Process execution for humans
Execa runs commands in your script, application or library. Unlike shells, it is optimized for programmatic usage. Built on top of the child_process
core module.
One of the maintainers @ehmicky is looking for a remote full-time position. Specialized in Node.js back-ends and CLIs, he led Netlify Build, Plugins and Configuration for 2.5 years. Feel free to contact him on his website or on LinkedIn!
-
Simple syntax: promises and template strings, like
zx
. - Script interface.
- No escaping nor quoting needed. No risk of shell injection.
- Execute locally installed binaries without
npx
. - Improved Windows support: shebangs,
PATHEXT
, graceful termination, and more. - Detailed errors, verbose mode and custom logging, for debugging.
- Pipe multiple subprocesses better than in shells: retrieve intermediate results, use multiple sources/destinations, unpipe.
- Split the output into text lines, or iterate progressively over them.
- Strip unnecessary newlines.
- Pass any input to the subprocess: files, strings,
Uint8Array
s, iterables, objects and almost any other type. - Return almost any type from the subprocess, or redirect it to files.
- Get interleaved output from
stdout
andstderr
similar to what is printed on the terminal. - Retrieve the output programmatically and print it on the console at the same time.
- Transform or filter the input and output with simple functions.
- Pass Node.js streams or web streams to subprocesses, or convert subprocesses to a stream.
- Exchange messages with the subprocess.
- Ensure subprocesses exit even when they intercept termination signals, or when the current process ends abruptly.
npm install execa
Execution:
▶️ Basic execution- 💬 Escaping/quoting
- 💻 Shell
- 📜 Scripts
- 🐢 Node.js files
- 🌐 Environment
- ❌ Errors
- 🏁 Termination
Input/output:
- 🎹 Input
- 📢 Output
- 📃 Text lines
- 🤖 Binary data
- 🧙 Transforms
Advanced usage:
- 🔀 Piping multiple subprocesses
- ⏳️ Streams
- 📞 Inter-process communication
- 🐛 Debugging
- 📎 Windows
- 🔍 Difference with Bash and zx
- 🐭 Small packages
- 🤓 TypeScript
- 📔 API reference
import {execa} from 'execa';
const {stdout} = await execa`npm run build`;
// Print command's output
console.log(stdout);
import {$} from 'execa';
const {stdout: name} = await $`cat package.json`.pipe`grep name`;
console.log(name);
const branch = await $`git branch --show-current`;
await $`dep deploy --branch=${branch}`;
await Promise.all([
$`sleep 1`,
$`sleep 2`,
$`sleep 3`,
]);
const directoryName = 'foo bar';
await $`mkdir /tmp/${directoryName}`;
$ npm install -D eslint
await execa({preferLocal: true})`eslint`;
const {stdout, pipedFrom} = await execa`npm run build`
.pipe`sort`
.pipe`head -n 2`;
// Output of `npm run build | sort | head -n 2`
console.log(stdout);
// Output of `npm run build | sort`
console.log(pipedFrom[0].stdout);
// Output of `npm run build`
console.log(pipedFrom[0].pipedFrom[0].stdout);
const {all} = await execa({all: true})`npm run build`;
// stdout + stderr, interleaved
console.log(all);
const {stdout} = await execa({stdout: ['pipe', 'inherit']})`npm run build`;
// stdout is also printed to the terminal
console.log(stdout);
const getInputString = () => { /* ... */ };
const {stdout} = await execa({input: getInputString()})`sort`;
console.log(stdout);
// Similar to: npm run build < input.txt
await execa({stdin: {file: 'input.txt'}})`npm run build`;
// Similar to: npm run build > output.txt
await execa({stdout: {file: 'output.txt'}})`npm run build`;
const {stdout} = await execa({lines: true})`npm run build`;
// Print first 10 lines
console.log(stdout.slice(0, 10).join('\n'));
for await (const line of execa`npm run build`) {
if (line.includes('WARN')) {
console.warn(line);
}
}
let count = 0;
