@raphaellcs/process-manager

A simple and lightweight process manager for Node.js applications.

Features

• 🚀 Start processes with ease
• 🛑 Stop running processes
• 🔄 Restart processes
• 📋 List all managed processes
• 📝 Log management and viewing
• 👻 Daemon mode for background processes

Installation

# Use with npx (no installation needed)
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager --help

# Or install globally
npm install -g @raphaellcs/process-manager

Usage

Start a Process

# Start a Node.js application
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node app.js"

# Start with a custom name
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node server.js" --name web-server

# Start in background (daemon mode)
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "npm start" --name api --daemon

# Specify custom log file
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node app.js" --log custom.log

Stop a Process

# Stop by PID
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager stop 12345

# Stop by name
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager stop web-server

Restart a Process

# Restart by PID
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager restart 12345

# Restart by name
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager restart web-server

List Processes

# List all managed processes
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager list

View Logs

# Show last 20 lines of log
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager logs web-server

# Show last 50 lines
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager logs web-server --lines 50

# Follow log output (like tail -f)
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager logs web-server --follow

Examples

Example 1: Start a Web Server

$ npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node server.js" --name web-server --daemon
✓ Process started as daemon: web-server
PID: 12345
Log: web-server.log
To stop: process-manager stop 12345

Example 2: List All Processes

$ npx @raphaellcs/process-manager list

📋 Managed Processes:

  ● Running web-server
    PID: 12345
    Command: node server.js
    Log: web-server.log
    Daemon: Yes

  ● Running api-server
    PID: 12346
    Command: npm start
    Log: api-server.log
    Daemon: Yes

Example 3: Stop a Process

$ npx @raphaellcs/process-manager stop web-server
✓ Process stopped: 12345

Example 4: Restart a Process

$ npx @raphaellcs/process-manager restart api-server
✓ Process restarted: api-server
New PID: 12347

Example 5: View Logs

$ npx @raphaellcs/process-manager logs web-server --lines 10

Server started on port 3000
GET /api/users 200
GET /api/posts 200
GET /api/users 200
POST /api/users 201
...

Example 6: Follow Logs

$ npx @raphaellcs/process-manager logs web-server --follow

Server started on port 3000
GET /api/users 200
GET /api/posts 200
...
(new log lines will appear in real-time)

Options

Start Command

• -n, --name <name> - Process name (default: process-)
• -l, --log <file> - Log file path (default: .log)
• -d, --daemon - Run as daemon (background)

Logs Command

• -f, --follow - Follow log output (tail -f)
• -n, --lines <number> - Number of lines to show (default: 20)

Process Management

Configuration File

Process information is stored in .pm-config.json:

{
  "web-server": {
    "pid": 12345,
    "command": "node server.js",
    "logFile": "web-server.log",
    "daemon": true,
    "started": 1707715200000
  }
}

Stopping Processes

Processes are stopped gracefully with SIGTERM. If you need to force kill:

kill -9 <PID>

Auto-cleanup

When a process exits naturally, it's automatically removed from the configuration.

Use Cases

• 🌐 Web Servers: Manage Node.js HTTP servers
• 🤖 Bots: Keep chatbots running
• 📊 Workers: Run background processing jobs
• 🔔 Monitors: Watch files and run tasks
• 🎯 Dev Tools: Start dev servers in background
• 📈 Scrapers: Run web scrapers in background

Best Practices

1. Use Meaningful Names

# Good
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "npm start" --name api-server

# Not as helpful
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "npm start" --name proc-123

2. Use Daemon Mode for Long-running Processes

# Run as daemon for background execution
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node bot.js" --name telegram-bot --daemon

3. Separate Logs for Each Process

# Use custom log files
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node api.js" --name api --log logs/api.log
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node worker.js" --name worker --log logs/worker.log

4. Monitor with Logs

# Start process
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager start "node app.js" --name app --daemon

# Follow logs in another terminal
npx @raphaellcs/process-manager logs app --follow

Comparison with PM2

| Feature | @raphaellcs/process-manager | PM2 | |---------|---------------------------|------| | Simplicity | ✅ Very simple | ❌ More complex | | Process Management | ✅ Start/Stop/Restart | ✅ Full-featured | | Clustering | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | | Log Management | ✅ Basic | ✅ Advanced | | Monitoring | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | | Zero Config | ✅ Yes | ❌ Requires setup | | Use Case | Simple dev setups | Production apps |

Use @raphaellcs/process-manager when:

• You need simple process management
• You're working on development
• You don't need advanced features

Use PM2 when:

• You need production-ready features
• You need clustering
• You need advanced monitoring

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

MIT

Author

Dream Heart 🌙

Links

• npm
• GitHub