---
title: npm-run-script
section: 1
npm run-script <command> [-- <args>]
aliases: run, rum, urn
This runs an arbitrary command from a package's "scripts" object. If no"command" is provided, it will list the available scripts.
run[-script] is used by the test, start, restart, and stop commands, but
can be called directly, as well. When the scripts in the package are
printed out, they're separated into lifecycle (test, start, restart) and
directly-run scripts.
Any positional arguments are passed to the specified script. Use -- to
pass --prefixed flags and options which would otherwise be parsed by npm.
For example:
npm run test -- --grep="pattern"
The arguments will only be passed to the script specified after npm run
and not to any pre or post script.
The env script is a special built-in command that can be used to list
environment variables that will be available to the script at runtime. If an
"env" command is defined in your package, it will take precedence over the
built-in.
In addition to the shell's pre-existing PATH, npm run addsnode_modules/.bin to the PATH provided to scripts. Any binaries
provided by locally-installed dependencies can be used without thenode_modules/.bin prefix. For example, if there is a devDependency ontap in your package, you should write:
"scripts": {"test": "tap test/*.js"}
instead of
"scripts": {"test": "node_modules/.bin/tap test/*.js"}
The actual shell your script is run within is platform dependent. By default,
on Unix-like systems it is the /bin/sh command, on Windows it iscmd.exe.
The actual shell referred to by /bin/sh also depends on the system.
You can customize the shell with thescript-shell config.
Scripts are run from the root of the package folder, regardless of what the
current working directory is when npm run is called. If you want your
script to use different behavior based on what subdirectory you're in, you
can use the INIT_CWD environment variable, which holds the full path you
were in when you ran npm run.
npm run sets the NODE environment variable to the node executable
with which npm is executed.
If you try to run a script without having a node_modules directory and it
fails, you will be given a warning to run npm install, just in case you've
forgotten.
You may use the workspace orworkspaces configs in order to run an
arbitrary command from a package's "scripts" object in the context of the
specified workspaces. If no "command" is provided, it will list the available
scripts for each of these configured workspaces.
Given a project with configured workspaces, e.g:
.
+-- package.json
`-- packages
+-- a
| `-- package.json
+-- b
| `-- package.json
`-- c
`-- package.json
Assuming the workspace configuration is properly set up at the root levelpackage.json file. e.g:
{
"workspaces": [ "./packages/*" ]
}
And that each of the configured workspaces has a configured test script,
we can run tests in all of them using theworkspaces config:
npm test --workspaces
It's also possible to run a script in a single workspace using the workspace
config along with a name or directory path:
npm test --workspace=a
The workspace config can also be specified multiple times in order to run a
specific script in the context of multiple workspaces. When defining values for
the workspace config in the command line, it also possible to use -w as a
shorthand, e.g:
npm test -w a -w b
This last command will run test in both ./packages/a and ./packages/b
packages.
workspaceEnable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the
current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by
this configuration option.
Valid values for the workspace config are either:
When set for the npm init command, this may be set to the folder of a
workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a
brand new workspace within the project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
workspacesSet to true to run the command in the context of all configured
workspaces.
Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install to
ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:
node_modules tree (install, update, etc.)node_modules folder. - Commands that doworkspace config.This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
include-workspace-rootInclude the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config, or
all workspaces via the workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate only on
the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
if-presentIf true, npm will not exit with an error code when run-script is invoked
for a script that isn't defined in the scripts section of package.json.
This option can be used when it's desirable to optionally run a script when
it's present and fail if the script fails. This is useful, for example, when
running scripts that may only apply for some builds in an otherwise generic
CI setup.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
ignore-scriptsIf true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.
Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such asnpm start, npm stop, npm restart, npm test, and npm run-script
will still run their intended script if ignore-scripts is set, but they
will not run any pre- or post-scripts.
foreground-scriptsfalse unless when using npm pack or npm publish where ittrueRun all build scripts (ie, preinstall, install, and postinstall)
scripts for installed packages in the foreground process, sharing standard
input, output, and error with the main npm process.
Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much noisier,
but can be useful for debugging.
script-shellThe shell to use for scripts run with the npm exec, npm run and npm init <package-spec> commands.