Default / Auto-Focused Tab in Nx TUI

[pinussilvestrus]

Currently, when running multiple, continuous tasks in the Nx TUI (nx run-many --tui), the interface opens with all tasks in separate tabs but does not automatically focus any tab.

Users must manually select a tab to see logs. This can interrupt developer workflow, especially when one project is the “primary” focus.

It would be very useful to have an option to auto-focus a specific task tab on startup.

Proposed Solution

Introduce a new optional flag for the Nx TUI:

nx run-many --target=dev --projects=playground,core-components,ssr --tui --default-tab=playground

Behavior:

• If --default-tab= is provided, the TUI will open with that task’s tab focused immediately.
• If omitted, current behavior (no tab focused) is preserved.

Alternative ideas

• Allow --default-tab-index= to focus the nth tab.
• Allow configuration in nx.json as a workspace default for TUI tasks.

Motivation / Use Case

• Developers often have a “primary” project they watch most closely (e.g., playground).
• Currently, when starting nx run-many --tui, they must manually select this tab each time.
• This is especially inconvenient when running many long-lived dev tasks simultaneously.