soloterm/solo

A Laravel package to run multiple commands at once, to aid in local development.
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Install
composer require soloterm/solo
Maintainer: aarondfrancis

Solo for Laravel

Your all-in-one Laravel command to tame local development

Solo for Laravel

[!IMPORTANT] This package requires ext-pcntl, so it will not work on Windows. Sorry about that. If you know how to fix that, let me know!

About

Solo for Laravel is a package to run multiple commands at once, to aid in local development. All the commands needed to run your application live behind a single artisan command:

php artisan solo

Each command runs in its own tab in Solo. Use the left/right arrow keys to navigate between tabs and enjoy a powerful, unified development environment.

Screenshot

Installation

  1. Require the package:
composer require soloterm/solo --dev
  1. Install the package:
php artisan solo:install

This will publish the configuration file to config/solo.php.

Configuration

Solo is entirely config-driven through config/solo.php. Here's a quick overview of what you can configure:

Commands

Define your commands in the commands array:

'commands' => [
    'About' => 'php artisan solo:about',
    'Logs' => 'tail -f -n 100 ' . storage_path('logs/laravel.log'),
    'Vite' => 'npm run dev',
    'Make' => new MakeCommand,

    // Lazy commands don't start automatically
    'Dumps' => Command::from('php artisan solo:dumps')->lazy(),
    'Queue' => Command::from('php artisan queue:work')->lazy(),
    'Tests' => TestCommand::artisan(),
],

You can define commands in several ways:

'commands' => [
    // A simple string
    'About' => 'php artisan solo:about',

    // A custom Command class
    'Make' => new MakeCommand,

    // Using the Command::from() static constructor
    'Dumps' => Command::from('php artisan solo:dumps')->lazy(),
],

A simple string command is the easiest way, but if you need more control you're free to create your own custom class.

Lazy Commands

If you want to define a command that does not start automatically, you can append lazy() to a Command instance:

// You might need Reverb, but maybe not always, so don't autostart it.
'Reverb' => Command::from('php artisan reverb')->lazy()

Themes

Solo ships with both light and dark themes. Configure your preference in config/solo.php:

'theme' => env('SOLO_THEME', 'dark'),

'themes' => [
    'light' => Themes\LightTheme::class,
    'dark' => Themes\DarkTheme::class,
],

You can define your own theme if you'd like. It's probably easiest to subclass one of the existing themes.

Keybindings

Choose between default and vim-style keybindings:

'keybinding' => env('SOLO_KEYBINDING', 'default'),

'keybindings' => [
    'default' => Hotkeys\DefaultHotkeys::class,
    'vim' => Hotkeys\VimHotkeys::class,
],

Again, you're welcome to define and register your own keybidings.

Usage

Start Solo with:

php artisan solo

Key Controls

Note these are the default bindings. They will be slightly different if you use the Vim bindings.

  • Navigation:

    • Left/Right arrows to switch between tabs
    • Up/Down arrows to scroll output
    • Shift + Up/Down to page scroll
    • g to quickly jump to any tab

  • Command Controls:

    • s to start/stop the current command
    • r to restart
    • c to clear output
    • p to pause output
    • f to resume (follow) output

  • Interactive Mode:

    • i to enter interactive mode
    • Ctrl+X to exit interactive mode

  • Global:

    • q or Ctrl+C to quit Solo

Special Commands

MakeCommand

Solo ships with a special php artisan solo:make command that proxies to all of the underlying php artisan make:* commands. It serves as a universal entry point to Laravel's make commands.

It lives in a custom MakeCommand class.

'Make' => new MakeCommand,

TestCommand

The TestCommand provides a safe way to run tests that automatically sets APP_ENV=testing. This ensures your tests run in the correct environment and don't accidentally affect your local database.

// Using Laravel's artisan test command (default)
'Tests' => TestCommand::artisan(),

// Using Pest
'Tests' => TestCommand::pest(),

// Using PHPUnit directly
'Tests' => TestCommand::phpunit(),

// Custom arguments
'Tests' => TestCommand::artisan('--filter=UserTest'),

solo:dumps

Solo also ships with a custom "Dump Server" that will intercept dump commands from your code and show them in Solo instead of inline. You can run this as a normal artisan command via php artisan solo:dumps.

FAQ

My command isn't working

Try these steps:

  1. Test if it works outside of Solo
  2. Check if it has an --ansi or --colors=always option
  3. Verify it's writing to STDOUT
  4. Look for options to force STDOUT output

Can I run Sail commands?

Yes! Use this format: vendor/bin/sail artisan schedule:work --ansi

Does Solo support Windows?

No, Solo requires ext-pcntl and other Unix-specific features. If you know how to fix that, please open a PR.

Can I use this in production?

I wouldn't! Use supervisor or similar tools for production environments.

Support

This is free! If you want to support me:

Credits

Solo was developed by Aaron Francis. If you like it, please let me know!

Special thanks to:

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