dev-process-manager

dev-process-manager is a Node.js process manager for local development environments that need multiple processes. It can be easily integrated into existing Node.js projects.

Installation

$ npm install dev-process-manager

Recommended Alias:

alias dpm="npm exec -- dev-pm"

Usage

Add dev-pm.config.ts file to the project root. This file defines all available scripts, which should be started by dev-process-manager.

dev-pm.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from 'dev-process-manager';

export default defineConfig({
    scripts: [
        {
             name: "api",
             script: "npm run start",
             alias: "backend", //to access the script using an alternative name in all commands
             group: ["foo", "bar"], //to access a group of scripts in all commands using @groupname
             waitOn: [
                "packages/foo/lib/index.d.ts", //wait until package is built
                "tcp:5432"  //wait until database is started (tcp:$POSTGRESQL_PORT is also supported)
             ]
        },
        ...
    ],
});

(Other supported file types are 'ts', 'mts', 'cts', 'js', 'mjs', 'cjs' and 'json')

Environment Variables

dev-process-manager loads environment variables from the following files in the project root, in order:

1. .env — shared defaults, typically committed to version control
2. .env.local — local overrides, typically added to .gitignore

Values defined in .env.local take precedence over those in .env. Variable expansion (e.g. $OTHER_VAR) is supported in both files.

These variables are only used for substitution within waitOn resources (e.g. tcp:$POSTGRESQL_PORT). They are not passed to the script processes — scripts inherit the daemon's environment.

Commands

Start

Start one or all processes. The script-name argument can also be multiple names, an alias, "all" or a @group.

$ npx dev-pm start [options] [script-name, alias or @group]

Options: --follow Follow logs after starting script (script will not be stopped when stopping this process)

Stop

Stop running processes

$ npx dev-pm stop [script-name, alias or @group]

Restart

Restart a previously started processes

$ npx dev-pm restart [options] [script-name, alias or @group]

Options: --follow Follow logs after starting script (script will not be stopped when stopping this process)

Status

Lists running processes

$ npx dev-pm status [options] [script-name, alias or @group]

Options: --interval [seconds] Keep status open and refresh periodically at specified interval

Logs

Prints logs of either a specific process or all running processes in real time.

$ npx dev-pm logs [script-name, alias or @group]

Options: -n [lines] print n log lines and exit.

Start Daemon

Starts the dev-pm daemon, usually done automatically by other commands.

$ npx dev-pm start-daemon

Shutdown

Stop all running processes and shutdown dev-pm

$ npx dev-pm shutdown

Development

Use in existing project with

npx ts-node ~/ws/dev-process-manager/src/index.ts