How can I run multiple npm scripts in parallel?

Question

In my package.json I have these two scripts:

  "scripts": {
    "start-watch": "nodemon run-babel index.js",
    "wp-server": "webpack-dev-server",
  }

I have to run these 2 scripts in parallel everytime I start developing in Node.js. The first thing I thought of was adding a third script like this:

"dev": "npm run start-watch && npm run wp-server"

... but that will wait for start-watch to finish before running wp-server.

How can I run these in parallel? Please keep in mind that I need to see the output of these commands. Also, if your solution involves a build tool, I'd rather use gulp instead of grunt because I already use it in another project.

Answer 1

Use a package called concurrently.

npm i concurrently --save-dev

Then setup your npm run dev task as so:

"dev": "concurrently --kill-others \"npm run start-watch\" \"npm run wp-server\""

Answer 2

If you replace the double ampersand with a single ampersand, the scripts will run concurrently.

Answer 3

npm-run-all --parallel task1 task2

edit:

You need to have npm-run-all installed beforehand. Also check this page for other usage scenarios.

Answer 4

Using the Concurrently package works, but you do not need it to accomplish this. You can just use a pipe on UNIX based machines run concurrent tasks. I would suggest this method over the other because it saves you from having to add an additional dependency.

"dev": "npm run start-watch | npm run wp-server"

Answer 5

I have a crossplatform solution without any additional modules. I was looking for something like a try catch block I could use both in the cmd.exe and in the bash.

The solution is command1 || command2 which seems to work in both enviroments same. So the solution for the OP is:

"scripts": {
  "start-watch": "nodemon run-babel index.js",
  "wp-server": "webpack-dev-server",
  // first command is for the cmd.exe, second one is for the bash
  "dev": "(start npm run start-watch && start npm run wp-server) || (npm run start-watch & npm run wp-server)",
  "start": "npm run dev"
}

Then simple npm start (and npm run dev) will work on all platforms!

Answer 6

Quick Solution

In this case, I'd say the best bet If this script is for a private module intended to run only on *nix-based machines, you can use the control operator for forking processes, which looks like this: &

An example of doing this in a partial package.json file:

{
  "name": "npm-scripts-forking-example",
  "scripts": {
    "bundle": "watchify -vd -p browserify-hmr index.js -o bundle.js",
    "serve":  "http-server -c 1 -a localhost",
    "serve-bundle": "npm run bundle & npm run serve &"
  }

You'd then execute them both in parallel via npm run serve-bundle. You can enhance the scripts to output the pids of the forked process to a file like so:

"serve-bundle": "npm run bundle & echo \"$!\" > build/bundle.pid && npm run serve & echo \"$!\" > build/serve.pid && npm run open-browser",

Google something like bash control operator for forking to learn more on how it works. I've also provided some further context regarding leveraging Unix techniques in Node projects below:

Further Context RE: Unix Tools & Node.js

If you're not on Windows, Unix tools/techniques often work well to achieve something with Node scripts because:

1. Much of Node.js lovingly imitates Unix principles
2. You're on *nix (incl. OS X) and NPM is using a shell anyway

Modules for system tasks in Nodeland are also often abstractions or approximations of Unix tools, from fs to streams.