Shell Integration

How enx integrates with your shell to enable features like enx cd.

Table of Contents

  1. TOC

Why Shell Integration?

A child process cannot change the parent shell’s working directory. This means enx cd can’t directly cd you into a project — it needs a shell wrapper function that captures the output and calls the shell’s built-in cd.

enx setup detects your shell and installs this wrapper automatically. If you need to set it up manually, see the snippets below.

Automatic Setup

When you run enx setup, it detects your shell and appends the appropriate wrapper function to your shell configuration file:

Shell Config file
Bash ~/.bashrc
Zsh ~/.zshrc
Fish ~/.config/fish/config.fish
PowerShell $PROFILE

If shell integration doesn’t take effect immediately, restart your shell or source the config file (e.g. source ~/.bashrc).

Manual Setup

Bash / Zsh

Add this to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

enx() {
    if [ "$1" = "cd" ]; then
        shift
        local dir
        dir=$(command enx cd "$@")
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
            cd "$dir" || return 1
        else
            return 1
        fi
    else
        command enx "$@"
    fi
}

Fish

Add this to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

function enx
    if test "$argv[1]" = "cd"
        set dir (command enx cd $argv[2..])
        and cd $dir
    else
        command enx $argv
    end
end

PowerShell

Add this to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE):

function enx {
    if ($args[0] -eq "cd") {
        $dir = & enx.exe cd @($args[1..($args.Length-1)])
        if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) { Set-Location $dir }
    } else {
        & enx.exe @args
    }
}

How It Works

The wrapper function intercepts calls to enx:

  1. If the first argument is cd, it runs command enx cd <args> — the actual binary
  2. The binary prints the matched project’s path to stdout
  3. The wrapper captures that path and calls the shell’s built-in cd
  4. For all other subcommands, the wrapper passes through to the binary directly

This means enx cd works transparently — you type enx cd api and your shell changes directory, even though the enx binary itself can’t do that.

All other enx commands work without shell integration. Only enx cd requires the wrapper function.

Verifying Integration

After setup, test that it works:

# Register a project if you haven't already
enx init

# Navigate away and back
cd /tmp
enx cd my-project
pwd  # should show your project's path

If pwd shows the correct path, shell integration is working.