From 60020d6e0e59ec5160221f84c07ee0571a26b982 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: jbranchaud <jbranchaud@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2025 16:07:39 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Add Preserve Color Output For Task Command as a Mise TIL

---
 README.md                                     |  3 +-
 .../preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md | 45 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 mise/preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7aa508e..2c94d48 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://crafty-builder-6996.ck.page/e169c61186).
 
-_1610 TILs and counting..._
+_1611 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 - [Ruby Operator Lookup](https://www.visualmode.dev/ruby-operators)
@@ -692,6 +692,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 ### Mise
 
 - [List The Files Being Loaded By Mise](mise/list-the-files-being-loaded-by-mise.md)
+- [Preserve Color Output For Task Command](mise/preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md)
 - [Read Existing Dot Env File Into Env Vars](mise/read-existing-dot-env-file-into-env-vars.md)
 
 ### MongoDB
diff --git a/mise/preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md b/mise/preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1932147
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mise/preserve-color-output-for-task-command.md
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Preserve Color Output For Task Command
+
+I decided to wrap a couple test running commands for a project into a single
+`test:all` mise task. It looked something like this:
+
+```toml
+[tasks."test:all"]
+run = """
+bundle exec rspec
+yarn test run
+"""
+description = "Run all tests (RSpec and Vitest)"
+depends = ["bundle-install", "node-install"]
+```
+
+I can run this with `mise run test:all` and it works. However, there is a
+glaring issue that immediately juts out. All of the test runner output is
+uncolored text. I'm used to and strongly prefer greens (passes), reds (fails),
+and yellows (skips) of test runner output.
+
+The test runners lose the text coloring when run through `mise` because they
+believe they are not running in _interactive_ mode.
+
+The [`expect`](https://linux.die.net/man/1/expect) tools (`brew install
+expect`) install with another binary called
+[`unbuffer`](https://linux.die.net/man/1/unbuffer). `unbuffer` can coerce a
+command to run in interactive mode. Prepending these test runner commands with
+`unbuffer` will preserve the colors as the results are output to the terminal.
+
+Here is the update `test:all` task:
+
+```toml
+[tasks."test:all"]
+run = """
+unbuffer bundle exec rspec
+unbuffer yarn test run
+"""
+description = "Run all tests (RSpec and Vitest)"
+depends = ["bundle-install", "node-install"]
+```
+
+For some commands, it seems able to stream out (rather than _buffer_) the
+results (e.g. with `vitest`). Whereas with `rspec`, the test suite runs to
+completion and is then output to the terminal. I'm still investigating
+streaming the `rspec` results.