CmdHub

CmdHub is a Windows WPF app for running and monitoring multiple command-line processes from one place.

It is designed for workflows where you need several long-running commands (APIs, workers, scripts, watchers) and want simple start/stop/restart controls with output previews.

Features

• Manage multiple commands in one UI
• Per-command actions: Start, Stop, Restart, Open Console, Edit, Delete
• Per-command actions: Start, Stop, Restart, Open Console, Perf, Edit, Delete
• Live output preview in a dedicated console window
• Optional local HTTP API (enable/disable from toolbar)
• Remote HTML control panel (on separate port)
• React-based control panel UI (componentized, modern layout)
• Frontend build pipeline: React is compiled during dotnet build and embedded in the app assembly
• Console action to send Ctrl+C for graceful interruption
• Auto-restart support for crashed/exited processes
• Run-on-start support
• Minimize to system tray with tray context menu
• Persisted command configuration in %APPDATA%\CmdHub\config.json

Screenshots

Requirements

• Windows
• .NET SDK 8.0+
• Node.js + npm (for control panel frontend build)

Build And Run

From repository root (CmdHub/):

1. Restore .NET dependencies:

dotnet restore .\CmdHub.sln

2. (Optional) Install frontend dependencies if this is your first build or frontend/package-lock.json changed:

cd .\frontend
npm install
cd ..

3. Build the frontend only (optional sanity check):

cd .\frontend
npm run build
cd ..

4. Build the full solution (this also builds and embeds the React frontend automatically):

dotnet build .\CmdHub.sln

5. Run the app:

dotnet run --project .\CmdHub.csproj

Build configuration examples:

# Debug
dotnet build .\CmdHub.sln -c Debug

# Release
dotnet build .\CmdHub.sln -c Release

Usage

1. Click New Command.
2. Fill in:
   • Name: friendly display name
   • Command: full command to execute (for example dotnet run --project MyApi.csproj)
   • Working Directory: optional start directory
   • Auto Restart: restart after unexpected exit
   • Run On Start: start automatically when CmdHub launches
   • Use PowerShell: run command via powershell.exe (useful for shell aliases/functions)
3. Use row buttons to control each process.
4. Click Console to inspect full output.
5. Click Remote: Off in toolbar to enable remote API + control panel.
6. Click Settings to configure API port, control panel port, and control panel password.

API Endpoints

When enabled, API base URL is:

http://localhost:5480/api

• GET /api/health
• GET /api/processes
• GET /api/processes/{processId}/logs
• POST /api/processes (create command)
• PUT /api/processes/{processId} (edit command)
• DELETE /api/processes/{processId} (delete command)
• POST /api/processes/{processId}/actions/start
• POST /api/processes/{processId}/actions/stop
• POST /api/processes/{processId}/actions/restart
• POST /api/processes/{processId}/actions/ctrlc
• POST /api/processes/{processId}/actions/clear-logs

logs response contains logs as a string array (one item per log line).

All endpoints (except /api/health) require header:

• X-CmdHub-Password: <control-panel-password>

Control Panel

Control panel URL (default):

http://<machine-ip>:5481/

The HTML panel can be opened from another device in the same network and supports:

• Process list with status/usage
• Start / Stop / Restart / Ctrl+C
• Create / Edit / Delete command
• Per-process logs view

logs endpoint query options:

• tail (optional, number of chars returned from end of log, default 16000, max 200000)

Configuration

CmdHub stores config at:

%APPDATA%\CmdHub\config.json

Config shape:

{
	"apiEnabled": false,
	"apiPort": 5480,
	"controlPanelPort": 5481,
	"controlPanelPassword": "generated-random-password",
	"commands": [
		{
			"id": "guid",
			"name": "My API",
			"command": "dotnet run --project MyApi.csproj",
			"workingDirectory": "C:\\path\\to\\project",
			"autoRestart": true,
			"runOnStart": false,
			"usePowerShell": false
		}
	]
}

Process Behavior

• Stop attempts to terminate the full process tree.
• Ctrl+C in console sends an interrupt through standard input (best effort graceful stop).
• App exit also triggers cleanup for all managed processes.
• If a process ignores normal termination, CmdHub uses a forced tree-kill fallback on Windows.

Troubleshooting

• Build fails with file lock (CmdHub.exe is being used by another process):

Get-Process CmdHub -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Stop-Process -Force
dotnet build .\CmdHub.sln

• Command does not start:
  • Verify executable exists in PATH or provide full path.
  • Verify Working Directory is valid.
  • For shell-specific commands/aliases, enable Use PowerShell.
  • Open Console for error output.

Project Structure

• MainWindow.xaml / MainWindow.xaml.cs: main grid UI + tray behavior
• ViewModels/MainViewModel.cs: command list orchestration
• ViewModels/CommandViewModel.cs: process lifecycle and output buffering
• Views/ConsoleWindow.xaml / Views/ConsoleWindow.xaml.cs: log viewer window
• Services/ConfigService.cs: load/save JSON config
• Models/: config models

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.