
- devrc supports dotenv files
- Writing task commands in different languages
- Task parameters and user input
- Set global variables and environment variables from tasks
- Remote command execution
- Read
Devrcfile
contents from stdin - Global and local defined variables and environment variables
- deno runtime
- Include devrcfile from local and remote files
- Load environment variables from local and remote files
- Plugins for task execution
Why YAML is used?
There are many formats (e.g. TOML, Makefile, YAML, custom formats) that have been examining after many years of using Makefiles
for project routine automation.
What are the benefits of using YAML for this purpose and why it's choosen:
- YAML is designed to be human-friendly and easy to read;
- Syntax highlight works out of the box;
- YAML is used industry-wide for declarative configuration. For example, it's used by gitlab-ci, GitHub actions and ansible;
- Many text editors and platforms have plugins or built-in tools to check YAML configuration syntax for you.
- Good parsers for YAML already exist and I don't need to waste time for implementing and testing a self-written parser.
Table of contents
-
- Task definition
- Reserved keywords
- Config options
- Template engine
- Execution and compututation rules
- Variables
- Environment varibles
- Dotenv files
- Task dependencies
- Writing task in different languages
- Task parameters and user input
- Remote command execution
- Read
Devrcfile
from sdtin - Embedded deno execution runtime
- Relative path resolving
- Plugins for task execution
Installation
To install devrc
, you can download a pre-compiled binary, or you can compile it from source.
You may be able to install devrc
using your OS’s package manager, depending on your platform.
Install from crates.io
devrc
is written in Rust. You will need rustc version 1.48.0 or higher.
The recommended way to install Rust for development is from the official download page, using rustup.
If you have the Rust toolchain already installed on your local system, you can use the cargo install
command:
rustup update stable
cargo install devrc
Cargo will build the devrc
binary and place it in $HOME/.cargo
.
Compile from sources
Clone the repository and change it to your working directory.
git clone https://github.com/devrc-hub/devrc.git
cd devrc
rustup update stable
cargo install
Binary Releases
Binary releases are available in the github releases page for macOS, and Linux targets.
The following binaries are available for each release:
- x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
- x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
- x86_64-apple-darwin
Usage
Tasks are stored as mappings (hashes/dictionaries/key-value pairs) in YAML file named Devrcfile
by default.
Or you can specify environment variable DEVRC_FILE
with alternative file name.
Also you can store global tasks in ~/.devrc
in your home directory or overwrite shared project tasks or varibles by local Devrcfile.local
file.
If command line option -f
is used:
- Loading
~/.devrc
in home directory if it exists and if command line flag-g
or optiondevrc_config.global
are enabled; - Loading files which are specified by command line option
-f
;
If command line option -f
isn't used:
- Loading
~/.devrc
in home directory if it exists and if command line flag-g
or optiondevrc_config.global
inDevrcfile
are enabled; - Loading
Devrcfile
or file name which is defined by environment variableDEVRC_FILE
in the current directory; - Loading
Devrcfile.local
.
The names of the files are a case sensitive.
Task defition is like to definition of job in .gitlab-ci files. Key is used as task name and value is used to create task logic. Some key names are reserved and described below.
Task definition
There are different types of tasks.
- Executable task
- Configuration task (it hasn't been implemented yet).
There are three styles of task definition.
Simple command definition without documentation string:
variables:
name: "Alex"
task_name: echo "Hello {{ name }}"
or several commands in one task
variables:
first_name: "Alex"
second_name: "Alice"
environment:
ENV_NAME: "{{ second_name }}"
task_name:
- echo "Hello {{ first_name }}!"
- echo "Hello $ENV_NAME!"
This tasks can be rewritten to more complex definition form with documentation string and variables.
variables:
name: "Alex"
task_name:
desc: "Task description"
exec: echo "Hello {{ name }}"
or
variables:
first_name: "Alex"
second_name: "Alice"
environment:
ENV_NAME: "{{ second_name }}"
task_name:
desc: "Task description"
exec:
- echo "Hello {{ first_name }}!"
- echo "Hello $ENV_NAME!"
If we write code to Devrcfile
and type command devrc task_name
in console it will output to console:
Hello Alex!
Hello Alice!
Pay attention that {{ first_name }}
are replaced by Alex
by template engine and $ENV_NAME!
are replaced by Alice
by bash.
More complex examples can be found in examples directory.
