Node.js - nodemon vs node - development vs production - node.js

I would like to use $>npm start and have it use "nodemon" for development and "node" for production. I can't put conditional logic in my package.json file, so how is this best accomplished?

You should be able to use NPM's start as a regular shell script.
"scripts": {
"start": "if [$NODE_ENV == 'production']; then node app.js; else nodemon app.js; fi"
}
Now to start your server for production
$ NODE_ENV='production' npm start
or for development
$ NODE_ENV='development' npm start

nodemon actually reads the package.start value, so if you just set the start property to what you'd have in production, like node app.js, then run nodemon without any arguments, it'll run with package.start and restart as you'd expect in development.

Instead of putting logic in your "start", just add another script like "start-dev":"nodemon app.js" and execute it like "npm run-script start-dev".

I liked Daniel's solution, but thought it would be even cleaner to put it in a separate file, startup.sh:
#!/bin/sh
if [ "$NODE_ENV" = "production" ]; then
node src/index.js;
else
nodemon src/index.js;
fi
Then just change package.json to read:
"scripts": {
"start": "../startup.sh"
},

Related

npm run points to different .env file

We are working on nodeJs/ExpressJs we have configured multiple .env files for development and production and pointing it to package.json for different execution process, we have naming conversation issues at scripts.
Whenever we run npm run prod it takes to preprod configuration. what could be the issues?
Update: we have figured that the suffix of the script key is the same in the next script, after update/rename preprod to preProd the both runs fine. but why?
Eg :
"scripts": {
"dev": "clear; env-cmd -f ./config/hostedDev.env nodemon --exec babel-node index.js",
"prod": "clear; env-cmd -f ./config/prod.env nodemon --exec babel-node index.js",
"preprod": "clear; env-cmd -f ./config/preprod.env nodemon --exec babel-node index.js"
},
Apparently the issue is with the word 'pre'.
If you would have noticed it runs both preprod and prod commands (pre running first).
If you change the script name to 'postprod' the postprod script will run later.
So, I guess npm uses 'pre' as to run before the 'prod' script and then running 'prod' script itself.

How to wait for server start complete from an npm script?

I'm trying to run a functional test for a node app.
In my package.json I have the following scripts:
"scripts": {
"web-server": "NODE_ENV=test node app.js &",
"test": "npm run web-server && mocha ./tests/functional/*.js --exit",
"posttest": "pkill -f node"
}
But when running it, tests run before the server completes starting.
How can I wait for the server?
I found wait-on today and like its approach. It only does the wait, not other things like command launching.
Using it with concurrently, like so:
"scripts": {
"xxx": "concurrently -n server,mocha \"npm run web-server\" \"npx wait-on http://localhost:8080 && npx mocha ...\"",
Wanted to mention to new visitors. I think wait-on is currently the best fitting answer to the title's question.
As far as I understand,
you'd like to run your local server, once the server is up tests cycle should be triggered.
I suggest to use the package "start-server-and-test" sounds suite for your solution, the NPM package page is here
Let's take your current package.json script object, and rewrite them.
The start and test scripts are the two basic scripts you need to maintain your app easily.
start - to start your app (I suggest to use nodemon or pm2)
test - call your test script
Notes:
To dev tests you will need to handle two terminals, each for the above.
I'm assuming you're running on port 8080
The package is also handling the termination of both processes (node and mocha) in both cases success and failure so no need (posttest:ci, --exit, etc..)
There is no need to use child process (the &) that mentioned at the end of your web-server package.json's script.
Here is the new script object, from my POV
"scripts": {
"start": "node app.js",
"test": "NODE_ENV=test mocha ./tests/functional/*.js",
"test:ci": "NODE_ENV=test start-server-and-test start \"http://localhost:8080\" test"
}
Now, from your CLI:
npm run test:ci
The ci suffix mentions this process is fully automated
It's expected that you'll have to define CI=true for a real CI environment,
just as all CI tools do and it's not necessary for local usage.

