You know the ritual.
Tab one: npm run dev.
Tab two: uvicorn app:app --reload.
Tab three: the worker.
Tab four: the database.
Tab five: "wait, which tab was the error in?"
Then something crashes. You click through every tab looking for red text. You find it, fix it, restart it, and then realize the worker needed the database to be up first. So you restart that too.
Every. Single. Morning.
I got tired of it, so I built devp.
Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, devp pulls your whole dev stack out of one command. 🎩🐰
So what is devp?
devp puts your whole dev stack in one terminal window.
You write down your processes once, in a small devp.toml file. Then you type devp, and everything starts. On the left you get a list of your processes, and on the right, the live logs of whichever one you pick.
No more tab hunting. One screen. One command.
Setting it up takes about 30 seconds
Run devp init and it writes a starter file for you. Here's what a real one looks like:
[devp] # devp init adds this for you
version = "0.1.0"
config-version = "1.1"
[[process]]
name = "db"
command = "docker run --rm -p 5432:5432 postgres"
ready_port = 5432 # "ready" once the port answers
[[process]]
name = "backend"
command = "uvicorn app:app --reload"
depends_on = ["db"] # waits until db is actually ready
[[process]]
name = "frontend"
command = "npm run dev"
cwd = "frontend"
[[process]]
name = "worker"
command = "python worker.py"
autorestart = true # crashes? it comes back
watch = ["src/**/*.py"] # code changes? it restarts
That's it. Save the file, run devp, and go get your coffee.
The stuff you'll actually love
Start things in the right order. depends_on doesn't just start the database first. It waits until the database is really up: the port answers, or a line like "ready to accept connections" shows up in its logs. No more backends crashing because Postgres was still yawning.
Crashes fix themselves. Turn on autorestart and a crashed process comes back on its own. If it keeps crashing, devp waits a bit longer each time, so a broken script doesn't spin your CPU all day.
Restart on save. Give a process a watch list, and devp restarts it when those files change. Like nodemon, but for anything.
Logs that look right. Colors stay colored. Emoji stay emoji. And progress bars that redraw themselves ([ 4%] ... [100%]) show up as one clean line, not fifty glued together.
Find stuff fast. Press / to search a log, and n / N to jump between matches. Drag with the mouse to select text, then press Ctrl+C to copy it.
Cron jobs, too. Need a cleanup script every 15 minutes? Add a [[cron]] entry. You'll see a live countdown to its next run.
Edit the config without restarting. Save devp.toml while devp is running, and it asks whether to reload. Made a typo? It tells you, and keeps running the old config.
You never have to memorize keys. The bar at the bottom only shows the keys that work where you are right now. Forgot something? Press ?.
It stays smooth under pressure. Even when a process spits out thousands of log lines a second, the app keeps up with your keypresses.
Works on Windows too. Processes are stopped gently, not just killed, and it works in pretty much any terminal. You can even pick the shell: bash, zsh, pwsh, whatever you like.
"Why not just use tmux?"
Fair question! tmux is great, but you still have to set up the panes, start each command by hand, and remember which pane is which. devp knows what your processes are, so it can start them in order, restart them, and tell you when one breaks.
And compared to Docker Compose: devp runs your processes directly on your machine. Your hot reload, your debugger and your local tools keep working exactly as they do now.
Try it
You'll need Python 3.11 or newer.
pipx install git+https://github.com/thefr0gg/devp
cd your-project
devp init
devp
The keys you'll use most:
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
s / x / r
|
start / stop / restart the selected process |
S / X
|
start / stop everything |
/ |
search the log |
G |
jump back to the newest output |
? |
show all the keys |
q |
quit (and stop everything cleanly) |
What's next?
devp is young, and I'd love your help shaping it. Try it on your own project and tell me what's missing:
- ⭐ Star it on GitHub: github.com/thefr0gg/devp
- 🐛 Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue.
- 💬 Or just drop a comment below: what does your dev stack look like?
Close those extra tabs. You won't need them anymore. 🙂
Top comments (1)
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