Running commands

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Command is the entry point of the runner layer: a builder describing what to run and how, plus a family of consuming verbs that decide what you get back. Every one-shot verb spawns the child into a fresh, private kill-on-drop process group, so an early return, panic, or dropped future can never leak a process tree.

• Program, arguments, working directory
• Environment
• Standard input
• Output handling
• Timeouts and retries
• Privileges and spawn flags
• Consuming verbs
• Results and errors

Program, arguments, working directory

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Command;

let out = Command::new("git")
    .arg("log")                          // one at a time…
    .args(["--oneline", "-n", "10"])     // …or in bulk
    .current_dir("/path/to/repo")        // run there
    .run()
    .await?;
}

Arguments are passed as an array — there is no shell between you and the child, so there is no quoting, no word-splitting, and no injection surface. (When you actually want a | b | c, use a pipeline, which connects the stages in-process instead of invoking a shell.)

The program name reaches the OS verbatim — two deliberate non-goals (conveniences some libraries layer on, e.g. duct): a bare name is resolved on PATH by the OS, never rewritten to ./name; and current_dir does not re-anchor a relative program path against the new directory — whether Command::new("./tool").current_dir(dir) resolves tool relative to dir is the platform's behavior (Unix: yes; Windows: the parent's directory may win). Pass absolute program paths when combining the two.

For quick one-liners the free functions skip the builder:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
let version = processkit::run("cargo", ["--version"]).await?;       // trimmed stdout, success required
let result  = processkit::output_string("git", ["status", "-s"]).await?;   // full ProcessResult
}

Environment

Four builders compose, applied in a fixed order at spawn:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Command;

Command::new("worker")
    .env("RUST_LOG", "debug")        // set one variable
    .env_remove("GIT_DIR")           // unset one inherited variable
    .run().await?;

// Allow-list mode: clear everything, copy only the named parent variables.
Command::new("sandboxed-tool")
    .inherit_env(["PATH", "HOME", "LANG"])
    .env("MODE", "ci")               // explicit env/env_remove still apply on top
    .run().await?;

// Scorched earth: the child starts with an empty environment.
Command::new("hermetic-tool").env_clear().run().await?;
}

inherit_env is the sandboxing middle ground: it implies env_clear, then copies the listed variables from the parent at each spawn (so a retry sees fresh values), and repeated calls accumulate names. A name the parent doesn't have is skipped, not set to empty.

Standard input

By default stdin is closed at spawn — the child reads EOF immediately and can never hang waiting for input. Everything else is opt-in via stdin(Stdin::…):

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::{Command, Stdin};

let sorted = Command::new("sort")
    .stdin(Stdin::from_iter_lines(["banana", "apple", "cherry"]))
    .run()
    .await?;
assert_eq!(sorted, "apple\nbanana\ncherry");
}

The payload is written on a background task (so a large input can't deadlock against the child's output) and the pipe is dropped afterwards to signal EOF. The two one-shot sources are consumed by their first run: a retried or cloned command reusing them fails loud the second time — re-running a consumed from_reader/from_lines source is an Error::Io (InvalidInput) at launch, not a silent empty stdin. Prefer the reusable sources when a command may run more than once.

For conversational, request/response stdin — write a line, read the answer, repeat — use keep_stdin_open() and the streaming API instead: see Streaming & interactive I/O.

Output handling

Encodings

Output is decoded line by line, UTF-8 by default (invalid bytes become U+FFFD, never an error). Legacy-encoding tools can override per stream:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Command;

let out = Command::new("legacy-tool")
    .encoding(encoding_rs::SHIFT_JIS)          // both streams…
    // .stdout_encoding(…) / .stderr_encoding(…) // …or each its own
    .output_string()
    .await?;
}

(processkit::Encoding re-exports encoding_rs::Encoding, so any of its encodings works — the single-byte and ASCII-compatible multibyte ones (WINDOWS_1252, GBK, SHIFT_JIS, …) and the non-ASCII-compatible ones (UTF_16LE/UTF_16BE): output is fed through one persistent decoder and split on decoded newlines, so a 0x0A byte inside a UTF-16 code unit is not mistaken for a line break. A leading byte-order mark of the chosen encoding is stripped once at the stream start.)

