noder: node + restart

Simple node script that allows you to run scripts which are able to self-restart, self-terminate and run forever.

How does it work?

noder listens to special directives on stdout stream. When the script wants to be restarted, it simply console.log a directive like [noder:restart]. Then noder catches it and restarts the script. So simple, isn't it?

Installation

# GLOBAL
$ npm i -g noder-restart # using npm...
$ yarn global add noder-restart # ...or yarn

# LOCAL
$ npm i -D noder-restart
$ yarn add -D noder-restart

Usage

Save this script as script.js:

console.log('Hello World!');

setTimeout(() => {
  console.log('Restarting...');
  console.log('[noder:restart]'); // [noder:restart] will be caught by noder and will cause the script to restart

  // You can write everything in one line as well:
  // console.log('Restarting... [noder:restart]');
}, 1000);

Then run it using noder:

$ noder script.js

Or, if you installed noder locally:

$ npx noder script.js
$ yarn noder script.js

The script will be restarted every second.

console.log('[noder:restart]'); - restarts script
console.log('[noder:terminate]'); - terminates script

Safe console

You can enable safe console mode in the script run by noder. This mode prevents terminate/restart by accident by removing the directives from the stream while using console.log.

Here's how to enable safe console:

const { enableSafeConsole } = require('noder-restart');

// Enable safe console mode
// Note: if you configure noder to use custom terminate/restart directive
// you will need to change the directives below. Otherwise leave everything as is.
const terminator = enableSafeConsole({
  restart: '[noder:restart]',
  terminate: '[noder:terminate]'
});

// Now if you type:
console.log('[noder:restart]');
console.log('[noder:terminate]');
// nothing happens!

// Use terminator object to restart script
terminator.restart();

// In case you want to terminate your script, write:
// terminator.terminate();

Note: You should install noder as a normal (not dev) dependency if you want to use safe console (don't add -D flag to the npm i/yarn add command).

CLI

Usage: noder [options] <script> [script args]

Options:

• -h, --help - Displays noder's help
• -v, --version - Displays noder's version
• -f, --forever - Enables forever mode (it means the script will restart after crash/exit; you can quit it by terminating)
• -w, --watch - Defines glob patterns for watch mode
• -N, --no-node - Disables node script execution mode (you can execute every script/program)
• -c, --config - Loads custom config file (the default one is /current/working/dir/noder.json if exists)
• --restart - Defines custom restart directive
• --terminate - Defines custom terminate directive

Config

By default noder searches for the config file named noder.json placed in the current working directory (you can change it using -c/--config option).

Content:

{
  "file": "script.js",
  "args": ["arg1", "arg2"],
  "forever": false,
  "watch": ["*.js", "*.ts"],
  "noNode": false,
  "directives": {
    "restart": "[noder:restart]",
    "terminate": "[noder:terminate]"
  }
}

• file - node script to execute (or the program name/path if noNode is true)
• args - CLI arguments for script/program
• forever - forever mode (auto-restart after exit/crash)
• watch - array with glob patterns for watch mode
• noNode - disable node (runs every program; the path to program must be provided in file)
• directives - list of directives
  • restart - restart directive
  • terminate - terminate directive