Romain Lespinasse

    The Simplest Way to Make Just Interactive: Use --choose

    Posted on 2 mins

    Terminal Productivity Just Fzf

    Table of Contents

    The “Native” Way

    While you can manually pipe just --list into fzf, just has a built-in feature that handles this natively. If you have fzf installed, you don’t need a custom recipe at all.

    The One-Liner

    Simply run:

    just --choose

    This command automatically parses your recipes, opens fzf, and executes your selection once you hit Enter.

    Level Up with Shell Aliases

    If you find yourself running specific types of tasks frequently, you can combine just --choose with a shell alias. This is perfect for filtering down to specific “namespaces” if you use a prefix naming convention (e.g., docker-build, docker-up).

    Add this to your .zshrc or .bashrc:

    # General interactive just
alias j='just --choose'

# Interactive just filtered for Docker tasks only
alias jd='just --choose --chooser "fzf --query=docker"'

    Customizing the UI

    You can customize the look and feel of the chooser globally by setting the JUST_CHOOSER environment variable. This allows you to add colors or change the layout without touching your justfile.

    export JUST_CHOOSER='fzf --header "⚡ Select Task" --height 40% --layout reverse --border'

    Why this is better:

    1. Zero Boilerplate: You don’t need to pollute your justfile with a “menu” recipe.
    2. Clean Output: It respects docstrings and ignores internal recipes (those starting with an underscore).
    3. Speed: It’s a single binary call rather than a chain of piped commands.

    The “One-Touch” Justfile

    If you want the interactive menu to appear by default when you just type just in your terminal, add this to the top of your file:

    # Run the interactive chooser by default
default:
    @just --choose

    Conclusion

    Ultimately, using just --choose transforms your justfile from a static list of commands into a dynamic, user-friendly CLI.

    By moving away from manual piping and embracing built-in flags and environment variables, you reduce maintenance overhead while significantly improving your daily terminal workflow.

    Whether you’re automating a complex Docker environment or just looking for a faster way to trigger local builds, making your tools interactive by default ensures that your productivity stays as high as your command-line efficiency.