shell

import VersionLabel from '@site/src/components/Docs/VersionLabel';

The proto shell <tools...> (or proto sh, proto session) command will initialize a list of tools into the environment and start an interactive shell session with that environment active.

$ proto shell node@20 npm@10

Tools will automatically detect a version to launch with based on loaded .prototools, but the version can be provided inline by suffixing the tool with @<version>. If no tools are provided, the list will be inherited from the current .prototools configuration.

$ proto shell node pnpm

This is effectively a convenience wrapper around proto exec that launches an interactive shell instead of an arbitrary command. Inside the session, all configured environment variables and PATH modifications for the provided tools are active.

Choosing a shell

By default, the current shell is detected and reused. To start a different shell, pass --shell with the shell name.

$ proto shell node@20 --shell fish

Arguments

• [tools...] - List of tool identifiers with optional version. If omitted, tools are inherited from .prototools configs.

Options

• --shell - Shell to start an interactive session for (e.g. bash, pwsh).