JsRun

The npm run-script build system, compatible with gulp.

The struggle

Does this seems familiar to you?

{
  "name": "my-awesome-package",
  ...
  "scripts": {
    // My very long and lengthy lines of scripts:
    "lint": "jshint lib test index.js --reporter node_modules/jshint-stylish/stylish.js --exclude node_modules",
    "test": "npm run lint && node test/index.js | tap-spec",
    "build": "browserify index.js -d -t babelify | exorcist bundle.js.map | uglifyjs -m -c warnings=false --in-source-map bundle.js.map --source-map-include-sources --source-map-url bundle.js.map --source-map dist/bundle.min.js.map > dist/bundle.min.js",
    "cover": "istanbul cover --report html --print detail ./test/index.js",
    "coveralls": "npm run cover && istanbul report lcov && cat coverage/lcov.info | coveralls && rm -rf ./coverage"
  }
}

Well, it happened to me. My run-scripts grew longer from time to time. And one day, I just couldn't take it anymore.

Introducing JsRun - Just run your scripts

Thanks to npm-run, JsRun runs your local bins, like npm run stuff. For example, you can npm install --save-dev jshint and use jshint command from your local node_modules in JsRun.

Sample jsrunfile.js:

var jsrun = require('jsrun');

// Define a new task 'lint' with the command 'jshint lib test ...'
jsrun.just('lint', [
  'jshint', [
    'lib test index.js',
    ['--reporter', 'node_modules/jshint-stylish/stylish.js'],
    ['--exclude', 'node_modules']
  ]
]);

// Use task dependencies like we did in gulp
jsrun.just('test', ['lint'], [
  'node test/index.js | tap-spec'
]);

var bundleFileName = 'dist/bundle.min.js';
jsrun.just('build', [
  // Create as many layers of array as you want
  ['browserify', [
    'index.js',
    ['-d', '-t', 'babelify']
  ]],
  // You can use "|" and "&&" in JsRun
  '|',
  'exorcist bundle.js.map',
  '|',
  'uglifyjs', [
    '-m', '-c warnings=false',
    ['--in-source-map', 'bundle.js.map'],
    '--source-map-include-sources',
    ['--source-map-url', 'bundle.js.map'],
    ['--source-map', 'dist/bundle.min.js.map'],
    // Use string variables
    ['>', bundleFileName]
  ]
]);

// jsrun.task is gulp.task
// You can use callbacks, promises and of course, streams
jsrun.task('hello', function(cb) {
  console.log('Hello');

  setTimeout(function() {
    console.log('World!');
    cb();
  }, 500);
});

// The default task
jsrun.task('default', ['lint', 'test', 'build']);

Installation

npm install jsrun -g

Why?

No more plugins

With JsRun, you won't need another plugin like grunt-contrib-something or gulp-this-and-that. Your tools always stay updated instead of relying on plugins. And most importantly, JsRun is always compatible to your tools, as long as they are command-line scripts.

Comments and variables

Sometimes, there might be something you want to comment in your build script, and it is impossible in the package.json. And we want variables for sharing values in different scripts. Again, it's difficult for package.json.

FAQ

Copying, moving and removing files

You can always write shell scripts inside JsRun for these tasks. However, if you want to keep these shell commands portable, we recommend using shelljs.

Watching file changes

You can use watch mode from your tools if they are available. On the other hand, if it's not available, you can try catw.

JsRun eats its own dog food

JsRun's jsrunfile.js

Documentation

Documentation page

Gulp

JsRun is a fork of gulp. We simply took the file-system-related stuff(vinyl-fs) away and put the npm-run task runner inside.

In addition, thanks to the modular source code of gulp, JsRun is made simple and lean. The implementation of JsRun is only about 0.5kloc.