Non-interactive installsCopy Anchor Link

Use non-interactive mode when DevEx must finish without a terminal or user prompts. It installs applications directly instead of starting the interactive UI, prints one status line per application, and ends with an installed N of M applications summary.

devex install --non-interactive --config ./devex.yaml

DevEx continues after individual installation failures, then exits unsuccessfully and names the failed applications. Successful installations are recorded for devex list installed. Non-interactive installation does not change your login shell, and --dry-run still previews the operation without installing packages.

Application listsCopy Anchor Link

The top-level applications key in the Viper configuration file selects which applications to install. Use --config <path> to choose a file, or put it at ~/.devex/config.yaml. Each entry is either the name of an application already known to DevEx or a complete inline application definition:

non-interactive: true
applications:
  - ripgrep
  - name: jq
    description: Command-line JSON processor
    category: Utilities
    linux:
      install_method: apt
      install_command: jq
      uninstall_command: jq

When applications is present, it replaces the default application list. Explicit application arguments still take precedence and can select from both known applications and inline definitions. An unknown name fails before anything is installed.

Inline definitions use the same platform-specific schema as the applications configuration. They can also be removed without prompts by loading the same configuration:

devex remove jq --force --config ./devex.yaml

devex setup --non-interactive uses this application list as well when the configuration contains one. Without an applications key, setup retains its default behavior.

Enabling non-interactive modeCopy Anchor Link

The non-interactive setting uses the standard DevEx precedence order, from highest to lowest:

1. Flag: --non-interactive
2. Environment: DEVEX_NONINTERACTIVE=1
3. Configuration: non-interactive: true
4. Default: interactive mode

For example, a configuration file can enable non-interactive installs without a flag:

non-interactive: true
applications:
  - ripgrep

devex install --config ./devex.yaml

DevEx also runs non-interactively, whatever the setting says, when it detects CI (CI, GITHUB_ACTIONS or GITLAB_CI is set) or a dumb terminal (TERM=dumb). Outside those environments, --non-interactive=false overrides DEVEX_NONINTERACTIVE and the configuration file.

On template commands, --non-interactive keeps its existing meaning: fail rather than prompt for missing template input.