🥷 Ninja Runner — Universal Server Manager & Dev Hub
The ultimate server manager for developers who love to code, not juggle terminals.
Automatically detect, launch, monitor, and manage all your frontend & backend projects in a single click.
💡 Why Ninja Runner?
Are you tired of manually opening 10 terminal tabs, typing cd Auth/frontend && npm run dev every single morning, and hunting down zombie processes blocking port 3000 or 8080?
Ninja Runner turns your multi-project workspace into a streamlined, high-speed control center.
✨ Key Features
- 🔍 Zero-Config Auto-Detection: Instantly finds all nested & standalone projects (React, Next.js, Angular, Vue, Vite, Spring Boot, Express, NestJS, etc.).
- 🚀 1-Click Multi-Server Management: Start or stop all your servers at once, or control them individually with live status badges.
- ⚡ Universal Port Kill Switch: Blocked on port
3000 or 8080? Type any port or click Free Port to immediately terminate stuck zombie processes.
- 🛡️ Smart Profile Enforcement: Automatically prevents Maven staging/prod builds from contaminating your local development runs (
dev profile strictly enforced).
- ⏱️ Real-Time Port & Ctrl+C Tracking: If a server stops or you press
Ctrl+C, Ninja Runner immediately detects the closed port and updates the UI.
- 🪟 Rock-Solid Cross-Platform Support: Fixed shell execution traps across Windows (PowerShell/CMD), macOS, and Linux.
- 🦖 Built-in Offline Dino Runner: Jump cacti and beat your high score in the classic Chrome arcade game right inside your editor while code compiles!
- 🌸 Daily Dev Wisdom & Gujarat Holidays: Inspiring developer humor, quotes, and public holiday tracker.
📖 User Manual & Quick-Start Guide
Click the Ninja Star (🥷) icon on your VS Code Activity Bar (left sidebar).
Step 2: Auto-Detect Your Projects
- Click the Search ($(search)) icon in the title bar or run
Ninja: Auto-Detect Projects (Ctrl+Shift+P).
- A clean selection dialog will appear with all detected frontend and backend projects.
- Check the projects you want to manage and hit Enter. Your choices are remembered forever across sessions!
Step 3: Run Your Servers
- Start All: Click the Run All ($(run-all)) button in the title bar to spin up all servers simultaneously.
- Start Individual: Click on any server in the list (
Auth Frontend, Auth Backend) to start it in its own dedicated terminal.
- Stop Server: Click the inline Stop ($(stop)) icon next to any running server.
- Open in Browser: Click the Open in Browser ($(link-external)) icon on any frontend server to launch
http://localhost:PORT.
Step 4: Kill Stuck Ports with the Port Kill Switch
If a zombie process is holding port 8080, 3000, or 5432:
- In the Dev Dashboard panel below, click
⚡ Kill Custom Port Process....
- Type the port number and press Enter.
- Done! The blocking process is terminated instantly.
Step 5: Play Offline Dino Runner 🦖
Taking a mental break or waiting for a heavy build?
- Look at the bottom of the Dev Dashboard and click
🎮 Launch Fullscreen Dino Game to play the classic Chrome T-Rex runner with Spacebar controls!
🌐 Supported Tech Stacks & Frameworks
| Category |
Supported Technologies |
Default Port |
| Frontend |
React, Next.js, Vite, Angular, Vue.js, Nuxt, Svelte, Static Web |
:3000, :4200, :5173, :8080 |
| Backend |
Spring Boot (Maven), NestJS, Express.js, Fastify, Koa, Hapi, Node.js |
:8080, :3000, :5000 |
| Packaging |
Spring Boot WAR / Next.js ZIP via Build Manager (build.sh) |
Staging / Prod / Both |
🎨 Server States & Visual Indicators
| State |
Visual Indicator |
Meaning |
| Running |
🟢 Green Checkmark (pass-filled) |
Server is live and actively listening on its port |
| Starting |
🟡 Yellow Spinner (loading~spin) |
Terminal initialized, compiling and binding port |
| Stopped |
⚪ Muted Circle (circle-outline) |
Server is idle / stopped |
| Failed |
🔴 Red Error Badge (error) |
Server exited or crashed — click to retry |
⌨️ Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
| Command |
Action |
Ninja: Auto-Detect Projects |
Scan workspace and configure projects |
Ninja: Start All Servers |
Launch all selected frontend and backend servers |
Ninja: Stop All Servers |
Stop all active servers gracefully |
Ninja: Kill Port Process |
Interactive prompt to kill any port (Port Switch) |
Ninja: Reset & Reconfigure |
Reselect workspace projects from scratch |
Ninja: Install All Dependencies |
Batch install npm and mvn dependencies |
Ninja: Play Chrome Dino Runner |
Launch the arcade Dino game webview |
📦 Installation
From VS Code Marketplace
Search for Ninja Runner in the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X) and click Install.
Or install via terminal:
code --install-extension akhilninja.ninja-runner
From Open VSX (Antigravity IDE / VSCodium)
ovsx install akhilninja.ninja-runner
Crafted with ❤️ by Akhil Prajapati to supercharge developer productivity and make multi-project workflows effortless.
- 🐛 Found a bug or have an idea? Open an Issue
- ⭐ Love Ninja Runner? Leave a 5-star rating on the VS Code Marketplace!
Happy Coding with Ninja Runner! 🥷⚡
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