The basics, done carefully

vx run picks the project you are in, never hangs in a pipe, and folds
each task on GitHub Actions. Small things, done carefully.

$ cd packages/a && vx run build     # the project you stand in
┌─ packages/a#build > $ bun build src/index.ts --outdir dist
Bundled 1 module in 3ms

$ vx run | cat                      # a pipe: no picker
✗ vx run  missing task name (stdin is not a TTY, so no picker; tasks here: build, check, e2e, flip, notes, plain, slow, test)

  see vx run --help

Demo workspace · vx 69617eb · 2026-10-23

Run what you mean

$ vx run build                      # the project you stand in
$ vx run build --all                # every project that declares build
$ vx run packages/c#test            # one task, from anywhere
$ vx run build test lint --all      # several at once, one graph

No picker in a pipe

In a terminal, a bare vx run opens a picker. In a pipe or a script
nobody can pick, so vx lists the tasks and exits 1. The live progress
area is off too, and the log gets plain lines.

One fold per task on GitHub Actions

On Actions, each task gets its own log group with its result and time.
A long run collapses to one line per task:

$ GITHUB_ACTIONS=true CI=true vx run build --filter packages/c --force
::group::packages/a#build (success 7ms)
::stop-commands::95fb31f4-10a0-4d85-8a5d-1a444d8bb4de
┌─ packages/a#build > success
$ bun build src/index.ts --outdir dist
├─ OUTPUT ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Bundled 1 module in 3ms
  index.js  78 bytes  (entry point)
└─ packages/a#build ── (7ms) success
::95fb31f4-10a0-4d85-8a5d-1a444d8bb4de::
::endgroup::

A failed task stays open with an error note like
failed (exit 137, 128 + SIGKILL). The stop-commands token stops a
task's output from being read as a workflow command.

Colors that listen

Color on a terminal, plain elsewhere. NO_COLOR turns it off.
FORCE_COLOR turns it on, but FORCE_COLOR=0 or false mean off, as
in chalk and Node.

Packages shipped as source

A package with no build step still matters to its users. vx gives it a
build that runs nothing but is keyed on its files. Edit it, and the
packages that use it build again, and --affected finds them.

Every flag is in the CLI reference. More at
vznjs.github.io/vx.

Originally published on the vx blog. vx is open-source (MIT) task orchestration with a build cache: vznjs.github.io/vx · GitHub.

_{Written with AI assistance.}