This function wraps the Redcar launcher to set different options based on the current directory. I use this to detect when I'm working on Redcar itself or a plugin for Redcar and launching with debug log output redirected to STDOUT. Otherwise I launch

redcar-wrapper.bash

function redcar {
  if [ -f plugin.rb ]; then
    echo "Found 'plugin.rb'!"
    echo "Assuming this directory is a Redcar plugin."
    echo "Running with --show-log, --log-level=debug, and without --fork."
    wrapped_redcar --show-log --log-level=debug $*
  elif [ -f lib/redcar.rb ] && [ -f bin/redcar ]; then
    echo "Found 'lib/redcar.rb' and 'bin/redcar'!"
    echo "Assuming this is the Redcar application directory."
    echo "Running with --show-log, --log-level=debug, and without --fork."
    wrapped_redcar --show-log --log-level=debug $*
  else
    wrapped_redcar --fork $* &> $HOME/.redcar/redcar.log
  fi  
}