exec

v0.53.0

The proto exec <tools...> -- <command> (or proto x) command will activate a temporary environment by loading and initializing any number of tools, and then execute an arbitrary command within that environment.

$ proto exec node pnpm -- pnpm run dev

Tools will automatically detect a version to execute with based on loaded .prototools, but the version can be provided inline by suffixing the tool with @<version>.

$ proto exec node@24.2 pnpm@10 -- pnpm run dev

Shell support

By default, the command will not be executed in a shell, and will be excuted in the context of the parent process. If you want to execute the command within a shell (using -c), you can use the --shell option.

$ proto exec node pnpm --shell bash -- <command>

If your command contains special characters, complex expressions, or shell specific syntax, you may need to pass --raw to avoid quoting/escaping issues.

$ proto exec node pnpm --shell bash --raw -- <command>

Furthermore, if you want to launch an interactive shell session with the activated environment, you can pass the shell command itself as the exec command.

$ proto exec node pnpm -- bash

Arguments

• <tools...> - List of tool identifiers with optional version.
• <command> - Command to execute within the environment. Must be passed after a -- separator.

Options

• --tools-from-config - Inherit tools to initialize from .prototools configs, instead of passing an explicit list.
• --raw - Execute the command as-is without quoting or escaping when using --shell.
• --shell - Shell to execute the command with (e.g. bash or pwsh).