Why Every JavaScript Developer Should Know npm-run-all (Your Life Gets Easier)

#webdev #javascript #programming #node

If you want a platform-independent way to run multiple npm scripts with a single command, without shell hacks or editor specific tasks, use npm-run-all2. It’s a maintained fork of npm-run-all and a drop-in replacement with the same commands: run-p, run-s, and npm-run-all.

This guide shows practical examples you can paste into package.json.

Why npm-run-all2?

It is cross-platform: works the same on macOS, Linux, and Windows and it has simple shorthands:

run-p - run scripts in parallel
run-s - run scripts in sequence

Useful flags: labels, glob patterns, race mode, continue-on-error, and max concurrency: --race, --continue-on-error, --max-parallel, --print-label.

Install

If you've never used the original:

npm i -D npm-run-all2

Migrating from npm-run-all:

npm remove npm-run-all
npm i -D npm-run-all2

Usage (in parallel)

Use parallel for independent long-running tasks (e.g., dev servers, watchers). Let's say you have this in your package.json file:

{
  "scripts": {
    "frontend": "cd frontend && npm run dev",
    "backend": "cd backend && npm run start:dev",
    "start:dev": "run-p frontend backend"
  }
}

Now, if you run

npm run start:dev

you will have both the backend and the frontend servers up and running.

Usage (in sequence)

Use sequential when you need to run scripts in sequence (e.g. format > lint > compile). Let's say you have this in your package.json file:

{
  "scripts": {
    "format": "prettier --write",
    "lint": "eslint . --ext .js,.jsx,.ts,.tsx",
    "compile": "tsc -p tsconfig.json",
    "build": "run-s format lint compile"
  }
}