Format on Save

SpiceEdit can run a formatter on every save — gofmt, prettier, php-cs-fixer, pint, ruff, anything you want — but the feature is off by default and only fires for projects that opt in. Cloning a stranger’s repo never silently rewrites their files.

The config file

Create .spiceedit/format.json in your project root:

{
  "commands": {
    "go":  ["gofmt", "-w", "$FILE"],
    "php": ["php-cs-fixer", "fix", "$FILE", "--quiet"],
    "py":  ["ruff", "format", "$FILE"],
    "js":  ["prettier", "--write", "$FILE"],
    "ts":  ["prettier", "--write", "$FILE"],
    "rs":  ["rustfmt", "$FILE"]
  }
}

Schema:

• Keys are file extensions, without the leading dot.
• Values are argv arrays. They’re handed to exec directly — no shell, no injection surface. If you genuinely need a shell, use ["sh", "-c", "..."].
• $FILE in any argument is replaced with the absolute path of the file being saved.

Real-world examples:

{
  "commands": {
    "go":   ["gofmt", "-w", "$FILE"],
    "go":   ["goimports", "-w", "$FILE"],
    "php":  ["pint", "--quiet", "$FILE"],
    "py":   ["ruff", "format", "$FILE"],
    "rb":   ["rubocop", "-A", "$FILE"],
    "tf":   ["terraform", "fmt", "$FILE"],
    "json": ["prettier", "--write", "$FILE"],
    "yml":  ["prettier", "--write", "$FILE"]
  }
}

The trust prompt

The first time SpiceEdit would run a formatter from a new or edited .spiceedit/format.json, you get a Yes / No modal:

Trust this project’s formatter? Allow .spiceedit/format.json to run formatters on save?

• Yes — SpiceEdit runs the configured formatters silently from then on.
• No — SpiceEdit never runs them in this project, until the config changes.

The remembered answer (along with a SHA-256 hash of the config it applies to) lives in ~/.config/spiceedit/format-trust.json. The hash is the security trick: a teammate can’t push a “v2” of the config that runs rm -rf and have your editor silently honor it. The hash mismatch re-prompts you.

What happens on save

1. Save writes the file to disk first. A broken or slow formatter never blocks the save.
2. SpiceEdit looks up the file’s extension in format.json. No match → done.
3. The configured command runs in a goroutine. The UI keeps responding; you can keep typing.
4. When the formatter finishes, SpiceEdit reloads the buffer — but only if you haven’t typed anything since saving. If you did, your in-flight edits win and a status flash tells you the on-disk file was reformatted.
5. If the configured binary isn’t installed, it’s a silent no-op. You don’t have to install everyone’s formatter to clone a repo.

Sharing vs. ignoring

Two reasonable patterns. Both work — SpiceEdit doesn’t care.

• Commit .spiceedit/format.json so everyone on the team gets the same format-on-save behavior. Best for monorepos.
• Add .spiceedit/ to .gitignore if developers prefer their own setups. Each person’s local copy can configure whatever formatters they like.

Personal defaults — the install prompt

You can list your favorite formatters once globally in ~/.config/spiceedit/format-defaults.json (same shape as the project file):

{
  "commands": {
    "go":  ["gofmt", "-w", "$FILE"],
    "php": ["pint", "--quiet", "$FILE"],
    "py":  ["ruff", "format", "$FILE"]
  }
}

These never run on their own. Instead, when you save a file in a project where:

1. The project’s .spiceedit/format.json is missing or has no entry for that file’s extension, and
2. Your global defaults do have an entry for that extension,

SpiceEdit asks once: “Add gofmt for .go to .spiceedit/format.json?”

• Yes — merges the entry into the project’s config (creating .spiceedit/format.json if it didn’t exist), auto-trusts the resulting file, and runs the formatter on the save you just made.
• No / Esc — remembered per-extension in the trust file. SpiceEdit won’t ask again about that extension in this project until you edit the project config manually.

This keeps your personal preferences out of repos that don’t want them, while making it one click to opt a project in.