From 38459d709d7d07350fff99d47fd4e9a7e9d8a91d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: dan9186 <dan9186@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:08:37 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] capture the output and format it more

---
 cmd/root.go     |  9 +++++++++
 confile/step.go | 29 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 2 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 3546b3a..7d4eff9 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/gomicro/forge/cmd/config"
@@ -61,12 +63,19 @@ reference sub-steps, or define pre/post hooks. Pass --verbose to see each comman
 	Args:              cobra.MinimumNArgs(1),
 	RunE:              rootFunc,
 	ValidArgsFunction: validArgsFunc,
+	SilenceUsage:      true,
+	SilenceErrors:     true,
 }
 
 // Execute adds all child commands to the root command and sets flags appropriately.
 // This is called by main.main(). It only needs to happen once to the rootCmd.
 func Execute() {
 	if err := RootCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
+		var exitErr *exec.ExitError
+		if errors.As(err, &exitErr) {
+			os.Exit(exitErr.ExitCode())
+		}
+
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/confile/step.go b/confile/step.go
index 1a1aa14..0deb62a 100644
--- a/confile/step.go
+++ b/confile/step.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package confile
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
@@ -125,14 +126,36 @@ func executeCmd(cmdString string, stepEnvs, projectEnvs map[string]string, vars
 
 	cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, os.Environ()...)
 
-	cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
-	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+	var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
+	cmd.Stdout = &stdout
+	cmd.Stderr = &stderr
+
 	err := cmd.Start()
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("execute: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	return cmd.Wait()
+	waitErr := cmd.Wait()
+
+	if stdout.Len() > 0 {
+		scrb.PrintLines(&stdout)
+	}
+
+	if stderr.Len() > 0 {
+		if viper.GetBool("verbose") {
+			scrb.BeginDescribe("\033[1;31mstderr\033[0m")
+			scrb.PrintLines(&stderr)
+			scrb.EndDescribe()
+		} else {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "\033[1;31mstderr\033[0m\n%s", stderr.String())
+		}
+	}
+
+	if waitErr != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("execute: %w", waitErr)
+	}
+
+	return nil
 }
 
 func toSlice(e map[string]string) []string {