nx-dash

A terminal UI for browsing and running NX targets — like NX Console, for the CLI.

nx-dash
terminal nx console · v0.1.3

↑↓ navigate  ⇧↑↓ skip  ←→ expand  Enter run  Tab/⇧Tab switch tab  ⇧→ favourite  type filter  Esc clear  ^C quit

26 projects · via nx show · ~/projects/my-monorepo

tree  flat  ★ favourite  ● modified  ↻ recent
› █ type to filter…

▾ apps
  ▾ landing-page ●
    ▸ build ★
    • dev
    • lint
    • test
  ▸ web-app
▸ libs

Why

NX Console is wonderful inside VS Code and JetBrains, but if you live in the terminal you're stuck with nx run …, shell completions, and remembering every target name. nx-dash gives you the same project tree, fuzzy filter, and one-keystroke run — right in the shell, no editor required.

Features

• 🌳 Tree of projects → targets → configurations, just like NX Console.
• 🔍 Fuzzy filter — start typing; matches are ranked and highlighted.
• ⭐ Favourites — star the targets you run all day; persists per workspace.
• ● Modified — projects affected by your local changes (via nx show projects --affected) get a dot indicator and a dedicated tab.
• ↻ Recent — the last 5 targets you ran are kept in a dedicated tab so re-running is one tab away.
• ⚡ Instant restart — first launch caches the project list; subsequent launches render in milliseconds while a fresh scan runs in the background.
• 🎯 Clean handoff — the TUI fully vanishes on Enter; the selected target runs in the original terminal with full stdio and signal forwarding.
• 🧠 Remembers the last view mode (tree / flat / ★ favourites / ● modified / ↻ recent) per workspace.
• 🪶 Zero config — walks up to find nx.json, prefers the local nx binary, falls back to scanning project.json files.

Quick start

# Run without installing
npx nx-dash

# Or install globally
npm install -g nx-dash

That's it — run nx-dash anywhere inside an NX monorepo. Navigate with arrows, type to filter, hit Enter to run.

Keybindings

| Key | Action | | --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | ↑ ↓ | Move selection | | Shift + ↑/↓ | Skip 5 items at a time | | ← → | Collapse / expand | | Enter | Run selected target (or expand a project) | | Tab | Next tab: tree → flat → ★ favourite → ● modified → ↻ recent | | Shift + Tab | Previous tab | | Shift + → | Toggle ★ favourite on the selected target | | type | Fuzzy filter (auto-switches to ranked list) | | Esc | Clear filter, then quit | | Ctrl + C | Quit |

Flags

| Flag | Description | | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | --cwd <path> | Pretend the CLI was launched from <path> | | --dry-run | Print the resolved nx run … command instead of executing | | -h, --help | Show help | | -v, --version | Print version |

How it works

nx-dash walks up from the current directory looking for nx.json, then:

1. Runs nx show projects --json (using the workspace's local node_modules/.bin/nx when present) followed by nx show project <name> --json per project. This picks up inferred targets from plugins like @nx/vite or @nx/jest.
2. Falls back to globbing project.json files if nx isn't installed or the daemon doesn't respond.

On every successful scan the result is cached. The next launch reads the cache synchronously and renders instantly, while a fresh scan runs in the background and silently swaps in the new data when ready (a small ⠋ refreshing… indicator shows while it's in flight).

Workspace state

All per-workspace state lives under a .nx-dash/ directory at the workspace root. The directory ships its own .gitignore so nothing leaks into your commits:

<workspace>/.nx-dash/
├── .gitignore           # contains: *
├── favourites.json      # your starred targets
├── preferences.json     # last-used view mode
├── recent.json          # last 5 targets you ran
└── projects-cache.json  # cached project list

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18
• A workspace containing an nx.json file

License

MIT © Rokas Anisas

Contributing

Bug reports, feature ideas, and pull requests welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the dev setup and project layout.