Run two tasks/scripts that both "hog the terminal" [duplicate]

In my package.json I have these two scripts:
"scripts": {
"start-watch": "nodemon run-babel index.js",
"wp-server": "webpack-dev-server",
}
I have to run these 2 scripts in parallel everytime I start developing in Node.js. The first thing I thought of was adding a third script like this:
"dev": "npm run start-watch && npm run wp-server"
... but that will wait for start-watch to finish before running wp-server.
How can I run these in parallel? Please keep in mind that I need to see the output of these commands. Also, if your solution involves a build tool, I'd rather use gulp instead of grunt because I already use it in another project.
Use a package called concurrently.
npm i concurrently --save-dev
Then setup your npm run dev task as so:
"dev": "concurrently --kill-others \"npm run start-watch\" \"npm run wp-server\""
If you're using an UNIX-like environment, just use & as the separator:
"dev": "npm run start-watch & npm run wp-server"
Otherwise if you're interested on a cross-platform solution, you could use npm-run-all module:
"dev": "npm-run-all --parallel start-watch wp-server"
From windows cmd you can use start:
"dev": "start npm run start-watch && start npm run wp-server"
Every command launched this way starts in its own window.
You should use npm-run-all (or concurrently, parallelshell), because it has more control over starting and killing commands. The operators &, | are bad ideas because you'll need to manually stop it after all tests are finished.
This is an example for protractor testing through npm:
scripts: {
"webdriver-start": "./node_modules/protractor/bin/webdriver-manager update && ./node_modules/protractor/bin/webdriver-manager start",
"protractor": "./node_modules/protractor/bin/protractor ./tests/protractor.conf.js",
"http-server": "./node_modules/http-server/bin/http-server -a localhost -p 8000",
"test": "npm-run-all -p -r webdriver-start http-server protractor"
}
-p = Run commands in parallel.
-r = Kill all commands when one of them finishes with an exit code of zero.
Running npm run test will start Selenium driver, start http server (to serve you files) and run protractor tests. Once all tests are finished, it will close the http server and the selenium driver.
I've checked almost all solutions from above and only with npm-run-all I was able to solve all problems. Main advantage over all other solution is an ability to run script with arguments.
{
"test:static-server": "cross-env NODE_ENV=test node server/testsServer.js",
"test:jest": "cross-env NODE_ENV=test jest",
"test": "run-p test:static-server \"test:jest -- {*}\" --",
"test:coverage": "npm run test -- --coverage",
"test:watch": "npm run test -- --watchAll",
}
Note run-p is shortcut for npm-run-all --parallel
This allows me to run command with arguments like npm run test:watch -- Something.
EDIT:
There is one more useful option for npm-run-all:
-r, --race - - - - - - - Set the flag to kill all tasks when a task
finished with zero. This option is valid only
with 'parallel' option.
Add -r to your npm-run-all script to kill all processes when one finished with code 0. This is especially useful when you run a HTTP server and another script that use the server.
"test": "run-p -r test:static-server \"test:jest -- {*}\" --",
I have a crossplatform solution without any additional modules. I was looking for something like a try catch block I could use both in the cmd.exe and in the bash.
The solution is command1 || command2 which seems to work in both enviroments same. So the solution for the OP is:
"scripts": {
"start-watch": "nodemon run-babel index.js",
"wp-server": "webpack-dev-server",
// first command is for the cmd.exe, second one is for the bash
"dev": "(start npm run start-watch && start npm run wp-server) || (npm run start-watch & npm run wp-server)",
"start": "npm run dev"
}
Then simple npm start (and npm run dev) will work on all platforms!
If you replace the double ampersand with a single ampersand, the scripts will run concurrently.
How about forking
