npm scripts basics

June 19, 2015

package.json can have scripts fields, which are basically an object similar to this one:

  "scripts": {
    "name": "command-to-run",
    "name1": "command-to-run1",
    "name2": "command-to-run2"
  }

npm does a really simple job: when you run npm run smth, npm searches "smth" in "scripts" object and runs appropriate command-to-run.

shortcuts: start and test

npm start # npm run start
npm test  # npm run test

These commands are common and widely accepted way to start and test nodejs applications or packages.

pre and post scripts

npm also can run some scripts right before or after others:

• pretest will be executed everytime before test
• postpublish will be executed everytime after publish

Do u wanna talk about npm scripts?
Your npm-scripted Vladimir Starkov