zsh-pnpm-pick

Fuzzy-pick a script from any package in a pnpm workspace and load the command into your prompt — editable, in your history, and visible in your terminal title.

Unlike a plain runner, ppick does not execute the script for you. It pushes the resolved command onto the zsh editor buffer (print -z), so you:

• see exactly what will run and can tweak flags before hitting Enter,
• get a real history entry (pnpm --filter … run …), and
• let your prompt's preexec set the terminal title from the running command.

$ ppick
┌ Pick a script: (type to filter, ↑/↓ to move, enter to select) ─────────────┐
│ file-provider   dev          nest start --watch                            │
│ editorial-svc   build        nest build                                    │
│ adapter-wwa     dev:load     tsx src/load.ts                               │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
# after selecting:
$ pnpm --filter @scope/file-provider run dev▮      ← sitting in your prompt

How it works

The picker (bin/pnpm-pick, a self-contained uv script) walks up from $PWD to the nearest pnpm-workspace.yaml, reads its packages: globs, and collects every (package, script) pair. You fuzzy-filter and select one; it writes pnpm --filter <pkg> run <script> to a temp file. The ppick shell function reads that file and print -z's the command onto your prompt.

A child process can't type into its parent shell's line editor — only the shell can. That's why this is a shell function plus a helper script rather than a single binary: the temp file is the handoff, and print -z is the zsh builtin that does the prompt-fill.

Requirements

• zsh (uses the print -z builtin)
• uv — runs the bundled Python picker and manages its dependencies automatically (no manual pip install)
• pnpm — the command it builds for you

Install

Oh My Zsh

git clone https://github.com/rschaufler/zsh-pnpm-pick \
  "${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-pnpm-pick"

Then add it to your plugin list in ~/.zshrc:

plugins=(... zsh-pnpm-pick)

Oh My Zsh requires the plugin entry, its directory, and the .plugin.zsh file to share one name — all three are zsh-pnpm-pick. The command it defines is ppick (unrelated to the plugin name).

Reload: exec zsh.

Plain zsh with Starship

Starship replaces your prompt, but it does not load zsh plugins. No changes to this plugin are required; clone it somewhere permanent and source it from ~/.zshrc yourself:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.zsh/plugins"
git clone https://github.com/rschaufler/zsh-pnpm-pick \
  "$HOME/.zsh/plugins/zsh-pnpm-pick"

Then add the following to ~/.zshrc:

source "$HOME/.zsh/plugins/zsh-pnpm-pick/zsh-pnpm-pick.plugin.zsh"

# Keep Starship initialization near the end of .zshrc.
eval "$(starship init zsh)"

If you still have the plugin in your former Oh My Zsh custom directory, you can source that existing checkout directly instead:

source "$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-pnpm-pick/zsh-pnpm-pick.plugin.zsh"

The Oh My Zsh plugins=(... zsh-pnpm-pick) setting does not load anything in a plain zsh configuration. The explicit source line replaces it.

Reload: exec zsh.

Manual / other frameworks

Source the plugin file directly from ~/.zshrc:

source /path/to/zsh-pnpm-pick/zsh-pnpm-pick.plugin.zsh

zinit:

zinit light rschaufler/zsh-pnpm-pick

antigen:

antigen bundle rschaufler/zsh-pnpm-pick

Usage

ppick            # fuzzy over every (package, script) pair in the workspace
ppick dev        # pre-filter; if exactly one match, fills it without the picker
ppick file-prov  # pre-filter by substring (matches package name or script)

Pre-filter matching is a substring test against the displayed row (package script command), so a single token works best.

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
PNPM_PICK_SCRIPT	<plugin-dir>/bin/pnpm-pick	Path to the picker script.

Prefer a different command name? Alias it: alias pp=ppick.

Standalone (no zsh)

The picker also works on its own — without PNPM_PICK_OUTFILE set it runs the selected command directly instead of filling a prompt:

./bin/pnpm-pick dev

License

MIT