Another option to run multiple Node scripts is with a single Node script, which can fork many others. Forking is supported natively in Node, so it adds no dependencies and is cross-platform.
Minimal example
This would just run the scripts as-is and assume they're located in the parent script's directory.
// fork-minimal.js - run with: node fork-minimal.js
const childProcess = require('child_process');
let scripts = ['some-script.js', 'some-other-script.js'];
scripts.forEach(script => childProcess.fork(script));
Verbose example
This would run the scripts with arguments and configured by the many available options.
// fork-verbose.js - run with: node fork-verbose.js
const childProcess = require('child_process');
let scripts = [
{
path: 'some-script.js',
args: ['-some_arg', '/some_other_arg'],
options: {cwd: './', env: {NODE_ENV: 'development'}}
},
{
path: 'some-other-script.js',
args: ['-another_arg', '/yet_other_arg'],
options: {cwd: '/some/where/else', env: {NODE_ENV: 'development'}}
}
];
let runningScripts= [];
scripts.forEach(script => {
let runningScript = childProcess.fork(script.path, script.args, script.options);
// Optionally attach event listeners to the script
runningScript.on('close', () => console.log('Time to die...'))
runningScripts.push(runningScript); // Keep a reference to the script for later use
});
Communicating with forked scripts
Forking also has the added benefit that the parent script can receive events from the forked child processes as well as send back. A common example is for the parent script to kill its forked children.
runningScripts.forEach(runningScript => runningScript.kill());
For more available events and methods see the ChildProcess documentation
npm-run-all --parallel task1 task2
edit:
You need to have npm-run-all installed beforehand. Also check this page for other usage scenarios.
Quick Solution
In this case, I'd say the best bet If this script is for a private module intended to run only on *nix-based machines, you can use the control operator for forking processes, which looks like this: &
An example of doing this in a partial package.json file:
{
"name": "npm-scripts-forking-example",
"scripts": {
"bundle": "watchify -vd -p browserify-hmr index.js -o bundle.js",
"serve": "http-server -c 1 -a localhost",
"serve-bundle": "npm run bundle & npm run serve &"
}
You'd then execute them both in parallel via npm run serve-bundle. You can enhance the scripts to output the pids of the forked process to a file like so:
"serve-bundle": "npm run bundle & echo \"$!\" > build/bundle.pid && npm run serve & echo \"$!\" > build/serve.pid && npm run open-browser",
Google something like bash control operator for forking to learn more on how it works. I've also provided some further context regarding leveraging Unix techniques in Node projects below:
Further Context RE: Unix Tools & Node.js
If you're not on Windows, Unix tools/techniques often work well to achieve something with Node scripts because:
Much of Node.js lovingly imitates Unix principles
You're on *nix (incl. OS X) and NPM is using a shell anyway
Modules for system tasks in Nodeland are also often abstractions or approximations of Unix tools, from fs to streams.
step by step guide to run multiple parallel scripts with npm.
install npm-run-all package globally
npm i -g npm-run-all
Now install and save this package within project where your package.json exists
npm i npm-run-all --save-dev
Now modify scripts in package.json file this way
"scripts": {
"server": "live-server index.html",
"watch": "node-sass scss/style.scss --watch",
"all": "npm-run-all --parallel server watch"
},
now run this command
npm run all
more detail about this package in given link
npm-run-all
with installing npm install concurrently
"scripts": {
"start:build": "tsc -w",
"start:run": "nodemon build/index.js",
"start": "concurrently npm:start:*"
},
Use concurrently to run the commands in parallel with a shared output stream. To make it easy to tell which output is from which process, use the shortened command form, such as npm:wp-server. This causes concurrently to prefix each output line with its command name.
In package.json, your scripts section will look like this:
