ppbuild 2.0.0

A declarative, language-agnostic build system and utility manager

pp

A declarative, language-agnostic task runner and build system.

Stop memorizing different build tools. Define your commands once in pp.yaml and run them anywhere.

pp myapp build    # Build your app
pp myapp test     # Run tests
pp myapp deploy   # Deploy

Works with any language: Python, Node.js, Rust, Go, Docker, or shell scripts.

Why pp?

• ✅ One interface for everything - Same commands across all projects
• ✅ Task dependencies - Automatic execution ordering (lint → test → build)
• ✅ Type-safe parameters - Validated arguments with defaults and constraints
• ✅ Environment management - Automatic venv activation, env vars, working directories
• ✅ Simple & fast - 1,000 lines of straightforward code, zero dependencies

Quick Start

1. Install:

pip install ppbuild

macOS users: click for installation options

If you get an "externally-managed-environment" error:

# Option 1: Use pipx (recommended)
brew install pipx
pipx install ppbuild

# Option 2: Use venv
python3 -m venv ~/.pp-env
source ~/.pp-env/bin/activate
pip install ppbuild

2. Create pp.yaml:

applications:
  myapp:
    help: "My awesome application"
    actions:
      build:
        help: "Build the project"
        command: ["cargo", "build", "--release"]

      test:
        help: "Run tests"
        command: ["cargo", "test"]
        depends_on: [build]

      deploy:
        help: "Deploy to production"
        command: ["./deploy.sh"]
        depends_on: [test]

3. Run:

pp myapp deploy   # Automatically runs: build → test → deploy

Features

Task Dependencies

Actions run in the correct order automatically:

actions:
  deploy:
    command: ["./deploy.sh"]
    depends_on: [lint, test, build]  # Runs lint → test → build → deploy

Typed Parameters

Add validated, type-safe parameters to your commands:

actions:
  run:
    parameters:
      port:
        type: integer
        default: 8000
        min: 1024
        max: 65535
      debug:
        type: boolean
        default: false
    command: ["python", "app.py", "--port", "{port}", "{debug:--debug}"]

pp myapp run --port 3000 --debug

Environment Management

Automatic environment setup:

applications:
  backend:
    directory: "~/projects/backend"  # Auto-changes directory
    venv: ".venv"                    # Auto-activates venv
    env_vars:
      DATABASE_URL: "postgresql://localhost/db"
      API_KEY: "${SECRET_API_KEY}"   # Substitutes env vars
    actions:
      # ... your actions

Flexible Configuration

• Global: ~/.pp/pp.yaml for system-wide tools
• Project: ./pp.yaml for project-specific commands
• Environment: .pp.env for secrets and local overrides

Examples

Web Development:

applications:
  web:
    directory: "./frontend"
    actions:
      dev:
        command: ["npm", "run", "dev"]
      build:
        command: ["npm", "run", "build"]
      deploy:
        command: ["vercel", "deploy"]
        depends_on: [build]

Python Project:

applications:
  api:
    venv: ".venv"
    env_vars:
      PYTHONPATH: "./src"
    actions:
      install:
        command: ["pip", "install", "-r", "requirements.txt"]
      test:
        command: ["pytest", "--cov=src"]
        depends_on: [install]
      lint:
        command: ["black", ".", "--check"]

Multi-Service:

applications:
  stack:
    actions:
      up:
        command: ["docker-compose", "up", "-d"]
      logs:
        command: ["docker-compose", "logs", "-f"]
      down:
        command: ["docker-compose", "down"]

See examples/ for more configurations.

Documentation

• TEMPLATE.md - Complete configuration reference

Development

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/JoshCap20/pp.git
cd pp
pip install -e .

# Run tests
pytest                           # Run all tests
pytest --cov=lib                # With coverage

# Format and lint
black .
isort .

Architecture

Simple, straightforward Python code. No design patterns, no over-engineering.

pp/
├── pp.py              # Main entry point (144 lines)
└── lib/               # Core library (~850 lines)
    ├── config.py      # YAML loading & validation
    ├── params.py      # Parameter handling
    ├── execution.py   # Command execution
    ├── dependencies.py # Dependency resolution
    └── cli.py         # Argument parser

Test coverage: 72% overall, 99% on core logic

License

MIT License - see LICENSE

Contributing

Contributions welcome! This project values simplicity above all else. Before adding features, consider whether they truly need to exist.

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Stop context-switching between build tools. Use pp.