wip dispatch

wip dispatch

Runs a wip.yml interaction explicitly, by name.

wip dispatch NAME [ARGS...]

You usually don't need it

dispatch is the default command: any first argument wip doesn't recognize as a built-in is routed here automatically. These are identical:

wip rspec --fail-fast
wip dispatch rspec --fail-fast

So you only reach for dispatch when the automatic routing can't reach your entry — which happens in exactly one case.

Resolving a name collision

Built-in commands always win. If you declare an interaction whose name matches a built-in, wip <name> runs the built-in:

interaction:
  sync:
    command: bin/sync-fixtures
  build:
    type: build
    context: .
    tag: myapp:dev

wip sync            # → the built-in mirror, not bin/sync-fixtures
wip dispatch sync   # → bin/sync-fixtures

Where it can, wip warns rather than silently shadowing:

$ wip sync
wip: commands.sync in wip.yml is shadowed by the built-in `wip sync`; run it with `wip dispatch sync`

Reserved names

init, version, doctor, config, build, up, stop, down, exec, run, shell, logs, sync, dispatch, help.

Prefer renaming your entry (sync-fixtures rather than sync) — dispatch is the escape hatch, not the intended daily spelling.

build is the deliberate exception: wip build is driven by the build interaction's context/tag, so that collision is by design rather than a shadowing problem.

With no arguments

$ wip dispatch

prints wip's help, the same as wip help.

Unknown names

$ wip dispatch nope
Unknown command: nope

Behavior

The entry is resolved from interaction: / commands:, merged on top of the primary container's values, and run according to its type:

type	Runs as
exec (default)	wip exec into the primary container
run	wip run in a fresh --rm container
build	wip build

Extra arguments are appended to the configured command. TTY allocation follows the entry's interactive: value combined with real-TTY detection — see TTY Allocation.

Under mode: compose, only type: exec is supported:

commands.migrate: type 'run' is not supported in compose mode (use `wslc-compose build`/`up --build` directly)

Global options work here too

wip --config other/wip.yml dispatch rspec
wip dispatch rspec --debug

See Global Options.

Related

• Interactions
• CLI Command Reference