# Rox
[](https://github.com/ThomasLaPiana/rox/actions/workflows/checks.yml)
Composable build tool inspired by [Nox](https://nox.thea.codes/en/stable/), Make & [cargo-make](https://github.com/sagiegurari/cargo-make)
Rox gives you the ability to build your own devtools CLI using YAML files. Tasks and Pipelines are dynamically added to the CLI as subcommands at runtime. The flexibility of `rox` intends to makes it easier for dev teams to standardize their workflows without writing endless "glue" scripts.
The subcommands and their help messages are automatically populated at runtime from the `name` and `description` of each `task`.
## Table of Contents
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Roxfile Syntax](#roxfile-syntax)
- [Version Requirements](#version-requirements)
- [File Requirements](#file-requirements)
- [Templates](#templates)
- [Tasks](#tasks)
- [Pipelines](#pipelines)
- [Putting it all Together](#putting-it-all-together)
- [Usage Examples](#usage-examples)
## Installation
Currently, `rox` can only be installed via `cargo`. Install [Rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install) to get the entire `Rust` toolkit, including `cargo`.
Once that's done, run `cargo install rox` and then `rox --version` to verify that the installation succeeded.
## Roxfile Syntax
### Version Requirements
Version Requirements are used to ensure that any required CLI tool matches your specified version requirements.
```yaml
version_requirements:
- command: "docker version --format {{.Client.Version}}" # Output: 20.10.23
minimum_version: "20.10.7"
maximum_version: "21.0.0"
- command: "python --version" # Output: Python 3.9.13
# Splits on spaces and grabs the last output token as the Version
split: true
minimum_version: "3.8"
```
### File Requirements
File Requirements ensure that certain expected files are present.
```yaml
file_requirements:
- path: "Cargo.toml"
- path: ".env"
create_if_not_exists: true # Create the file if it doesn't exist, as opposed to throwing an error
```
### Templates
Templates allow you to specify templated commands that can be reused by `tasks`. Values are injected positionally. These are intended to facilitate code reuse and uniformity across similar but different commands.
```yaml
templates:
- name: docker_build
command: "docker build {path} -t rox:{image_tag}"
symbols: ["{path}", "{image_tag}"]
```
### Tasks
Tasks are discrete units of execution. They're intended to be single shell commands that can then be composed via `pipelines`. They are also able to leverage `templates` by specifying one with `uses` and injecting values with `values`.
```yaml
tasks:
- name: build-prod
description: "Build the application dockerfile"
uses: docker_build
values: [".", "latest"]
- name: "watch-run"
description: "Run the application, restarting on file changes"
command: "cargo watch -c -x run"
```
### Pipelines
Pipelines are the canonical way to chain together multiple tasks into a single unit of execution. They also support parallel execution with the `-p` flag but it is up to the user to ensure that the tasks can be safely executed in parallel.
```yaml
pipelines:
- name: example-pipeline
description: Composes a few tasks
tasks: ["task-a", "task-b", "task-c"]
```
### Putting it all together
Now that we've seen each individual piece of the Rox puzzle, we can put them all together into a full `roxfile`.
```yaml
version_requirements:
- command: "docker version --format {{.Client.Version}}"
minimum_version: "20.10.7"
maximum_version: "21.0.0"
file_requirements:
- path: ".env"
create_if_not_exists: true
templates:
- name: docker_build
command: "docker build {path} -t rox:{image_tag}"
symbols: ["{path}", "{image_tag}"]
pipelines:
- name: build-all
description: "Build a release artifact binary and Docker image"
tasks: ["build-release-binary", "build-release-image"]
- name: ci
description: "Run all CI-related tasks"
tasks: ["fmt", "test", "clippy-ci"]
tasks:
- name: build-local
description: "Build the application dockerfile"
uses: docker_build
values: [".", "local"]
- name: build-prod
description: "Build the application dockerfile"
uses: docker_build
values: [".", "latest"]
- name: "clippy-ci"
description: "Run Clippy with a non-zero exit if warnings are found."
command: "cargo clippy -- -D warnings"
- name: fmt
command: "cargo fmt"
- name: test
command: "cargo test"
description: "Run tests"
# Release-related
- name: build-release-binary
description: "Build a release binary with cargo."
command: "cargo build --release"
- name: build-release-image
description: "Build a production image for Docker."
command: "docker build . -t rox:latest"
- name: secret_task
description: "This task isn't callable directly from the CLI, but is available to pipelines!"
hide: true
```
## Usage Examples
The following are command-line examples for running `rox` with various flags and subcommands.
Show Tasks/Pipelines:
```sh
rox task
```
```sh
rox pl
```
<https://github.com/ThomasLaPiana/rox/assets/5105354/2041522d-4cb2-4c96-9655-c1802fdf16c8>
Run a Task:
```sh
rox task build-binary
```
<https://github.com/ThomasLaPiana/rox/assets/5105354/9f152b3b-8a65-4409-af5c-da029c3e8ae4>
Run a Pipeline:
```sh
rox pl ci
```
<https://github.com/ThomasLaPiana/rox/assets/5105354/02d99bc6-0dc1-4c33-a753-2868043c4d43>
Run a Pipeline in Parallel:
```sh
rox pl -p build-release-all
```
## Releasing
`Rox` is released by running `cargo release` locally.
Steps to Release:
1. Make sure that all desired changes are pushed up and merged to `main`
1. `cargo install cargo-release` (if not already installed)
1. `cargo release [major|minor|patch] --execute` - Updates the `Cargo.toml`, commits and pushes the change, and then publishes the crate to <crates.io>
1. `cargo release tag --execute` - Creates a git tag with the same version as the `Cargo.toml`
1. `cargo release push --execute` - Pushes the git tag
1. Finally, a CI job is automatically triggered to build and upload the release assets