Quick Command Runner

Run your project's frequently-used shell commands, scripts, and tools from a sidebar in VS Code — with live status tracking, output logs, run history, favorites, and automatic clipboard copying of file paths printed by your tools.

Features

• Commands view — a tree of your configured commands, grouped however you like (Build, Test, Run, Docker, Git, ...).
• One-click run/cancel with live status icons (idle, running, success, failed, cancelled, invalid).
• Search & filter commands by name or description.
• Favorites — pin commands to a ⭐ Favorites section at the top of the tree.
• Recent — the last few commands you ran, shown in a 🕐 Recent section.
• History view — every run is recorded with its full command line, exit code, duration, and captured stdout/stderr. Sort, filter, clear, re-run, or reopen the log of any past run.
• Per-command output channels — each command gets its own "Output" channel; logs can auto-open, be cleared, or copied.
• Automatic path detection — when a command prints something that looks like a file path, it can be copied to your clipboard automatically.
• Variable substitution — use ${workspaceFolder} in cwd, command, file, args, and env.

Getting Started

1. Install the extension (see below).
2. Open a folder/workspace in VS Code.
3. Click the Quick Command Runner icon in the Activity Bar.
4. If no configuration file exists yet, the Commands view shows a Create Config link — click it to scaffold .vscode/quick-command-runner.json with a starter "Build" command.
5. Edit that file to add your own groups and commands (see Configuration).

Installing

This extension isn't published to the Marketplace yet. Install it from a packaged .vsix:

npm install
npm run compile
npx vsce package
code --install-extension quick-command-runner-<version>.vsix

Or run it from source for development: open this folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host.

Configuration

Commands are defined in .vscode/quick-command-runner.json at the root of your workspace:

{
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "Build",
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "build",
          "name": "Build",
          "description": "Compile the project",
          "command": "mvn -q -o package",
          "shell": "bash"
        },
        {
          "id": "build-frontend",
          "name": "Build Frontend",
          "command": "npm run build",
          "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/frontend"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Test",
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "test",
          "name": "Run Tests",
          "command": "npm test",
          "autoOpenLog": true
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Run",
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "run-jar",
          "name": "Run JAR",
          "command": "java -jar target/app.jar",
          "env": { "SPRING_PROFILES_ACTIVE": "local" },
          "allowParallelExecution": false,
          "timeout": 0
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Docker",
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "compose-up",
          "name": "Compose Up",
          "command": "docker compose up -d"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Git",
      "commands": [
        {
          "id": "git-status",
          "name": "Status",
          "command": "git status",
          "autoCopyPath": false
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Command fields

Each entry in groups[].commands is a CommandDefinition:

A command is invalid (shown with a warning icon and not runnable) if:

• it sets neither or both of command/file,
• its id duplicates another command's id, or
• its shell value isn't one of the supported shells.

Using the Commands view

• Click a command (or its inline ▶ button) to run it. While running, the inline button becomes a ⏹ Cancel button.

• The status icon and description next to each command show:

  Status	Icon	Description
  Idle	hollow circle	not yet run
  Running	spinner	Running <n>s (or ×N if running multiple times in parallel)
  Success	green check	✓ <duration>s
  Failed	red error	✗ exit <code>
  Cancelled	orange slash	Cancelled
  Invalid config	warning	Invalid config

• Use the Search (magnifying glass) toolbar button to filter the tree by name/description; Clear Filter removes the filter.

• Click the ⭐ icon next to a command to toggle it in/out of the Favorites section.

• The Recent section shows the last few commands you ran (configurable via quickCommandRunner.recentLimit).

• Right-click (or use the inline icons on) a command for:

  • Open Log / Clear Log — view or clear that command's Output channel.
  • Copy Command Line — copy the fully-resolved command line to the clipboard.

• Refresh reloads the configuration file.

Using the History view

Every run — successful, failed, or cancelled — is recorded here, newest first.

• Sort History cycles between sorting by time, duration, or status.
• Filter History filters entries by command name or status text.
• Clear History removes all recorded entries.
• Each entry shows the command name, status, and duration/exit info, similar to the Commands view icons.
• Re-run (▶) runs that command again using its current configuration.
• Open Log opens a read-only document containing exactly what that run produced: the resolved command line, followed by its captured stdout and stderr (each capped at 100 KB, with a …[truncated] marker if exceeded).

Settings

Configure these under Quick Command Runner in VS Code Settings (quickCommandRunner.*):

Automatic path copying

While a command runs, its output is scanned for things that look like file paths — either a key: /some/path / key=/some/path style line containing "path" (e.g. Report path: ./out/report.html), or a standalone token that looks like an absolute/relative/home-relative path (/..., ./..., ../..., ~/..., or C:\...).

The first path found (across stdout and stderr, including a final flush after the process exits) is copied to the clipboard, provided autoCopyPath is enabled (per-command setting, falling back to the global quickCommandRunner.autoCopyPath). If quickCommandRunner.showNotifications is on, you'll see a notification confirming what was copied.

Troubleshooting

• "Invalid config" / warning icon — check that the command sets exactly one of command/file, has a unique id, and uses a supported shell value.
• Command doesn't start on your platform — some shells aren't available everywhere (e.g. wsl/cmd/powershell on macOS/Linux, or pwsh if PowerShell Core isn't installed). Use shell: "auto" or pick a shell available on your OS.
• A long-running command never finishes — set timeout (ms) to have it auto-cancelled, or use the Cancel button. Cancellation sends SIGTERM, then SIGKILL after quickCommandRunner.cancelGracePeriodMs.
• Running a command twice does nothing — that's allowParallelExecution: false (the default); set it to true if concurrent runs are expected.

License

MIT