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Run multiple node.js microservices with tmux

In this guide I will show you how you can use tmux to run multiple NodeJS microservices with single command.

You will need tmux for this. Tmux is supported for Linux, MacOS and Windows (WSL). If you want to install it, instructions are here.

What is tmux ?

Tmux is terminal multiplexer. It lets you create different windows, panes, sessions for terminal. Multiple terminal seesions can be created with single terminal window. You can detach/attach sessions pretty easily. Tmux is highly customizable. You can add your own key bindings, colors and other settings.

Little backstory

In my everyday job I need to run multiple ExpressJS microservices for different projects.

To run microservices I need to do the couple of things everytime:

  • Going inside Microservice directory.
  • Split Window into 3/4 parts to manage it.

I usually manage split windows like this

  • 1st split window/pane for running the code / checking the logs
  • 2nd split window/pane for managing the git submodule
  • 3rd split window/pane for opening repo in code editor / changing the git branches

It takes a lot of time & energy to do this everytime. That's why I created this little bash script for this.

We are going to use this bash script with tmux to automate our workflow. Then we will assign this bash script as alias. It will run different microservices for project with single command.

#!/bin/bash

SESSION_NAME="PROJECT_X"

# Directory Names
DIR_ONE="$HOME/some_project/auth_directory"
DIR_TWO="$HOME/some_project/profile_directory"

# Window Names
WINDOW_ONE="auth"
WINDOW_TWO="profile"

#Commands
DEV="npm run dev" 
CL="clear"

tmux new-session -d -s $SESSION_NAME

# Auth microservice Window
tmux new-window -t $SESSION_NAME:1 -n $WINDOW_ONE
tmux split-window -h
tmux split-window -v -t 0
tmux send-keys -t $SESSION_NAME:1.0 "cd $DIR_ONE && $CL" C-m
tmux send-keys -t $SESSION_NAME:1.1 "cd $DIR_ONE && $CL" C-m
tmux send-keys -t $SESSION_NAME:1.2 "cd $DIR_ONE && $CL && $DEV" C-m

# Profile microservice Window
tmux new-window -t $SESSION_NAME:2 -n $WINDOW_TWO
tmux split-window -h
tmux split-window -v -t 0
tmux send-keys -t $SESSION_NAME:2.0 "cd $DIR_TWO && $CL" C-m
tmux send-keys -t $SESSION_NAME:2.1 "cd $DIR_TWO && $CL" C-m
tmux send-keys -t $SESSION_NAME:2.2 "cd $DIR_TWO && $CL && $DEV" C-m

tmux -u attach -t $SESSION_NAME

How it is works?

I have defined session name, directory paths and window names in bash script. It will create two windows with 3 panes in each window. After that it will run npm run dev in one pane. I created 3 panes here but you can add as many as you want.

How to create Alias ?

Check which shell you are using.

Run this command echo $0 to check your shell. It could be bash/zsh. For zsh you need to create alias in .zshrc file. For bash create alias in .bashrc file

Now we need to tell .zshrc/.bashrc alias that my script exists in this directory. Lets consider your bash script resides in $HOME/Scripts directory.

Create alias like this in .zshrc/.bashrc file.

    alias project_x="$HOME/Scripts/tmux.sh"

Dont forget to change the bash file permission.

    chmod +x tmux.sh

Refersh environment variables

    source .zshrc

Final result

tmux