wip exec

wip exec

Runs a command inside the already-running primary container.

wip exec [--no-interactive] COMMAND...

wip exec bundle install
wip exec bin/rails db:migrate
wip exec ls -la /app

What it builds

wslc exec [-it] [-w WORKDIR] [-u USER] [-e KEY=VALUE …] CONTAINER command…

Values come from the primary dependencies: entry (or compose.service's definition under compose-native): workdir, user, env, plus everything from .env.

Ports and volumes are not applied. The container already exists with whatever it was created with; exec attaches to it. If you added a port or a mount to wip.yml, you need wip down && wip up -d, not exec.

Flags

--no-interactive

Skips the -it flags, so nothing is attached to stdin:

wip exec --no-interactive bundle exec rspec

Use it in scripts and CI, or when the command reads from a pipe. Note that even without this flag, wip only allocates a TTY when stdin and stdout are both real TTYs — so piped output already degrades gracefully. See TTY Allocation.

Requires a running container

$ wip exec ls
Error: container "app" is not running

(The exact message comes from wslc.) Start it first:

wip up -d

If you want a command that doesn't need a running container, use wip run instead.

exec vs. run

	wip exec	wip run
Container	the existing one	a fresh --rm one
Requires wip up first	yes	no
Shares state with the running app	yes	no
Ports / volumes applied	no	yes
Startup cost	none	a container start
Under mode: compose	bridged exec	falls back to exec

Reach for exec by default — it's faster and sees the same filesystem the app does.

Under compose mode

Bridged to the external tool:

<compose command> -f FILE [-p PROJECT] exec [-T] <compose.service> command…

-T is added when non-interactive.

Prefer named interactions

Typing wip exec bundle exec rspec every time is what interaction: exists to avoid:

interaction:
  rspec:
    command: bundle exec rspec

wip rspec --fail-fast

See Interactions.

Related

• wip run
• wip shell
• TTY Allocation
• Interactions