Auto-Start Development Servers

Automatically detect and start development servers for various project types when a workspace starts. This module scans your workspace for common project structures and starts the appropriate development servers in the background without manual intervention.

module "auto_start_dev_servers" {
  source   = "registry.coder.com/mavrickrishi/auto-start-dev-server/coder"
  version  = "1.0.2"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id
}

Features

Multi-language support: Detects and starts servers for Node.js, Python (Django/Flask), Ruby (Rails), Java (Spring Boot), Go, PHP, Rust, and .NET projects
Smart script prioritization: Prioritizes dev scripts over start scripts for better development experience
Intelligent frontend detection: Automatically identifies frontend projects (React, Vue, Angular, Next.js, Nuxt, Svelte, Vite) and prioritizes them for preview apps
Devcontainer integration: Respects custom start commands defined in .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
Configurable scanning: Adjustable directory scan depth and project type toggles
Non-blocking startup: Servers start in the background with configurable startup delay
Comprehensive logging: All server output and detection results logged to a central file
Smart detection: Uses project-specific files and configurations to identify project types
Integrated live preview: Automatically creates a preview app for the primary frontend project

Supported Project Types

Framework/Language	Detection Files	Start Commands (in priority order)
Node.js/npm	`package.json`	`npm run dev`, `npm run serve`, `npm start` (or yarn)
Ruby on Rails	`Gemfile` with rails gem	`bundle exec rails server`
Django	`manage.py`	`python manage.py runserver`
Flask	`requirements.txt` with Flask	`python app.py/main.py/run.py`
Spring Boot	`pom.xml` or `build.gradle` with spring-boot	`mvn spring-boot:run`, `gradle bootRun`
Go	`go.mod`	`go run main.go`
PHP	`composer.json`	`php -S 0.0.0.0:8080`
Rust	`Cargo.toml`	`cargo run`
.NET	`*.csproj`	`dotnet run`

Examples

Basic Usage

module "auto_start" {
  source   = "./modules/auto-start-dev-server"
  version  = "1.0.2"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id
}

Advanced Usage

module "auto_start_dev_servers" {
  source   = "./modules/auto-start-dev-server"
  version  = "1.0.2"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id

  # Optional: Configure which project types to detect
  enable_npm         = true
  enable_rails       = true
  enable_django      = true
  enable_flask       = true
  enable_spring_boot = true
  enable_go          = true
  enable_php         = true
  enable_rust        = true
  enable_dotnet      = true

  # Optional: Enable devcontainer.json integration
  enable_devcontainer = true

  # Optional: Workspace directory to scan (supports environment variables)
  workspace_directory = "$HOME"

  # Optional: Directory scan depth (1-5)
  scan_depth = 2

  # Optional: Startup delay in seconds
  startup_delay = 10

  # Optional: Log file path
  log_path = "/tmp/dev-servers.log"

  # Optional: Enable automatic preview app (default: true)
  enable_preview_app = true
}

Disable Preview App

module "auto_start" {
  source   = "./modules/auto-start-dev-server"
  version  = "1.0.2"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id

  # Disable automatic preview app creation
  enable_preview_app = false
}

Selective Project Types

module "auto_start" {
  source   = "./modules/auto-start-dev-server"
  version  = "1.0.2"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id

  # Only enable web development projects
  enable_npm    = true
  enable_rails  = true
  enable_django = true
  enable_flask  = true

  # Disable other project types
  enable_spring_boot = false
  enable_go          = false
  enable_php         = false
  enable_rust        = false
  enable_dotnet      = false
}

Deep Workspace Scanning

module "auto_start" {
  source   = "./modules/auto-start-dev-server"
  version  = "1.0.2"
  agent_id = coder_agent.main.id

  workspace_directory = "/workspaces"
  scan_depth          = 3
  startup_delay       = 5
  log_path            = "/var/log/dev-servers.log"
}

License

This module is provided under the same license as the Coder Registry.

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