runbook-cli

Save and run project commands from anywhere

       

Stop checking README • Stop guessing commands • Just run

Documentation • npm • Issues

Why runbook-cli?

Every project runs differently. You can't remember. You check the README every single time.

# Is it...
npm run dev          # or
npm start            # or
pnpm dev             # or
python manage.py runserver   # ???

Stop guessing. Set it once. Run it forever.

runbook set dev "npm run dev"
runbook dev
# Done.

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Table of Contents

• Quick Start
• Features
• Commands
• Real-World Examples
• Team Usage
• Why runbook?
• Development
• Contributing
• License

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Quick Start

npm install -g runbook-cli

runbook set dev "npm run dev"
runbook set test "npm test"
runbook set build "npm run build"

# From anywhere in the project:
runbook dev

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Features

Feature	Description
Set & Run	Save any command, run it by name
Works Anywhere	Run from any subfolder in the project
Cross-Language	Node, Python, Go, Rust, Docker — anything
Team Sharing	Commit .runbook to git
Auto-Detection	Finds git root automatically
Short Alias	rb dev works too
Zero Config	No setup files, no boilerplate

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Commands

runbook set — Save a command

runbook set dev "npm run dev"
runbook set test "npm test"
runbook set build "npm run build"
runbook set deploy "npm run build && git push"

runbook <name> — Run it

runbook dev

# Works from any subfolder
cd src/components
runbook dev    # Still works!

# Short alias
rb dev

runbook list — See all commands

runbook list
# or just
runbook

runbook delete — Remove a command

runbook delete dev
# or
runbook rm dev

runbook info — Project info

runbook info

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Real-World Examples

Node.js / Next.js

runbook set dev "npm install && npm run dev"
runbook set build "npm run build"
runbook set test "npm test"
runbook set lint "npm run lint"

Python / Django

runbook set dev "pip install -r requirements.txt && python manage.py runserver"
runbook set migrate "python manage.py migrate"
runbook set shell "python manage.py shell"

Go

runbook set dev "go run main.go"
runbook set build "go build -o bin/app"
runbook set test "go test ./..."

Docker

runbook set up "docker-compose up -d"
runbook set down "docker-compose down"
runbook set logs "docker-compose logs -f"

Full Stack

runbook set dev "docker-compose up -d && npm run dev"
runbook set backend "cd backend && python manage.py runserver"
runbook set frontend "cd frontend && npm start"

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Team Usage

Commit .runbook to git — your whole team gets the same commands:

git add .runbook
git commit -m "Add runbook commands"

New dev joins? They run runbook dev and they're coding in 10 seconds.

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Why runbook?

	runbook	README	Makefile	package.json
Works from subfolders	✅	❌	❌	❌
Cross-language	✅	✅	✅	❌
No config needed	✅	❌	❌	❌
Team sharing	✅	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️
Instant recall	✅	❌	❌	❌

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How It Works

1. Finds your git root automatically
2. Stores commands in .runbook (JSON) at project root
3. Works from any subfolder — always resolves to project root
4. Team shares by committing .runbook to git

{
  "dev": "npm run dev",
  "test": "npm test",
  "build": "npm run build"
}

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Development

git clone https://github.com/brian-mwirigi/runbook-cli.git
cd runbook-cli
npm install
npm run build
npm link
runbook set hello "echo hello world"
runbook hello

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or submit a PR.

License

MIT

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Built by Brian Munene Mwirigi

npm • Docs • Issues