Can you set aliases for npm scripts inside package.json? - node.js

Question

I have a project written in Typescript
When developing Locally:
ts-node is installed as a dev-dependency, The commands are
to start: "ts-node src/index"
to init: "ts-node bin/init"
to init db: "ts-node bin/database-init"
to migrate db: "ts-node bin/database-migrate"
to add users: "ts-node bin/add-users"
When Deployed:
dev-dependencies are dropped, app is transpiled, the commands are
to start: "node src/index"
to init: "node bin/init"
to init db: "node bin/database-init"
to migrate db: "node bin/database-migrate"
to add users: "node bin/add-users"
Thus I am forced to maintain this in my package.json which will keep growing
"scripts": {
"start": "ts-node src/index",
"start:js": "node src/index",
"init": "ts-node bin/init",
"init:js": "node bin/init",
"db:init": "ts-node bin/db-init",
"db:init:js": "node bin/db-init",
"db:migrate": "ts-node bin/db-migrate",
"db:migrate:js": "node bin/db-migrate",
"add:users": "ts-node bin/add-users",
"add:users:js": "node bin/add-users"
},
I would much rather have a single command that works in both
to do this I have set the following alias in the deployment server
alias ts-node=/usr/bin/node
as such all these now works for both..
"scripts": {
"start": "ts-node src/index",
"init": "ts-node bin/init",
"db:init": "ts-node bin/db-init",
"db:migrate": "ts-node bin/db-migrate",
"add:users": "ts-node bin/add-users",
}
But this is not a great solution and prevents me from deploying it anywhere else.. I prefer to set the name space for right-node to ts-node || node inside the package.json this way it would be portable..
I know that the namespace for all dependencies gets added when running npm scripts, So this does happen behind the scenes, but is there any built in functionality to do this manually?

Answer 1

I think the best solution is to work with NODE_ENV but first, you need to install:
npm install if-env --save
and then in the script:
"scripts": {
"start": "if-env NODE_ENV=production ?? npm run start:prod || npm run start:dev",
"start:dev": "ts-node src/index",
"start:prod": "node src/index"
}
And on the server you need to set NODE_ENV to production
On Linux:
export NODE_ENV=production
And for production, I suggest using something like pm2 or foverer insted node to start an application