Buffer policies — bounding memory on chatty children

Captured lines are held in memory; a multi-gigabyte log would normally grow the buffer to match. output_buffer bounds retention (the pipe is always fully drained, so the child never blocks):

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::{Command, OutputBufferPolicy, OverflowMode};

let tail = Command::new("verbose-build")
    .output_buffer(OutputBufferPolicy::bounded(1_000)) // keep the newest 1000 lines
    .output_string()
    .await?;

// …or keep the head instead of the tail:
let head_policy = OutputBufferPolicy::bounded(1_000).with_overflow(OverflowMode::DropNewest);
}

DropOldest (the default) keeps a rolling tail; DropNewest freezes the head. bounded(0) retains nothing — useful when a line handler (below) is the real consumer. Under a line cap, dropped or not, every line still feeds the handlers and the line counters.

The line cap alone does not bound memory — one enormous newline-free "line" (base64 -w0) is held whole. Add with_max_bytes to cap the retained bytes too (either ceiling, or both); the byte cap also bounds the pump's in-flight assembly buffer, so a never-terminated flood can't exhaust memory. One consequence: a line whose own length exceeds the byte cap can't be assembled, so it is dropped whole — counted, but not delivered to a per-line handler or stdout_tee (don't set a byte cap if a tee must see arbitrarily long lines):

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::{Command, OutputBufferPolicy};
let policy = OutputBufferPolicy::unbounded().with_max_bytes(8 << 20); // 8 MiB ring
let strict = OutputBufferPolicy::fail_loud(10_000).with_max_bytes(8 << 20); // error on either
}

fail_loud makes the ceiling error instead of dropping: the run fails with Error::OutputTooLarge once the cumulative output (lines or bytes) crosses the cap — even when a streaming consumer is draining lines as they arrive. It bounds memory, not wall-time, so pair it with timeout against a flooding child.

Even under a drop policy (DropOldest/DropNewest), the checking verbs that hand back stdout as if complete — run, parse, try_parse — refuse silently-truncated output: if the policy dropped lines they fail with Error::OutputTooLarge rather than feed a parser a truncated tail. The lenient capture verbs (output_string / output_bytes) are unaffected — they return the partial result with truncated() set for you to inspect.

Line handlers — tee output as it arrives

on_stdout_line / on_stderr_line run a callback on each decoded line in addition to capture or streaming — logging, progress bars, metrics:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Command;

let result = Command::new("cargo")
    .args(["build", "--release"])
    .on_stderr_line(|line| eprintln!("[build] {line}"))
    .output_string()
    .await?;
}

The handler runs on the read pump — keep it cheap. The contract is forgiving and precisely specified:

• A panicking handler does not poison the run. The panic is caught, the handler is disabled for the rest of the run (surfaced as a tracing warn when that feature is on), and pumping continues — the final result still carries every line. You can safely re-export this callback seam to your own users without auditing their closures.
• Ordering: invocations are FIFO within a stream; there is no ordering between stdout and stderr handlers (two independent pumps). On the consuming verbs, all handler calls happen-before the awaited future resolves — finalize a progress bar the moment the call returns. (One documented exception: a leaked pipe held open past the child's death is cut off after a bounded teardown grace.)
• Handlers are hermetically testable: ScriptedRunner replays canned output through them — see Testing → scripting replies.

For a ready-made tee to an async sink — a file, socket, or any [tokio::io::AsyncWrite] — reach for stdout_tee / stderr_tee instead of hand-writing a handler. Each decoded line is written to the sink (plus a \n) as it is produced, awaited on the pump so a slow sink applies backpressure (the pump slows, the pipe fills, the child blocks) rather than blocking the runtime; a write error disables the tee with a tracing warn instead of being swallowed. It runs independently of on_stdout_line — set both and both fire per line.

Timeouts and retries

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::{Command, Error};
use std::time::Duration;

let out = Command::new("flaky-network-tool")
    .timeout(Duration::from_secs(30))                 // kill the tree at the deadline
    .retry(3, Duration::from_millis(200), |e| {       // up to 3 attempts total
        matches!(e, Error::Timeout { .. })            // …but only retry timeouts
    })
    .run()
    .await?;
}

• timeout kills the whole process tree at the deadline. On the capturing verbs the expiry is captured (ProcessResult::timed_out), on the success-checking verbs it raises Error::Timeout — the full decision table lives in Timeouts, retries & cancellation.
• retry applies to the success-checking verbs only (run, exit_code, probe, and ProcessRunnerExt::checked); the classifier sees the typed error and decides. The non-erroring output_string path never retries.

