taskspawner.nvim

A lightweight, single-file Neovim plugin that runs the tasks defined in your project's .vscode/tasks.json inside terminal buffers, with a Telescope picker and a clickable tab bar for switching between running tasks.

Features

• Pick a task from .vscode/tasks.json with Telescope
• Each task runs in its own terminal buffer, so multiple tasks can run at the same time
• Clickable winbar with one tab per active task
• Re-run the previously selected task with a single command
• Per-task custom shell (executable and args)
• Per-task focus control through presentation.focus
• Toggle the terminal split open and closed without losing task buffers
• Single file, no configuration options, lazy-load friendly

Requirements

• Neovim 0.11+ (0.12+ recommended)
• telescope.nvim

Installation

Using lazy.nvim:

return {
	"HarshK200/taskspawner.nvim",
	-- lazy load on key press
	keys = { "<M-t>" },
	-- lazy load on commands
	cmd = { "TasksToggle", "Spawn", "SpawnPrevious" },
	dependencies = {
		"nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim",
	},
	config = function()
		require("taskspawner").setup()

		-- keymaps setup
		vim.keymap.set("n", "<M-t>", "<cmd>SpawnPrevious<cr>")
	end,
}

setup() takes no options. It registers the user commands and an autocommand that removes closed task buffers from the tab bar. Keymaps are up to you.

Usage

1. Create a .vscode/tasks.json file in your project (see .vscode/tasks.json below) and open Neovim in the project root. The file is read from Neovim's current working directory.
2. Run :Spawn and choose a task in the Telescope picker.
3. The task runs in a vertical split terminal. Run :Spawn again to start another task; it opens in a new buffer and gets its own tab in the winbar.
4. Click a tab in the winbar to switch between tasks.
5. Run :TasksToggle to hide or show the terminal split.
6. Run :SpawnPrevious to re-run the last task you picked.

Commands

Notes:

• :SpawnPrevious only knows about tasks picked with :Spawn in the current Neovim session. If none has been picked, it shows a warning.
• If the previous task's label no longer exists in tasks.json, an error is shown.
• Running the same task more than once creates a separate buffer and tab each time.
• :TasksToggle shows a warning if there are no task buffers to show.

.vscode/tasks.json

Tasks are read from .vscode/tasks.json in the current working directory each time you run :Spawn or :SpawnPrevious, so edits take effect immediately.

Example

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "build",
      "command": "make build",
      "presentation": {
        "focus": false
      }
    },
    {
      "label": "build-and-run",
      "command": "./build.sh && ./out/app",
      "options": {
        "shell": {
          "executable": "sh",
          "args": ["-c"]
        }
      },
      "presentation": {
        "focus": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Supported fields

Include a presentation object with focus in every task. The plugin reads it unconditionally when a task starts.

Custom shell

If options.shell is set, the plugin builds the command as:

<executable> <args...> <command>

For the build-and-run task above that is sh -c "./build.sh && ./out/app". This is useful for running shell syntax such as && under a specific shell, for example sh.exe on Windows.

If options.shell is omitted, command is passed directly to Neovim's default shell handling.

Tasks run with Neovim's current working directory as their cwd.

Focus behavior

• "focus": true: the cursor stays in the task's terminal window.
• "focus": false: the cursor returns to the window you were in when the task was started.

Task switching and terminal management

• The terminal opens as a vertical split about 40% of the editor width (columns / 2.5). Where it appears follows your 'splitright' setting.
• All tasks share one terminal window. Each task has its own terminal buffer and a tab in the winbar, and the active tab is highlighted.
• Click a tab to switch tasks. You can also call require("taskspawner").switch_task(index) yourself, where index is the 1-based tab position.
• :TasksToggle closes only the window. Buffers and running jobs stay alive, and reopening shows the first task's buffer.
• When a task buffer is wiped (for example :bwipeout), it is removed from the tab bar automatically.

Limitations

This plugin supports only a small subset of the VS Code task schema:

• version
• tasks
• label
• command
• options.shell.executable
• options.shell.args
• presentation.focus

Other VS Code task features are not supported and are ignored. This includes type, group, dependsOn, problemMatcher, args, options.cwd, options.env, input variables and platform-specific overrides.

Other things to be aware of:

• Telescope is required. If it is not installed, :Spawn shows an error.
• Only .vscode/tasks.json in the current working directory is used.
• :SpawnPrevious history is not kept between Neovim sessions.

License

MIT, see LICENSE.