Skip to content

README.adoc

Latest commit

 

History

History
109 lines (70 loc) · 3.75 KB

README.adoc

File metadata and controls

109 lines (70 loc) · 3.75 KB
Raw

Command Pad

Command Pad is a handy GUI application for running your command line tasks. It helps to start and stop a command line tools easily and you can also monitor the output.

You can learn more about it by the review from @softpedia: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Programming/Other-Programming-Files/Command-Pad.shtml

Project Status Update

Since the last update in the original repositor was in 2018 I’ve decided to try mess about with the code a bit, I know next to nothing about Electron. First target (and experiment) was an Apple Silicon release, done.

From here on out, I’m pretty much flying blind and guess I’ll muck about and maybe something useful will come about.

Downloads

Version 0.2.0 Released at 2026-08-26:

My first release and the first release to run on Apple Silicon.

Version 0.1.2 Released at 2018-3-6:

  • legacy.

Version 0.1.1 Released at 2016-10-26:

  • legacy.

Motivation

In a nut shell, I like the app. I don’t have much use for it but for a few specific tasks, it’s the "near" perfect tool. With Intel support about to fall away with MacOS 27 the latest build of Command Pad would stop working. With no updates in over a decade and wanting to continue using the app were the motivation I needed to pick up the code.

Original

For the modern web development, it usually needs several terminals opened for just running various dev servers, for example below is my terminal typically looks like:

Managing them is frustrating. It’s not intuitive which service you need is running and which has stopped unexpectedly. But the useful terminals which need interactions often collapse into the dropdown menu.

So I created this little tool to manage all of my frequently used command line programs. It looks like:

It helps to manage command line tools in one central place with intuitive UI.

Use cases

Besides running dev servers, Command Pad is also useful for:

  • Running building/testing scripts. You can be prompted when the script is finished.

  • Launch command line GUI apps like JMeter.

And…​

  • Quick status/info scripts.

  • Start custom services and shows them active. (may need a little magic…​)

  • I have some crazy services written in php and a custom wrapper (specifically for Command Pad) that starts a service and loops until service ends to get full use out of the start/stop button state.

  • bla de bla…​

Features

  • Monitor the output and keep the colour.

  • Prompt you when some script succeeds or fails.

  • Support sudo on MacOS.

  • Open URL directly from the UI.

FAQ:

Why is this "little tool" so large?

Command Pad is built with Electron.

Why can’t I interact with the command?

Command Pad is not to replace your terminal. It’s just used for running command line services. So you can’t type in the output window.

How to delete a command?

Click sort icon on the header:

Contribute

To run a local dist build: 1. Download certificate from your Apple development console. 2. Use electron-builder to build 3. Set package.json "build.mac.identity" to you own. 4. Run npm run dist. 5. Check the result under dist/mac for app and dmg.

License

MIT

Appendix

echo "\tCreating application {{GREEN}}files{{NORMAL}} in {{CYAN}}app{{NORMAL}}"
npm run build
####
echo "\tBundling application into an {{CYAN}}.app{{NORMAL}}..."
npx electron-builder --dir -c.mac.identity=null
codesign --force --deep --sign - "dist/mac-arm64/Command Pad.app"
####
echo "\tPackaging application into a {{CYAN}}DMG{{NORMAL}}..."
npm run dist