// Filter out secret lines, then prepend the line number
const transform = function * (line) {
if (!line.includes('secret')) {
yield `[${count++}] ${line}`;
}
};
await execa({stdout: transform})`npm run build`;
const response = await fetch('https://example.com');
await execa({stdin: response.body})`sort`;
import {execa} from 'execa';
import {pipeline} from 'node:stream/promises';
import {createReadStream, createWriteStream} from 'node:fs';
await pipeline(
createReadStream('./input.txt'),
execa`node ./transform.js`.duplex(),
createWriteStream('./output.txt'),
);
// parent.js
import {execaNode} from 'execa';
const subprocess = execaNode`child.js`;
await subprocess.sendMessage('Hello from parent');
const message = await subprocess.getOneMessage();
console.log(message); // 'Hello from child'
// child.js
import {getOneMessage, sendMessage} from 'execa';
const message = await getOneMessage(); // 'Hello from parent'
const newMessage = message.replace('parent', 'child'); // 'Hello from child'
await sendMessage(newMessage);
// main.js
import {execaNode} from 'execa';
const ipcInput = [
{task: 'lint', ignore: /test\.js/},
{task: 'copy', files: new Set(['main.js', 'index.js']),
}];
await execaNode({ipcInput})`build.js`;
// build.js
import {getOneMessage} from 'execa';
const ipcInput = await getOneMessage();
// main.js
import {execaNode} from 'execa';
const {ipcOutput} = await execaNode`build.js`;
console.log(ipcOutput[0]); // {kind: 'start', timestamp: date}
console.log(ipcOutput[1]); // {kind: 'stop', timestamp: date}
// build.js
import {sendMessage} from 'execa';
const runBuild = () => { /* ... */ };
await sendMessage({kind: 'start', timestamp: new Date()});
await runBuild();
await sendMessage({kind: 'stop', timestamp: new Date()});
// main.js
import {execaNode} from 'execa';
const controller = new AbortController();
setTimeout(() => {
controller.abort();
}, 5000);
await execaNode({
cancelSignal: controller.signal,
gracefulCancel: true,
})`build.js`;
// build.js
import {getCancelSignal} from 'execa';
const cancelSignal = await getCancelSignal();
const url = 'https://example.com/build/info';
const response = await fetch(url, {signal: cancelSignal});
import {execa, ExecaError} from 'execa';
try {
await execa`unknown command`;
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof ExecaError) {
console.log(error);
}
/*
ExecaError: Command failed with ENOENT: unknown command
spawn unknown ENOENT
at ...
at ... {
shortMessage: 'Command failed with ENOENT: unknown command\nspawn unknown ENOENT',
originalMessage: 'spawn unknown ENOENT',
command: 'unknown command',
escapedCommand: 'unknown command',
cwd: '/path/to/cwd',
durationMs: 28.217566,
failed: true,
timedOut: false,
isCanceled: false,
isTerminated: false,
isMaxBuffer: false,
code: 'ENOENT',
stdout: '',
stderr: '',
stdio: [undefined, '', ''],
pipedFrom: []
[cause]: Error: spawn unknown ENOENT
at ...
at ... {
errno: -2,
code: 'ENOENT',
syscall: 'spawn unknown',
path: 'unknown',
spawnargs: [ 'command' ]
}
}
*/
}
await execa`npm run build`;
await execa`npm run test`;
import {execa as execa_} from 'execa';
import {createLogger, transports} from 'winston';
// Log to a file using Winston
const transport = new transports.File({filename: 'logs.txt'});
const logger = createLogger({transports: [transport]});
const LOG_LEVELS = {
command: 'info',
output: 'verbose',
ipc: 'verbose',
error: 'error',
duration: 'info',
};
const execa = execa_({
verbose(verboseLine, {message, ...verboseObject}) {
const level = LOG_LEVELS[verboseObject.type];
logger[level](message, verboseObject);
},
});
await execa`npm run build`;
await execa`npm run test`;
- nano-spawn - Like Execa but smaller
- gulp-execa - Gulp plugin for Execa
- nvexeca - Run Execa using any Node.js version