ordo-cli 1.0.1

Structured command runner — a clean alternative to make

Ordo

A structured command runner — a clean alternative to make.

Ordo reads an ordo.yaml config, groups your commands logically, and runs them with a simple group:command syntax. No more flat Makefiles. No more guessing what commands exist.

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Why not make?

	make	Ordo
Grouped commands	✗	✓
Built-in discovery	✗	✓
Per-command descriptions	✗	✓
Readable config	Makefiles	YAML
Typo suggestions	✗	✓

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Installation

pip install ordo-cli
# or
pipx install ordo-cli

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Quick start

Create an ordo.yaml at your project root:

groups:
  dev:
    description: Local development
    commands:
      start:
        description: Start the API server
        run: "uvicorn app.main:app --reload"
      reset:
        description: Reset local database
        run: "python scripts/reset_db.py"

  test:
    description: Test suite
    commands:
      run:
        description: Run all tests
        run: "pytest"
      watch:
        description: Run tests in watch mode
        run: "pytest --watch"

Then:

ordo list          # see all commands
ordo dev:start     # run one
ordo validate      # check your config

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CLI reference

ordo list                     List all commands
ordo list --verbose           Also show raw run strings
ordo <group:command>          Execute a command
ordo validate                 Validate ordo.yaml
ordo --version                Print version
ordo --help                   Print help

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ordo.yaml reference

groups:
  <group-name>:
    description: string        # optional — shown in ordo list
    commands:
      <command-name>:
        description: string    # optional — shown in ordo list
        run: string            # required — shell command to execute

Naming rules:

• Group and command names: lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens only
• No spaces
• Names must be unique within their scope

All run strings execute via sh -c — pipes, redirects, &&, and env vars all work as expected.

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Config discovery

Ordo finds ordo.yaml in this order:

1. ORDO_CONFIG environment variable
2. --config CLI flag
3. ordo.yaml in current directory
4. Walk up the directory tree until .git is found

You can run ordo from any subdirectory in your repo — it will find the config.

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Error behaviour

• All errors exit with code 1
• Child process exit codes are forwarded exactly
• Typos get a fuzzy suggestion: Did you mean: dev:start?
• Ctrl+C cleanly stops the child process — no zombie processes

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License

MIT