The present invention is directed at a computing environment and method that supports object-based pipelines. The computing environment includes a runtime shell, a parser, and base commands. The runtime shell receives an object-based pipeline (e.g., via a command line). The runtime shell sends the object-based pipeline to the parser that parses the object-based pipeline into pipeline sub-components. Each of the pipeline sub-components are associated with a command, such as a base command provided by an operating system or a third party command provided by a third party developer. The parser invokes a method that is associated with the first pipeline sub-component. The method obtains objects of interest from a specified input (e.g., XML). The objects are sent to subsequent pipeline sub-components for further processing. The objects do not have methods. The pipeline sub-components may execute in the same process.