"scripts": {
"start": "concurrently \"npm:start-watch\" \"npm:wp-server\"",
"start-watch": "nodemon run-babel index.js",
"wp-server": "webpack-dev-server"
}
npm install npm-run-all --save-dev
package.json:
"scripts": {
"start-watch": "...",
"wp-server": "...",
"dev": "npm-run-all --parallel start-watch wp-server"
}
More info: https://github.com/mysticatea/npm-run-all/blob/master/docs/npm-run-all.md
In a package.json in the parent folder:
"dev": "(cd api && start npm run start) & (cd ../client && start npm run start)"
this work in windows
Just add this npm script to the package.json file in the root folder.
{
...
"scripts": {
...
"start": "react-scripts start", // or whatever else depends on your project
"dev": "(cd server && npm run start) & (cd ../client && npm run start)"
}
}
... but that will wait for start-watch to finish before running wp-server.
For that to work, you will have to use start on your command. Others have already illustrated but this is how it will work, your code below:
"dev": "npm run start-watch && npm run wp-server"
Should be :
"dev": " start npm run start-watch && start npm run wp-server"
What this will do is, it will open a separate instance for each command and process them concurrently, which shouldn't be an issue as far as your initial issue is concerned. Why do I say so? It's because these instances both open automatically while you run only 1 statement, which is your initial goal.
I ran into problems with & and |, which exit statuses and error throwing, respectively.
Other solutions want to run any task with a given name, like npm-run-all, which wasn't my use case.
So I created npm-run-parallel that runs npm scripts asynchronously and reports back when they're done.
So, for your scripts, it'd be:
npm-run-parallel wp-server start-watch
My solution is similar to Piittis', though I had some problems using Windows. So I had to validate for win32.
const { spawn } = require("child_process");
function logData(data) {
console.info(`stdout: ${data}`);
}
function runProcess(target) {
let command = "npm";
if (process.platform === "win32") {
command = "npm.cmd"; // I shit you not
}
const myProcess = spawn(command, ["run", target]); // npm run server
myProcess.stdout.on("data", logData);
myProcess.stderr.on("data", logData);
}
(() => {
runProcess("server"); // package json script
runProcess("client");
})();
This worked for me
{
"start-express": "tsc && nodemon dist/server/server.js",
"start-react": "react-scripts start",
"start-both": "npm -p -r run start-react && -p -r npm run start-express"
}
Both client and server are written in typescript.
The React app is created with create-react-app with the typescript template and is in the default src directory.
Express is in the server directory and the entry file is server.js
typescript code and transpiled into js and is put in the dist directory .
checkout my project for more info: https://github.com/nickjohngray/staticbackeditor
UPDATE:
calling npm run dev, to start things off
{"server": "tsc-watch --onSuccess \"node ./dist/server/index.js\"",
"start-server-dev": "npm run build-server-dev && node src/server/index.js",
"client": "webpack-dev-server --mode development --devtool inline-source-map --hot",
"dev": "concurrently \"npm run build-server-dev\" \"npm run server\" \"npm run client\""}
You can also use pre and post as prefixes on your specific script.
"scripts": {
"predev": "nodemon run-babel index.js &",
"dev": "webpack-dev-server"
}
And then run:
npm run dev
In my case I have two projects, one was UI and the other was API, and both have their own script in their respective package.json files.
So, here is what I did.
npm run --prefix react start& npm run --prefix express start&
Simple node script to get you going without too much hassle. Using readline to combine outputs so the lines don't get mangled.
const { spawn } = require('child_process');
const readline = require('readline');
[
spawn('npm', ['run', 'start-watch']),
spawn('npm', ['run', 'wp-server'])
].forEach(child => {
readline.createInterface({
input: child.stdout
}).on('line', console.log);
