dev
uses pkgx
and shellcode to automatically, install and activate the
packages you need for different projects as you navigate in your shell.
Ensure you are using the same versions of tools for your entire stack, during dev, across your team and in production.
Note
Packages are installed to ~/.pkgx
and not available to your wider system
without using a tool from the pkgx
tooling ecosystem.
Since dev
v1.8.0 we integrate with pkgm
(^0.11) and this is the recommended
way to use dev
.
Important
Both dev
and the packages you want to be dev
-aware must be installed to
/usr/local/
for this to work. (dev
(but only dev
) can be a pkgm shim
).
sudo pkgm install dev node@22
$ cd my-project
$ ls
package.json
$ node --version
command not found: node
$ sudo pkgm install dev node
$ node --version && which node
v23.11.0
/usr/local/bin/node
$ cat package.json | jq .engines
{
"node": "^20"
}
$ dev .
activated `~/my-project` (+node^20)
$ node --version && which node
v20.19.0
/usr/local/bin/node
$ cd ..
$ node --version && which node
v23.11.0
/usr/local/bin/node
$ cd -
$ node --version && which node
v20.19.0
/usr/local/bin/node
pkgm
installs dev
-aware packages to /usr/local/bin
. Provided you have
/usr/local/bin/dev
installed and you have activated dev
in your project
directories the node
that is invoked is swapped out when invoked.
This is the recommended way to use dev
because it works everywhere and not
just the terminal.
Shellcode works as well and is your preference. It has notable caveats with
regard to use in tools like editors. It also requires you to add shellcode to
your shell.rc
files and thus is more intrusive (depending on your outlook).
A great advantage of the shellcode is not needing to install tools you may never need again when exploring new open source projects.
pkgx dev integrate
dev
requires pkgx
but at your preference:
brew install pkgxdev/made/dev
dev integrate
We support macOS & Linux, Bash & Zsh. PRs are very welcome to support more shells.
Note
dev integrate
looks for and edits known shell.rc
files adding one line:
eval "$(dev --shellcode)"
If you don’t trust us (good on you), then do a dry run first:
pkgx dev integrate --dry-run
If you like, preview the shellcode: pkgx dev --shellcode
. This command only
outputs shellcode, it doesn’t modify any files or do anything else either.
$ cd my-project
my-project $ ls
package.json
my-project $ dev
+nodejs.org
# ^^ installs node to ~/.pkgx/nodejs.org/v22.12.0 if not already installed
my-project $ node --version
v22.12.0
$ which node
~/.pkgx/nodejs.org/v22.12.0/bin/node
$ cd ..
-nodejs.org
$ node
command not found: node
Tip
Modifying your shell.rc
can be… intimidating. If you just want to
temporarily try dev
out before you :wq
—we got you:
$ cd my-project
$ eval "$(pkgx dev)"
+deno^2
$ deno --version
deno 2.1.1
The devenv will only exist for the duration of your shell session.
- We look at the files you have and figure out the packages you need.
- Where possible we also determine the versions you need if such things can be determined by looking at configuration files.
We allow you to add YAML front matter to all files to specify versions more precisely:
# ---
# pkgx:
# dependencies:
# openssl.org: 1.1.1n
# ---
[package]
name = "my cargo project"
# snip…
We allow more terse expressions including eg:
# ---
# pkgx:
# dependencies: [email protected] deno^2 npm
# ---
The major exception being json since it doesn’t support comments, in this case
we read a special pkgx
node:
{
"pkgx": {
"dependencies": {
"openssl.org": "1.1.1n",
"deno": "^2",
"npm": null
}
}
}
You can also make a pkgx.yaml
file.
You can add your own environment variables if you like:
# ---
# pkgx:
# dependencies:
# openssl.org: 1.1.1n
# env:
# MY_VAR: my-value
# ---
Note
- Adding environment variables only works via the
shellcode
route. - The environment variable's value is sanitized, so expressions like
MY_VAR: $(sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root /)
will throw an error. - We recommend
direnv
instead of this route.
The sure fire way for things to work in editors is to use the dev
/pkgm
combo. Having said this most editors if opened via the Terminal will inherit
that Terminal’s environment.
- uses: pkgxdev/dev@v1
Our action installs needed packages (via pkgx
) and sets up the environment the
same as dev
does in your terminal.
We use deno
, so either install that or—you know—type dev
.
Edit ./src/sniff.ts to add new dev types.