Reserved keywords
There are few reserved keywords that can't be used as task name:
devrc_config
- global options such asshell
,log_level
,current_directory
;variables
- global set of variables that are used by template engine;environment
- global set of environment variables that are passed to children process's environment;before_script
- is a task that are executed before first task;after_script
- is a task that are executed after last task;before_task
- is a task that are executed before each task;after_task
- is a task that are executed after each task;env_file
- is used for dotenv files;
Configuration
devrc_config:
global: true
interpreter: /bin/bash -c
default: [task_1, task_2]
cache_ttl: 5m
Variables
Variables are used by template engine to compute commands, another variables (global or local) or environment variables. If there exists global and local variables with the same name, then local will overwrite it's value.
Variable modifiers
There exists special keywords in variable binding definition:
+global
- if this keywords specified, then variable saved to global scope.
Environment variables
Environment variables that are passed to children process's environment and they must be accessed using $VARIABLE_NAME in commands. Environment variables can be defined globally or locally in task. If there exists global and local environment variables with the same name, then local will overwrite it's value.
The shell will expand or substitute the value of a variable into a command line if you put a Dollar Sign $
in front of the variable name.
tast_name:
environment:
name: "Alex"
exec: Hello $name!
Dotenv files support
devrc
can load environment variables from env (dotenv) files. These variables are environment variables, not template variables. By default if something goes wrong in dotenv loading, devrc
will break and exit. You can change default behaviour by using option ignore_errors
and if something goes wrong, devrc
will continue.
If env file contains:
ENV_NAME=Alex
you can load environment varibles from files using one of variants:
env_file:
- ./.env
- file: ./.env_3
ignore_errors: true
- file: ./.env_2
task_name: echo "Hello $ENV_NAME"
File path can be absolute or relative. Part ./
substitute to current directory.
Execution and computation rules
devrc
views commands, global or local task defined variables, global or local task defines environment variables as templates. It applies template engine for commands before executing them or before variable assignment.
devrc
consistently reads variables from files and applies a template engine based on Jinja2/Django syntax.
In the example text variable_1 variable_2
is assigned to a variable var_2
and text env_var variable_1 variable_2
is assignet to an environment variable ENV_VAR
:
variables:
var_1: "variable 1"
var_2: "variable_2 {{ var_1}}"
environment:
ENV_VAR: "env_var {{ var_2 }}"
Task dependencies
Task may have dependencies from another tasks. Dependencies of a task always run before a task execution and before before_task
hook.
This is useful to make some job before given task, like clean cache, remove atrifacts, etc. Dependencies run in series.
task_1: echo "Hello world!"
task_2:
exec: echo "Hello $USER!"
deps: [task_1]
Template engine
Task parameters and user input
Tasks may have parameters. Task arguments are passed after task name when devrc is called. Parameters can be required or have default value. Also parameter value is a template string and previously defined variables or parameters can be used:
devrc task_name arg1 arg2 "argument with spaces and {{ param1 }}" task_name2
There are 2 forms of parameters definitions.
Here is a simple form where param1
and param2
are required and param2
is optional with default value:
task_name param1 param2 param3="argument with spaces and {{ param1 }}": |
echo "Hello {{ param1 }} and {{ param2 }}";
echo "{{ param3 }}"
Default value must be in double quotes. If you need to use quotes inside default value you can escape it by \
(backslash) symbol.
Here is a more complex form:
Here task has a required parameter name
, an optional parameter other
with default value of Alice
and host parameter host
which is assigned after user input.
task_name:
exec:
- echo "Hello {{ name }} and {{ other}}"
params:
name: # this is required parameter
other: "Alice"
Here usage example:
$ devrc task_name name="Alex"
Hello Alex and Alice
or
$ devrc task_name "Alex"
Hello Alex and Alice
Remote command execution
It's also possible to execute task on remote hosts.
Notice: This feature has't been implemented yet.
task_name:
exec: echo "Hello {{ name }} from $(hostname)"
variables:
name: "Alex"
username: root
remote:
- "{{ username }}@hostname1:22"
- root@hostname2:22
task_name:
exec: echo "Hello {{ name }} from $(hostname)"
variables:
name: "Alex"
username: root
remote:
hosts:
- "{{ username }}@hostname1:22"
- hostname2
Writing task commands in different languages
hello_1:
desc: "Execute python script"
exec: |
#!/usr/bin/env python
print("Hello from python")
hello_2:
desc: "Execute javascript by node"
exec: |
#!/usr/bin/env node
console.log("Hello from node")
Command devrc hello_1 hello_2
output:
Hello from python
Hello from node
Read Devrcfile from stdin
Instead of reading files devrc
can read tasks file from stdin. To enable this behaviour pass --stdin
flag:
cat ./Devrcfile | devrc --stdin task_name
or
devrc --stdin task_name < ./Devrcfile
Plugins for task execution
Tasks can be executed by plugin that is loaded through the devrc_config.plugins
option.
devrc_config:
plugins:
local-plugin-alias: ../path/to/dynamic/library.dylib
interpreter:
runtime: local-plugin-alias
options:
plugin-option-1: plugin-option-1-value
More examples can be found here. An example plugin can be found in the repository.
