ezcli

中文说明

ezcli is an extensible Windows shell helper for developer workflows.

It currently focuses on tasks such as loading the MSVC cl environment and switching into configured project directories, while making those changes apply to the current PowerShell or cmd session. The long-term direction is still developer workflow tooling, with a strong preference for behavior that is explicit, predictable, and shell-friendly.

Install

From crates.io

cargo install ezcli-win

The package name on crates.io is ezcli-win, but the installed command is still:

ezcli

From the local repository

cargo install --path .

If you prefer, you can also build it manually:

cargo build --release

If you want to run ezcli directly, make sure the executable directory is available in PATH, or run it from the build output directory.

Quick start

1. Configure vcvarsall.bat

Run:

ezcli --find-cl

This step will:

• open a file picker so you can select vcvarsall.bat
• update %USERPROFILE%\.ezcli\ezcli.toml
• install the cmd wrappers
• generate the PowerShell wrapper
• ask whether the PowerShell wrapper should be added to the current user's profile

2. Add a project

Run:

ezcli --add-project handmade

After choosing the project directory, you can enter it quickly with:

ep handmade

3. Daily usage

Recommended daily commands:

PowerShell:

ecl
ep handmade

cmd:

ecl
ep handmade

Where:

• ecl loads the MSVC cl environment into the current shell session
• ep <name> enters a configured project directory and prepends it to the current session PATH

What it does today

• Load the MSVC cl environment into the current shell session
• Enter a configured project directory
• Prepend that project path to the current session PATH
• Support both PowerShell and cmd
• Provide both short commands and long command names

Why wrappers are needed

A normal CLI runs as a child process of the shell. It can modify its own environment variables and working directory, but those changes do not flow back into the parent shell automatically.

Because of that, ezcli uses a two-layer design:

• emit: generates shell script text and writes it to standard output
• wrapper: makes the current shell execute that script so the current session is actually updated

That is why ecl and ep can affect the current PowerShell or cmd session instead of only taking effect inside a short-lived child process.

Positioning

• Built for Windows shell workflows instead of being just a one-shot CLI
• Focused on developer productivity without being tied to a single language or a single project type
• Suitable for environment loading, project switching, and future workflow-related commands
• Designed around explicit invocation so new features do not pollute existing daily commands

If the tool grows over time, new commands should still be organized around developer workflows instead of mixing in unrelated concerns.

Common commands

Wrapper entry points

• ecl
• ep <name>
• ezcli-load-cl
• ezcli-enter-project <name>

CLI entry points

• ezcli --find-cl
• ezcli --show-cl
• ezcli --add-project <name>
• ezcli --show-project
• ezcli --del-project

Advanced commands

These are mainly useful for debugging, understanding the lower-level behavior, or integrating wrappers manually:

• ezcli emit --shell powershell load-cl
• ezcli emit --shell powershell enter-project <name>
• ezcli emit --shell cmd load-cl
• ezcli emit --shell cmd enter-project <name>
• ezcli emit --shell powershell init
• ezcli emit --shell powershell show-profile
• ezcli emit --shell powershell install-profile
• ezcli emit --shell cmd install-wrapper

Configuration

Default config file path:

%USERPROFILE%\.ezcli\ezcli.toml

The current config structure looks roughly like this:

vc_path = "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\...\\vcvarsall.bat"

default_arch = "x64"



[[projects]]

name = "handmade"

path = "D:\\code\\handmade"

Where:

• vc_path is the path to vcvarsall.bat
• default_arch is the default architecture argument
• projects stores project names and project paths

Current limitations

• The tool currently targets Windows
• Wrappers currently exist only for PowerShell and cmd
• Repeatedly running ep <name> may introduce duplicate entries into the current session PATH
• This README focuses on stable usage; more detailed implementation notes are better kept in separate documents

Current status

ezcli has already completed the core transition from a direct-action CLI into a shell-wrapper-driven tool.

Both the PowerShell and cmd paths are working, and ecl plus ep <name> are already usable as daily commands.

Next directions

Reasonable next steps include:

• adding more usage examples
• organizing commands more clearly as the tool grows
• adding PATH deduplication
• writing separate documents under docs/
• extending the tool with more developer workflow features without breaking the main mental model

License

Licensed under either MIT or Apache-2.0.