bgproc

A CLI for managing background processes. All commands output JSON to stdout.

When to Use

Use bgproc when you need to:

• Start a dev server or other long-running process in the background
• Restart a process with the same command and working directory
• Check if a process is running and what port it's listening on
• View logs from a background process
• Stop a background process

Commands

# Start a process
bgproc start -n <name> -- <command...>
bgproc start -n devserver -- npm run dev
bgproc start -n devserver -t 300 -- npm run dev  # auto-kill after 5 min

# Start and wait for port (recommended for dev servers)
bgproc start -n devserver -w -- npm run dev      # wait for port, then exit
bgproc start -n devserver -w 30 -- npm run dev   # wait up to 30s for port

# Force restart (kill existing process first)
bgproc start -n devserver -f -w -- npm run dev

# Restart with same command and cwd (kills if running)
bgproc restart <name>
bgproc restart <name> -w      # wait for port after restart

# Check status (returns JSON with pid, running state, port)
bgproc status <name>

# View logs
bgproc logs <name>
bgproc logs <name> --tail 50
bgproc logs <name> --errors  # stderr only

# List all processes
bgproc list
bgproc list --cwd  # filter to current directory

# Stop a process
bgproc stop <name>
bgproc stop <name> --force  # SIGKILL

# Clean up dead processes
bgproc clean <name>
bgproc clean --all

Workflow

1. Start a process and wait for port: bgproc start -n devserver -w -- npm run dev
   • Streams logs to stderr while starting
   • Prints JSON with port to stdout when ready
   • Use -f to force restart if already running
2. Restart a process: bgproc restart devserver -w
   • Re-runs with the same command and cwd
   • Kills the process first if still running
3. If something's wrong, check logs: bgproc logs devserver
4. When done: bgproc stop devserver

Notes

• All commands output JSON to stdout, errors to stderr
• Port detection works via lsof and checks child processes (macOS/Linux only)
• Use -w to wait for port detection before returning
• Use -f to force restart (kills existing process with same name)
• Starting a process with the same name as a dead one auto-cleans it
• Logs are capped at 1MB per process