readline.createInterface({
input: child.stderr,
}).on('line', console.log);
});
I have been using npm-run-all for some time, but I never got along with it, because the output of the command in watch mode doesn't work well together. For example, if I start create-react-app and jest in watch mode, I will only be able to see the output from the last command I ran. So most of the time, I was running all my commands manually...
This is why, I implement my own lib, run-screen. It still very young project (from yesterday :p ) but it might be worth to look at it, in your case it would be:
run-screen "npm run start-watch" "npm run wp-server"
Then you press the numeric key 1 to see the output of wp-server and press 0 to see the output of start-watch.
A simple and native way for Windows CMD
"start /b npm run bg-task1 && start /b npm run bg-task2 && npm run main-task"
(start /b means start in the background)
I think the best way is to use npm-run-all as below:
1- npm install -g npm-run-all <--- will be installed globally
2- npm-run-all --parallel server client
How about a good old fashioned Makefile?
This allows you a lot of control including how you manage subshells, dependencies between scripts etc.
# run both scripts
start: server client
# start server and use & to background it
server:
npm run serve &
# start the client
client:
npm start
call this Makefile and then you can just type
make start to start everything up. Because the server command is actually running in a child process of the start command when you ctrl-C the server command will also stop - unlike if you just backgrounded it yourself at the shell.
Make also gives you command line completion, at least on the shell i'm using. Bonus - the first command will always run so you can actually just type make on it's own here.
I always throw a makefile into my projects, just so I can quickly scan later all the common commands and parameters for each project as I flip between them.
Using just shell scripting, on Linux.
"scripts": {
"cmd": "{ trap 'trap \" \" TERM; kill 0; wait' INT TERM; } && blocking1 & blocking2 & wait"
}
npm run cmd
and then
^C will kill children and wait for clean exit.
As you may need to add more and more to this scripts it will become messy and harder to use. What if you need some conditions to check, variables to use? So I suggest you to look at google/zx that allows to use js to create scripts.
Simple usage:
install zx: npm i -g zx
add package.json commands (optional, you can move everything to scripts):
"scripts": {
"dev": "zx ./scripts/dev.mjs", // run script
"build:dev": "tsc -w", // compile in watch mode
"build": "tsc", // compile
"start": "node dist/index.js", // run
"start:dev": "nodemon dist/index.js", // run in watch mode
},
create dev.mjs script file:
#!/usr/bin/env zx
await $`yarn build`; // prebuild if dist is empty
await Promise.all([$`yarn start:dev`, $`yarn build:dev`]); // run in parallel
Now every time you want to start a dev server you just run yarn dev or npm run dev.
It will first compile ts->js and then run typescrpt compiler and server in watch mode in parallel. When you change your ts file->it's will be recompiled by tsc->nodemon will restart the server.
Advanced programmatic usage
Load env variables, compile ts in watch mode and rerun server from dist on changes (dev.mjs):
#!/usr/bin/env zx
import nodemon from "nodemon";
import dotenv from "dotenv";
import path from "path";
import { fileURLToPath } from "url";
// load env variables
loadEnvVariables("../env/.env");
await Promise.all([
// compile in watch mode (will recompile on changes in .ts files)
$`tsc -w`,
// wait for tsc to compile for first time and rerun server on any changes (tsc emited .js files)
sleep(4000).then(() =>
nodemon({
script: "dist/index.js",
})
),
]);
function sleep(ms) {
return new Promise((resolve) => {
setTimeout(resolve, ms);
});
}
function getDirname() {
return path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
}
function loadEnvVariables(relativePath) {
const { error, parsed } = dotenv.config({
path: path.join(getDirname(), relativePath),
});
if (error) {
throw error;
}
return parsed;
}

