solo

Your all-in-one Laravel command to tame local development

Solo for Laravel

[!IMPORTANT] This package requires ext-pcntl, so it will not work on Windows. Sorry about that. If you know how to fix that, let me know!

About

Solo for Laravel is a package to run multiple commands at once, to aid in local development. All the commands needed to run your application live behind a single artisan command:

php artisan solo

Each command runs in its own tab in Solo. Use the left/right arrow keys to navigate between tabs and enjoy a powerful, unified development environment.

Installation

1. Require the package:

composer require soloterm/solo --dev

1. Install the package:

php artisan solo:install

This will publish the configuration file to config/solo.php.

Configuration

Solo is entirely config-driven through config/solo.php. Here's a quick overview of what you can configure:

Commands

Define your commands in the commands array:

'commands' => [
    'About' => 'php artisan solo:about',
    'Logs' => 'tail -f -n 100 ' . storage_path('logs/laravel.log'),
    'Vite' => 'npm run dev',
    'Make' => new MakeCommand,

    // Lazy commands don't start automatically
    'Dumps' => Command::from('php artisan solo:dumps')->lazy(),
    'Queue' => Command::from('php artisan queue:work')->lazy(),
    'Tests' => TestCommand::artisan(),
],

You can define commands in several ways:

'commands' => [
    // A simple string
    'About' => 'php artisan solo:about',

    // A custom Command class
    'Make' => new MakeCommand,

    // Using the Command::from() static constructor
    'Dumps' => Command::from('php artisan solo:dumps')->lazy(),
],

A simple string command is the easiest way, but if you need more control you're free to create your own custom class.

Lazy Commands

If you want to define a command that does not start automatically, you can append lazy() to a Command instance:

// You might need Reverb, but maybe not always, so don't autostart it.
'Reverb' => Command::from('php artisan reverb')->lazy()

Themes

Solo ships with both light and dark themes. Configure your preference in config/solo.php:

'theme' => env('SOLO_THEME', 'dark'),

'themes' => [
    'light' => Themes\LightTheme::class,
    'dark' => Themes\DarkTheme::class,
],

You can define your own theme if you'd like. It's probably easiest to subclass one of the existing themes.

Keybindings

Choose between default and vim-style keybindings:

'keybinding' => env('SOLO_KEYBINDING', 'default'),

'keybindings' => [
    'default' => Hotkeys\DefaultHotkeys::class,
    'vim' => Hotkeys\VimHotkeys::class,
],

Again, you're welcome to define and register your own keybidings.

Usage

Start Solo with:

php artisan solo

Key Controls

Note these are the default bindings. They will be slightly different if you use the Vim bindings.

• Navigation:

  • Left/Right arrows to switch between tabs
  • Up/Down arrows to scroll output
  • Shift + Up/Down to page scroll
  • g to quickly jump to any tab

• Command Controls:

  • s to start/stop the current command
  • r to restart
  • c to clear output
  • p to pause output
  • f to resume (follow) output

• Interactive Mode:

  • i to enter interactive mode
  • Ctrl+X to exit interactive mode

• Global:

  • q or Ctrl+C to quit Solo

Special Commands

MakeCommand

Solo ships with a special php artisan solo:make command that proxies to all of the underlying php artisan make:* commands. It serves as a universal entry point to Laravel's make commands.

It lives in a custom MakeCommand class.

'Make' => new MakeCommand,

TestCommand

The TestCommand provides a safe way to run tests that automatically sets APP_ENV=testing. This ensures your tests run in the correct environment and don't accidentally affect your local database.

// Using Laravel's artisan test command (default)
'Tests' => TestCommand::artisan(),

// Using Pest
'Tests' => TestCommand::pest(),

// Using PHPUnit directly
'Tests' => TestCommand::phpunit(),

// Custom arguments
'Tests' => TestCommand::artisan('--filter=UserTest'),

solo:dumps

Solo also ships with a custom "Dump Server" that will intercept dump commands from your code and show them in Solo instead of inline. You can run this as a normal artisan command via php artisan solo:dumps.

FAQ

My command isn't working

Try these steps:

1. Test if it works outside of Solo
2. Check if it has an --ansi or --colors=always option
3. Verify it's writing to STDOUT
4. Look for options to force STDOUT output

Can I run Sail commands?

Yes! Use this format: vendor/bin/sail artisan schedule:work --ansi

Does Solo support Windows?

No, Solo requires ext-pcntl and other Unix-specific features. If you know how to fix that, please open a PR.

Can I use this in production?

I wouldn't! Use supervisor or similar tools for production environments.

Support

This is free! If you want to support me:

• Check out my courses:
  • Database School
  • Screencasting
• Help spread the word about things I make

Credits

Solo was developed by Aaron Francis. If you like it, please let me know!

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis
• Website: https://aaronfrancis.com
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aarondfrancis
• GitHub: https://github.com/aarondfrancis/solo

Special thanks to:

• Joe Tannenbaum for his Laracasts course
• Joe's Chewie package
• Laravel Prompts
• Will King for the Solo logo

Related Projects

• Screen - Pure PHP terminal renderer
• Dumps - Laravel command to intercept dumps
• Grapheme - Unicode grapheme width calculator
• Notify - PHP package for desktop notifications via OSC escape sequences
• Notify Laravel - Laravel integration for soloterm/notify
• TNotify - Standalone, cross-platform CLI for desktop notifications
• VTail - Vendor-aware tail for Laravel logs