frunk — supercharging npm scripts

frunk is a fast, lightweight runner for orchestrating npm scripts. It runs tasks in parallel by default, supports readable sequential chains with ->, and resolves dependencies across scripts with automatic deduplication.

Highlights

• 🚀 Parallel by default: run many scripts at once
• 🔗 Sequential chains: [a,b]->[c] for clear order
• 🎯 Globs and excludes: *:dev, build:*, !test:e2e
• 📦 Dependency graph: dedupe shared deps across scripts
• 🎨 Clean output: colored, aligned, prefixed logs

Installation

Install as a dev dependency:

npm i -D frunk
# pnpm add -D frunk
# yarn add -D frunk

NOTE: Until frunk hits 1.0, breaking changes may be made on minor versions (0.x.0) and the remaining changes will be patch versions (0.0.x)

Quickstart

Add a few scripts to package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "frunk [*:dev]",
    "build": "frunk [build:*]",
    "start": "frunk [build] -- node server.js",

    // full example
    "test": "frunk [lint,typecheck]->[test:*]",
    "lint": "frunk -- eslint .",
    "typecheck": "frunk -- tsc --noEmit",
    "test:unit": "frunk -- vitest run",
    "test:playwright": "frunk [build] -- playwright test"
  }
}

Tip: You can shorten frunk to f (used below).

Comparison

| Feature | frunk | npm-run-all | concurrently | wireit | | ------------------- | ----- | ----------- | ------------ | ------ | | Parallel by default | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | | Sequential chains | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ✅ | | Globs/excludes | ✅ | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ | | Dep graph + dedupe | ✅ | ➖ | ➖ | ✅ | | Colored prefixes | ✅ | ➖ | ✅ | ➖ |

Docs

Syntax

f [patterns] [flags] -- command

frunk runs bracketed pattern groups. Tasks inside a single group run in parallel. Use -> to chain groups so that all tasks in the left group finish before the next group starts. Anything after -- is treated as a shell command and executed once the preceding groups complete.

Pattern Matching

Patterns resolve to npm script names:

• Exact names: test:unit runs that script if present.
• Globs: build:*, *:dev match multiple scripts using shell-safe micromatch patterns.
• Exclusions: prefix with ! to omit matches, e.g. [test:*,!test:e2e].
• Parallel sets: comma‑separate inside a group, e.g. [lint,typecheck].
• Sequencing: chain groups with ->, e.g. [lint,typecheck]->[build].

Square brackets are required. They prevent shell expansion and make intent explicit.

Command Separator --

Place -- before an inline command to run after the selected groups complete, e.g. [build] -- node server.js. The command runs through your system shell and inherits PATH including node_modules/.bin.

Flags

• -q, --quiet: Reduce noise by hiding task output.
• -c, --continue: Don’t stop the run on failure; continue running remaining tasks/groups.
• --no-prefix: Disable the colored [script] | prefixes.
• --prefix=<str>: Replace the default prefix label with a custom string.

By default, failures stop downstream groups. Use -c to keep going when some tasks fail.

Notes

• Nested frunk commands are not supported.
• Output is colorized and aligned with stable, per‑task prefixes.

Example

Medium-size setup showing shared deps, parallel groups, and sequences:

{
  "scripts": {
    "generate": "graphql-codegen",
    "dev": "f [*:dev]",
    "build": "f [*:build]",
    "start": "f [*:start]",
    "test": "frunk [lint,typecheck]->[test:*]",

    "lint": "frunk -- eslint .",
    "typecheck": "frunk -- tsc --noEmit",
    "test:unit": "frunk -- vitest run",
    "test:playwright": "frunk [build] -- playwright test",

    "worker:dev": "f -- tsx --watch ./src/worker/start.ts",
    "worker:start": "f -- tsx ./src/worker/start.ts",

    "api:dev": "f -- tsx --watch ./src/api/server.ts",
    "api:start": "f -- tsx ./src/api/server.ts",

    "app:dev": "f [generate] -- vite dev",
    "app:build": "f [generate] -- vite build",
    "app:start": "f -- vite serve"
  }
}

Running npm run dev executes shared:dep once, even though multiple dev tasks depend on it.

Links

• Repo: https://github.com/ludicroushq/frunk
• npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/frunk
• Issues: https://github.com/ludicroushq/frunk/issues