Npm "scripts": "start" run express and open url

I have this start params in package.json
"scripts": {
"start": "node bin/www"
},
It is running my express app when I am typing npm start.
But I want browser opened http://localhost:8081 at the same time. How can I say to start to open my local url as well?
like: "start": "node bin/www, http://localhost:8081"
So when I am typing npm satrt it runs my express app and opens the url at the same time.
As far as I know it's like writing a bash command:
// Windows
"start":"start http://localhost:8081 & node bin/www"
// Mac
"start":"open http://localhost:8081 && node bin/www"
// Linux
"start":"xdg-open http://localhost:8081 && node bin/www"
For cross-platform support use open-cli.
Install it:
npm install --save-dev open-cli
Add it to your scripts:
"start": "open-cli http://localhost:8081 && node bin/www"
You just need to use start in the right order!
"start": "npm run dev & start http://localhost:8000",
Bad
"start": "start http://localhost:8000 & npm run dev",
Good

How to set environment variables from within package.json?

How to set some environment variables from within package.json to be used with npm start like commands?
Here's what I currently have in my package.json:
{
...
"scripts": {
"help": "tagove help",
"start": "tagove start"
}
...
}
I want to set environment variables (like NODE_ENV) in the start script while still being able to start the app with just one command, npm start.
Set the environment variable in the script command:
...
"scripts": {
"start": "node app.js",
"test": "NODE_ENV=test mocha --reporter spec"
},
...
Then use process.env.NODE_ENV in your app.
Note: This is for Mac & Linux only. For Windows refer to the comments.
Just use NPM package cross-env. Super easy. Works on Windows, Linux, and all environments. Notice that you don't use && to move to the next task. You just set the env and then start the next task. Credit to #mikekidder for the suggestion in one of the comments here.
From documentation:
{
"scripts": {
"build": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production OTHERFLAG=myValue webpack --config build/webpack.config.js"
}
}
Notice that if you want to set multiple global vars, you just state them in succession, followed by your command to be executed.
Ultimately, the command that is executed (using spawn) is:
webpack --config build/webpack.config.js
The NODE_ENV environment variable will be set by cross-env
I just wanted to add my two cents here for future Node-explorers. On my Ubuntu 14.04 the NODE_ENV=test didn't work, I had to use export NODE_ENV=test after which NODE_ENV=test started working too, weird.
On Windows as have been said you have to use set NODE_ENV=test but for a cross-platform solution the cross-env library didn't seem to do the trick and do you really need a library to do this:
export NODE_ENV=test || set NODE_ENV=test&& yadda yadda
The vertical bars are needed as otherwise Windows would crash on the unrecognized export NODE_ENV command. I don't know about the trailing space, but just to be sure I removed them too.
Because I often find myself working with multiple environment variables, I find it useful to keep them in a separate .env file (make sure to ignore this from your source control). Then (in Linux) prepend export $(cat .env | xargs) && in your script command before starting your app.
Example .env file:
VAR_A=Hello World
VAR_B=format the .env file like this with new vars separated by a line break
Example index.js:
console.log('Test', process.env.VAR_A, process.env.VAR_B);
Example package.json:
{
...
"scripts": {
"start": "node index.js",
"env-linux": "export $(cat .env | xargs) && env",
"start-linux": "export $(cat .env | xargs) && npm start",
"env-windows": "(for /F \"tokens=*\" %i in (.env) do set %i)",
"start-windows": "(for /F \"tokens=*\" %i in (.env) do set %i) && npm start",
}
...
}
Unfortunately I can't seem to set the environment variables by calling a script from a script -- like "start-windows": "npm run env-windows && npm start" -- so there is some redundancy in the scripts.
For a test you can see the env variables by running npm run env-linux or npm run env-windows, and test that they make it into your app by running npm run start-linux or npm run start-windows.
Try this on Windows by replacing YOURENV:
{
...
"scripts": {
"help": "set NODE_ENV=YOURENV && tagove help",
"start": "set NODE_ENV=YOURENV && tagove start"
}
...
}
#luke's answer was almost the one I needed! Thanks.
As the selected answer is very straightforward (and correct), but old, I would like to offer an alternative for importing variables from a .env separate file when running your scripts and fixing some limitations to Luke's answer.
Try this:
::: .env file :::
# This way, you CAN use comments in your .env files
NODE_PATH="src/"
