@layermix/cli

One task runner for humans, CI, and AI agents. You declare tasks and their dependencies in a task-runner.json. layermix builds the graph and runs tasks in parallel up to the graph's constraints.

• In a terminal: an interactive Ink TUI. Live status, keyboard-driven retry, / for search.
• In CI: buffered linear output that's parallel-safe, plus a JUnit report if you want one.
• Inside Claude Code, Cursor, Aider, Continue: auto-detected via env vars, linear output, no flags needed.

Full docs: https://layermix-labs.github.io/cli/

npm i -g @layermix/cli

60-second tour

layermix init                         # scaffold task-runner.json
layermix list                         # see what's defined
layermix validate                     # check the DAG is cycle-free

layermix id [id]                      # run tasks (and their deps)
layermix -t test                      # run every task tagged 'test'
layermix --dry-run-json -t test       # print the JSON plan, run nothing

Example task-runner.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://unpkg.com/@layermix/cli@2.3.0/schema.json",
  "defaultRun": "-t test",
  "tasks": [
    { "id": "clean",   "cmd": "rm -rf dist",   "dependsOn": [] },
    { "id": "compile", "cmd": "tsc",           "dependsOn": ["clean"] },
    { "id": "lint",    "cmd": "biome check .", "dependsOn": [],          "tags": ["test"] },
    { "id": "test",    "cmd": "vitest run",    "dependsOn": ["compile"], "tags": ["test"] }
  ]
}

Transitive deps fire automatically. layermix test runs clean, then compile, then test. layermix -t test runs everything tagged test, with max parallelism.

Drop it in CI:

layermix -t test --ci --junit report.xml

Why I built this

I kept writing the same shell glue in every project: "clean, then tsc, then in parallel run lint and test". make works for DAGs but fights modern shell escapes. turborepo and nx are heavier than I want for a small TypeScript project. npm-run-all does parallel but not dependencies.

layermix is one JSON file and a runner that works the same on my laptop, in CI, and inside a coding agent. A few opinionated choices:

• A bare layermix in CI/AI mode it exits 1, so a scheduled agent can't silently succeed. In a terminal it opens the TUI idle.
• Unknown task ids and tags exit 1 in every mode. layermix tst (typo for test) fails loudly instead of quietly succeeding.
• Linear output is simple on purpose: [task] Starting... / Finished / Failed / Skipped headers, logs between them. Grep-friendly.
• The same config drives TUI, linear, and dry-run JSON. There's no separate CI config.

Documentation

The site at https://layermix-labs.github.io/cli/ has the details. Each page also lives in this repo:

• docs/config.md: task-runner.json reference. Every field, monorepo merge semantics, defaultRun, tags vs groups.
• docs/tui.md: Terminal UI guide. Layout, keybindings, search, the seven run / retry actions.
• docs/ci-and-agents.md: Linear mode. --ci, --ai, auto-detection, JUnit, dry-run JSON, agent skill file.
• docs/task-arguments.md: Parameterised tasks with $1, $2. File pickers in the TUI and --arg on the CLI.
• docs/scenarios.md: "I want to X" playbook.
• docs/cli-reference.md: Every flag and exit code.

If you're using layermix from Claude Code or another coding agent, there's also an agent-skill.md you can drop into your project to teach the agent how to use it correctly.

Install

npm i -g @layermix/cli
# or ad-hoc, with npx
npx @layermix/cli init

Node 20+. Binary: layermix.

License

MIT