Privileges and spawn flags

Spawn-time controls for sandboxing and service launch:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Command;

// Unix: drop privileges (uid + gid + supplementary groups) and detach.
Command::new("worker")
    .gid(1000)            // applied before uid (a gid change needs privilege)
    .groups([1000])       // replace the inherited (often root's) supplementary groups
    .uid(1000)            // dropped last
    .setsid()             // new session: survives the controlling terminal
    .run().await?;

// Windows: no console window flashing up from a GUI app.
Command::new("helper").create_no_window().run().await?;

// Hardening: take the direct child down even if THIS process is SIGKILLed
// (Drop never runs). Windows has this for free; Linux arms PDEATHSIG.
Command::new("worker").kill_on_parent_death().start().await?;
}

uid / gid / groups / setsid are POSIX-only — on Windows the run fails with Error::Unsupported rather than silently skipping a privilege drop. A correct drop sets all three of uid/gid/groups: dropping the uid alone leaves the child holding the parent's (often root's) supplementary groups. create_no_window is a harmless no-op outside Windows. kill_on_parent_death is best-effort by design: guaranteed on Windows (regardless of the knob), direct-child-only on Linux, unavailable on macOS/BSD — the graceful-exit guarantee via Drop holds everywhere either way. Containment is preserved in every combination; the platform fine print (the Linux cgroup × uid interaction, setsid × process-group coordination, the pdeathsig thread caveat) is collected in Platform support.

Interactive auth / TTY. processkit wires pipes, not a pseudo-terminal, so a tool that demands a tty — an ssh/sudo password prompt, some credential helpers — won't get one (PTY support is not implemented; the trade-off is recorded in decisions/permissions-privileges-pty-network.md). Drive such tools non-interactively instead: key-based auth, ssh -o BatchMode=yes, GIT_SSH_COMMAND / GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0, or feed a known answer over interactive stdin. Conversational tools that read stdin without needing a tty already work today via keep_stdin_open + stdout_lines.

Consuming verbs

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Command;

// probe(): the exit code as a boolean.
let clean = Command::new("git").args(["diff", "--quiet"]).probe().await?;

// first_line(): stop as soon as the interesting line appears.
let first_match = Command::new("git")
    .args(["log", "--oneline"])
    .first_line(|l| l.contains("fix:"))
    .await?;
}

first_line returns Ok(None) when stdout closes without a match, and kills the (private-group) child once it has its answer — you never wait out a long log for one line. If the command's cancel_on token has fired, it returns Error::Cancelled instead of Ok(None), so a readiness probe with a shutdown token can't misread cancellation as "the line never appeared".

Results and errors

The capturing verbs hand back a ProcessResult:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Command;

let result = Command::new("git").args(["merge", "feature"]).output_string().await?;

result.code();         // Option<i32> — None = killed (timeout/signal), no code
result.signal();       // Option<i32> — the signal number (Unix), else None
result.is_success();   // code in ok_codes (default {0})
result.timed_out();    // the run's own deadline expired
result.outcome();      // the explicit three-way enum behind the accessors above
result.stdout();       // &str (or &[u8] from output_bytes)
result.stderr();       // &str
result.combined();     // stdout + stderr concatenated
result.diagnostic();   // stderr if non-empty, else stdout — the human-facing line
                       // (git/jj put "CONFLICT …" on stdout!)

// Opt into erroring whenever you're ready:
let ok = result.ensure_success()?; // Exit / Timeout / Signalled (signal-kill) as typed errors
}

When the three-way distinction matters, match on Outcome instead of mentally decoding the code()/timed_out() pair:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use processkit::Outcome;

match result.outcome() {
    Outcome::Exited(0) => println!("clean"),
    Outcome::Exited(code) => println!("failed with {code}"),
    Outcome::Signalled(signal) => println!("killed by signal {signal:?}"),
    Outcome::TimedOut => println!("hit its deadline"),
    _ => {} // non_exhaustive: future dispositions
}
}

For a single query you usually don't need the match (and its #[non_exhaustive] wildcard): Outcome carries the same code() / signal() / timed_out() accessors as ProcessResult, so a bare Outcome (from RunningProcess::wait or Finished::outcome) answers directly — outcome.code(), outcome.signal(), outcome.timed_out(). There is no Outcome::is_success (success is ok_codes-aware — use ProcessResult::is_success).

The error enum is structured and #[non_exhaustive]:

Error::diagnostic() returns the most useful human-facing line out of a failure that captured output — Exit, Timeout, and Signalled (the partial streams of a hung-then-killed or crashed tool). Each of those variants' one-line Display also appends a bounded excerpt of that diagnostic (the last non-empty line, capped at 200 bytes), so a bare eprintln!("{e}") reads `git` exited with code 2: fatal: boom — actionable in a log line without dumping multi-KiB streams into it.

Next: Streaming & interactive I/O · Timeouts, retries & cancellation · Process groups