# You can also have extra/empty lines in it
SASS_PATH="node_modules:src/styles"
Then, in your package json, you will create a script that will set the variables and run it before the scripts you need them:
::: package.json :::
scripts: {
"set-env": "export $(cat .env | grep \"^[^#;]\" |xargs)",
"storybook": "npm run set-env && start-storybook -s public"
}
Some observations:
The regular expression in the grep'ed cat command will clear the comments and empty lines.
The && don't need to be "glued" to npm run set-env, as it would be required if you were setting the variables in the same command.
If you are using yarn, you may see a warning, you can either change it to yarn set-env or use npm run set-env --scripts-prepend-node-path && instead.
Different environments
Another advantage when using it is that you can have different environment variables.
scripts: {
"set-env:production": "export $(cat .production.env | grep \"^[^#;]\" |xargs)",
"set-env:development": "export $(cat .env | grep \"^[^#;]\" |xargs)",
}
Please, remember not to add .env files to your git repository when you have keys, passwords or sensitive/personal data in them!
UPDATE: This solution may break in npm v7 due to npm RFC 21
CAVEAT: no idea if this works with yarn
npm (and yarn) passes a lot of data from package.json into scripts as environment variables. Use npm run env to see them all. This is documented in https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/scripts#environment and is not only for "lifecycle" scripts like prepublish but also any script executed by npm run.
You can access these inside code (e.g. process.env.npm_package_config_port in JS) but they're already available to the shell running the scripts so you can also access them as $npm_... expansions in the "scripts" (unix syntax, might not work on windows?).
The "config" section seems intended for this use:
"name": "myproject",
...
"config": {
"port": "8010"
},
"scripts": {
"start": "node server.js $npm_package_config_port",
"test": "wait-on http://localhost:$npm_package_config_port/ && node test.js http://localhost:$npm_package_config_port/"
}
An important quality of these "config" fields is that users can override them without modifying package.json!
$ npm run start
> myproject#0.0.0 start /home/cben/mydir
> node server.js $npm_package_config_port
Serving on localhost:8010
$ npm config set myproject:port 8020
$ git diff package.json # no change!
$ cat ~/.npmrc
myproject:port=8020
$ npm run start
> myproject#0.0.0 start /home/cben/mydir
> node server.js $npm_package_config_port
Serving on localhost:8020
See npm config and yarn config docs.
It appears that yarn reads ~/.npmrc so npm config set affects both, but yarn config set writes to ~/.yarnrc, so only yarn will see it :-(
For a larger set of environment variables or when you want to reuse them you can use env-cmd.
As a plus, the .env file would also work with direnv.
./.env file:
# This is a comment
ENV1=THANKS
ENV2=FOR ALL
ENV3=THE FISH
./package.json:
{
"scripts": {
"test": "env-cmd mocha -R spec"
}
}
This will work in Windows console:
"scripts": {
"setAndStart": "set TMP=test&& node index.js",
"otherScriptCmd": "echo %TMP%"
}
npm run aaa
output:
test
See this answer for details.
suddenly i found that actionhero is using following code, that solved my problem by just passing --NODE_ENV=production in start script command option.
if(argv['NODE_ENV'] != null){
api.env = argv['NODE_ENV'];
} else if(process.env.NODE_ENV != null){
api.env = process.env.NODE_ENV;
}
i would really appreciate to accept answer of someone else who know more better way to set environment variables in package.json or init script or something like, where app bootstrapped by someone else.
use git bash in windows. Git Bash processes commands differently than cmd.
Most Windows command prompts will choke when you set environment variables with NODE_ENV=production like that. (The exception is Bash on Windows, which uses native Bash.) Similarly, there's a difference in how windows and POSIX commands utilize environment variables. With POSIX, you use: $ENV_VAR and on windows you use %ENV_VAR%. - cross-env doc
{
...
"scripts": {
"help": "tagove help",
"start": "env NODE_ENV=production tagove start"
}
...
}
use dotenv package to declare the env variables
For single environment variable
"scripts": {
"start": "set NODE_ENV=production&& node server.js"
}
For multiple environment variables
"scripts": {
"start": "set NODE_ENV=production&& set PORT=8000&& node server.js"
}
When the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to 'production' all devDependencies in your package.json file will be completely ignored when running npm install. You can also enforce this with a --production flag:
npm install --production
For setting NODE_ENV you can use any of these methods
method 1: set NODE_ENV for all node apps
Windows :