Embedded deno runtime
Devrc has embedded deno runtime via plugin. Deno is a simple, modern and secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript that uses V8. This runtime can be enabled on a global level or task level. By default all permissions disabled. No file, network, or environment access, unless explicitly enabled.
devrc_config:
interpreter:
runtime: deno-runtime
options:
permissions:
- allow-env
- allow-net: [google.com, httpbin.org]
# - disable-all
# - allow-all
# - allow-env
# - allow-hrtime
# - allow-net: [google.com, httpbin.org]
# - allow-plugin
# - allow-read: ["/tmp"]
# - allow-run
# - allow-write-all
# - allow-write: ["/tmp"]
plugins:
deno-runtime: ../path/to/dynamic/library.dylib
colors: |
import { bgBlue, bold, italic, red } from "https://deno.land/std/fmt/colors.ts";
const name = prompt("What is your name?");
confirm(`Are you sure ${name} is your name?`);
if (import.meta.main) {
console.log(bgBlue(italic(red(bold(`Hello ${name} !`)))));
}
More examples can be found here.
Files include and relative path resolving
devrc allows you to load tasks, variables, and environment variables using the import mechanism. Files can be included by specifying an absolute path, URL address, or relative path. In turn, imported devrc files can include other files using relative paths. There are several strategies for resolving relative paths. By default, the strategy is to use the directory of the loaded file as the base path. The connection strategy for a specific file can be specified using the path_resolve
option.
Let's assume that we are in the directory /projects/awesome_project
and we execute the command devrc -f devrcfiles/local_1.yml --list
. In the file /project/awesome_project/devrcfiles/local_1.yml
, we include other files as follows:
include:
- url: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/entry.yml"
checksum: 1234
# /projects/awesome_project/devrcfiles/local_2.yml
- file: ./local_2.yml
path_resolve: relative
# /projects/awesome_project/local_3.yml
- file: ./local_3.yml
path_resolve: pwd
In the file /project/awesome_project/devrcfiles/local_1.yml
, we load tasks from the remotely located file https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/entry.yml
. In this file, other files are included as follows:
include:
# https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/remote_1.yml
- file: ./remote_1.yml
# /projects/awesome_project/devrcfile/local_4.yml
- file: ./devrcfiles/local_4.yml
path_resolve: pwd
"
- First, the file
/projects/awesome_project/devrcfiles/local_1.yml
will be loaded; - Then, the
entry.yml
file will be loaded from the remote sourcehttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/entry.yml
; - Then, the
remote_1.yml
file will be loaded from the remote sourcehttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/remote_1.yml
; - Then, the
local_4.yml
file will be loaded from the local source/projects/awesome_project/devrcfile/local_4.yml
; - Then, the
local_2.yml
file will be loaded from the local source/projects/awesome_project/devrcfiles/local_2.yml
; - Finally, the
local_3.yml
file will be loaded from the local source/projects/awesome_project/local_3.yml
.
Authentication
devrc supports using authorization data from the .netrc file to download devrc files that are protected by authorization. For example, from a private repository on GitLab or GitHub.
There are several ways to use authorization:
-
Using bearer token authorization:
include: - url: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/entry.yml" checksum: 1234 auth: machine: api.github.com login: api-token type: bearer
When downloading the devrc file, it will send the header
Authorization: Bearer TOKEN-FROM-NET-RC
. -
Using basic authorization:
include: - url: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/entry.yml" checksum: 1234 auth: machine: api.github.com login: username type: basic
When downloading the devrc file, it will send the header
Authorization: Basic base64(username:password)
. -
Using a header:
include: - url: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devrc-hub/devrc/master/examples/remote/entry.yml" checksum: 1234 auth: machine: api.github.com login: api-token header: "PRIVATE-TOKEN"
When downloading the devrc file, it will send the header
PRIVATE-TOKEN: password
.
Cache
devrc files from remote sources are cached in the file system. If the cached file lifetime exceeds the time specified in the devrc_config.cache_ttl
option, the file is downloaded from the remote source.
Alternatives
- Bash or makefile :-)
- just - is a handy way to save and run project-specific commands. Commands are stored in a file called justfile with syntax inspired by
make
. - robo - Simple YAML-based task runner written in Go. It looks abandoned.
- go-task - simpler Make alternative written in Go. It uses Go's template engine which syntax makes me cry.
Contributing
Any suggestion, feedback or contributing is highly appreciated.
I'm especially very thankful for your grammar correction contributions, because English isn't my native language.
Thank you for your support!
Dependencies
~22–37MB
~617K SLoC