mprocs - Run Multiple Commands in Parallel Cheatsheet

mprocs - Run Multiple Commands in Parallel Cheatsheet

mprocs runs several long-running commands at once, each in its own labeled pane with independent output and scrollback, controlled from a single TUI. It is designed for the common dev situation where you would otherwise open multiple terminals or tmux splits to run a frontend server, a backend, a watcher, and a database. You define the processes once in a config file and start them all together.

Installation

Platform	Command
Cargo (all platforms)	cargo install mprocs
macOS (Homebrew)	brew install mprocs
npm	npm install -g mprocs
Arch Linux (AUR)	yay -S mprocs
Scoop (Windows)	scoop install mprocs
Prebuilt binary	Download from the GitHub Releases page

Basic Usage

Command	Description
mprocs	Start using mprocs.yaml in the current directory
mprocs "npm run dev" "npm run api"	Run ad-hoc commands as panes
mprocs -c path/to/mprocs.yaml	Use a specific config file
mprocs --names web,api "npm run dev" "cargo run"	Name ad-hoc panes
mprocs --help	Full option list

Configuration (mprocs.yaml)

procs:
  web:
    shell: "npm run dev"
  api:
    shell: "cargo run"
  db:
    shell: "docker compose up postgres"
    autostart: false        # start it manually with the UI
  worker:
    cmd: ["python", "worker.py"]
    cwd: "./backend"
    env:
      LOG_LEVEL: debug

Field	Purpose
shell	Command run through the shell
cmd	Command as an argv list (no shell parsing)
cwd	Working directory for the process
env	Per-process environment variables
autostart	Whether the process starts on launch
stop	How to stop it (SIGTERM, SIGKILL, hard-kill)

Keyboard Controls

Key	Action
Ctrl+a then j/k	Move selection down/up the process list
Ctrl+a then s	Start the selected process
Ctrl+a then x	Stop the selected process
Ctrl+a then r	Restart the selected process
Ctrl+a then a	Toggle focus between list and pane (interact with the process)
Ctrl+a then c	Copy mode / scroll the pane output
Ctrl+a then q	Quit mprocs (stops all processes)
Mouse	Click a process to select; scroll its output

The prefix defaults to Ctrl+a; it is configurable. Press the prefix, release, then the action key.

Remote Control

mprocs can be controlled programmatically, which is handy from scripts or editor tasks.

# Send a command to a running mprocs instance over its control socket
mprocs --ctl '{c: restart-proc, proc: web}'

Common Workflows

# One command to bring up a full local stack defined in mprocs.yaml
mprocs

# Quick throwaway: watch tests and a dev server side by side
mprocs --names test,dev "npm test -- --watch" "npm run dev"

# Keep the database pane present but start it only when needed (autostart: false)

mprocs vs Alternatives

Tool	Model	Best for
mprocs	TUI, one pane per process	Dev process groups, simple config
tmux	Full terminal multiplexer	Sessions, splits, remote persistence
foreman/overmind	Procfile runners	Procfile-based process management
GNU parallel	Batch parallelism	Running many short jobs, not long-lived servers

Resources

• GitHub Repository
• Configuration Reference
• Releases & Binaries