set NODE_ENV=production
Linux, macOS or other unix based system :
export NODE_ENV=production
This sets NODE_ENV for current bash session thus any apps started after this statement will have NODE_ENV set to production.
method 2: set NODE_ENV for current app
NODE_ENV=production node app.js
This will set NODE_ENV for the current app only. This helps when we want to test our apps on different environments.
method 3: create .env file and use it
This uses the idea explained here. Refer this post for more detailed explanation.
Basically, you create a .env file and run some bash scripts to set them on the environment.
To avoid writing a bash script, the env-cmd package can be used to load the environment variables defined in the .env file.
env-cmd .env node app.js
method 4: Use cross-env package
This package allows environment variables to be set in one way for every platform.
After installing it with npm, you can just add it to your deployment script in package.json as follows:
"build:deploy": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production webpack"
{
...
"scripts": {
"start": "ENV NODE_ENV=production someapp --options"
}
...
}
Most elegant and portable solution:
package.json:
"scripts": {
"serve": "export NODE_PRESERVE_SYMLINKS_MAIN=1 && vue-cli-service serve"
},
Under windows create export.cmd and put it somewhere to your %PATH%:
#echo off
set %*
If you:
Are currently using Windows;
Have git bash installed;
Don't want to use set ENV in your package.json which makes it only runnable for Windows dev machines;
Then you can set the script shell of node from cmd to git bash and write linux-style env setting statements in package.json for it to work on both Windows/Linux/Mac.
$ npm config set script-shell "C:\\Program Files\\git\\bin\\bash.exe"
Although not directly answering the question I´d like to share an idea on top of the other answers. From what I got each of these would offer some level of complexity to achieve cross platform independency.
On my scenario all I wanted, originally, to set a variable to control whether or not to secure the server with JWT authentication (for development purposes)
After reading the answers I decided simply to create 2 different files, with authentication turned on and off respectively.
"scripts": {
"dev": "nodemon --debug index_auth.js",
"devna": "nodemon --debug index_no_auth.js",
}
The files are simply wrappers that call the original index.js file (which I renamed to appbootstrapper.js):
//index_no_auth.js authentication turned off
const bootstrapper = require('./appbootstrapper');
bootstrapper(false);
//index_auth.js authentication turned on
const bootstrapper = require('./appbootstrapper');
bootstrapper(true);
class AppBootStrapper {
init(useauth) {
//real initialization
}
}
Perhaps this can help someone else
Running a node.js script from package.json with multiple environment variables:
package.json file:
"scripts": {
"do-nothing": "set NODE_ENV=prod4 && set LOCAL_RUN=true && node ./x.js",
},
x.js file can be as:
let env = process.env.NODE_ENV;
let isLocal = process.env.LOCAL_RUN;
console.log("ENV" , env);
console.log("isLocal", isLocal);
You should not set ENV variables in package.json. actionhero uses NODE_ENV to allow you to change configuration options which are loaded from the files in ./config. Check out the redis config file, and see how NODE_ENV is uses to change database options in NODE_ENV=test
If you want to use other ENV variables to set things (perhaps the HTTP port), you still don't need to change anything in package.json. For example, if you set PORT=1234 in ENV and want to use that as the HTTP port in NODE_ENV=production, just reference that in the relevant config file, IE:
# in config/servers/web.js
exports.production = {
servers: {
web: function(api){
return {
port: process.env.PORT
}
}
}
}
In addition to use of cross-env as documented above, for setting a few environment variables within a package.json 'run script', if your script involves running NodeJS, then you can set Node to pre-require dotenv/config:
{
scripts: {
"eg:js": "node -r dotenv/config your-script.js",
"eg:ts": "ts-node -r dotenv/config your-script.ts",
"test": "ts-node -r dotenv/config -C 'console.log(process.env.PATH)'",
}
}
This will cause your node interpreter to require dotenv/config, which will itself read the .env file in the present working directory from which node was called.
The .env format is lax or liberal:
# Comments are permitted
FOO=123
BAR=${FOO}
BAZ=Basingstoke Round About
#Blank lines are no problem
Note : In order to set multiple environment variable, script should goes like this
"scripts": {
"start": "set NODE_ENV=production&& set MONGO_USER=your_DB_USER_NAME&& set MONGO_PASSWORD=DB_PASSWORD&& set MONGO_DEFAULT_DATABASE=DB_NAME&& node app.js",
},

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