Biu: The Command-line Task Hub

Biu is a simple command-line tool for running multiple command-line tasks at the same time. It provides a simple GUI interface and aggregates stdout/stderr streams produced by tasks on demand.

Features

• Start tasks in a group with one click.
• Selectively pipe stdout and stderr of specific tasks.
• Aggregate problems from several tasks with different problem matchers.

Installation

# global
yarn global add biu

# local
yarn add biu --dev

Usage

biu --help

Configuration

Biu loads configuration from a Node.js module, it could either be a .js or .json file. By default, it tries to require .biu, or read scripts section of package.json from the current working directory if no configuration file is specified and the default .biu (.js, .json) does not exist.

The configuration contains three fields: tasks (required), groups and problemMatchers.

Using built-in problem matchers

Currently Biu has the following built-in problem matchers:

• $typescript:tsc-watch
• $typescript:tslint

{
  "tasks": {
    "build-app": {
      "executable": "tsc",
      "args": ["-p", "src/app", "-w"],
      "problemMatcher": "$typescript:tsc-watch"
    },
    "build-server": {
      "executable": "tsc",
      "args": ["-p", "src/server", "-w"],
      "problemMatcher": "$typescript:tsc-watch"
    }
  },
  "groups": {
    "all": ["build-app", "build-server"]
  }
}

Using custom problem matchers

To use custom problem matchers, add it to the problemMatchers field:

{
  "tasks": {
    "build-app": {
      "executable": "tsc",
      "args": ["-p", "src/app", "-w"],
      "problemMatcher": "$typescript:tsc-watch"
    },
    "build-server": {
      "executable": "tsc",
      "args": ["-p", "src/server", "-w"],
      "problemMatcher": "$typescript:tsc-watch"
    },
    "build-website": {
      "executable": "webpack",
      "problemMatcher": "$typescript:at-loader"
    }
  },
  "groups": {
    "all": ["build-app", "build-server", "build-website"]
  },
  "problemMatchers": {
    "$typescript:at-loader": {
      "owner": "typescript",
      "pattern": [
        {
          "regexp": "^(ERROR) in \\[at-loader\\] (.+\\.ts):(\\d+|\\d+:\\d+)\\s*$",
          "severity": 1,
          "file": 2,
          "location": 3
        },
        {
          "regexp": "^\\s+(TS\\d+): (.+)$",
          "code": 1,
          "message": 2
        }
      ],
      "background": {
        "beginsPattern": "^\\[at-loader\\] Checking started in a separate process\\.\\.\\.$"
      }
    }
  }
}

Checkout config.ts for more options.

VSCode Problem Matcher Support

To make the aggregated problem matcher output work in VSCode, you'll need to define Biu as a task and configure proper problem matcher options in tasks.json:

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "biu",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "yarn",
      "args": ["biu"],
      "isBackground": true,
      "group": {
        "kind": "build",
        "isDefault": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": {
        "name": "biu-typescript",
        "owner": "typescript",
        "applyTo": "closedDocuments",
        "fileLocation": "absolute",
        "pattern": {
          "regexp": "^\\[biu-problem:typescript:([^;]*);([^;]*);([^;]*);([^;]*);(.*?)\\]?$",
          "severity": 1,
          "file": 2,
          "location": 3,
          "code": 4,
          "message": 5
        },
        "background": {
          "activeOnStart": false,
          "beginsPattern": "^\\[biu-problems:typescript:begin\\]$",
          "endsPattern": "^\\[biu-problems:typescript:end\\]$"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

You can also install [Biu Problem Matchers] extension which contributes the following problem matchers:

• $biu-typescript

Thus you will be able to simplify your task configuration.

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "biu",
      "type": "shell",
      "command": "yarn",
      "args": ["biu"],
      "isBackground": true,
      "group": {
        "kind": "build",
        "isDefault": true
      },
      "problemMatcher": "$biu-typescript"
    }
  ]
}

Support for package.json scripts

If configuration is loaded from package.json, Biu will convert all keys in scripts section into tasks. And if you add biuGroups, biu-groups or groups under biu section into your package.json, Biu will load it as groups.

License

MIT License.