node-global-module-example

A simple Node.js global module example that demonstrates how to quickly and easily make your own global module that provides a command line utility and can be required in other modules. Once created, they can easily be installed by doing npm install -g <package> after publishing it to npm or while providing with an acceptable package.

The basic implementation relies on the bin specification in the package.json. This defines what command will execute which script with the node interpreter. The main requirement is that the executed script must have #!/usr/bin/env node at the top, but otherwise it mostly operates like any other script.

CLI utility

After installation, you should be able to run the bundled command from the command line. It will accept a command argument (IE: foo) and then ask you for your name. Your name will be passed to an example method that will simply output your provided input.

May require sudo prepended to the installation command

npm install -g ngme
ngme foo

Module require

You can also require the module and call the same example method as the CLI utility. Like that example, it will simply output your provided input.

First install the module locally:

npm install ngme

Then implement it in your own script:

var ngme = require('ngme');
ngme.example('test_input');

An example module require can be found at example/test.js:

node node_modules/ngme/example/test.js

Then what?

After you make a spiffy new global module based on this simple example, submit it to npm and share your awesome with the rest of the community.