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grunt-nodemon

Run nodemon as a grunt task for easy configuration and integration with the rest of your workflow

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Getting Started

If you haven't used grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a gruntfile as well as install and use grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, install this plugin with this command:

npm install grunt-nodemon --save-dev

Then add this line to your project's Gruntfile.js gruntfile:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-nodemon');

Documentation

Minimal Usage

The minimal usage of grunt-nodemon runs with a script specified:

nodemon: {
  dev: {
    script: 'index.js'
  }
}

Usage with all available options set

nodemon: {
  dev: {
    script: 'index.js',
    options: {
      args: ['dev'],
      nodeArgs: ['--debug'],
      callback: function (nodemon) {
        nodemon.on('log', function (event) {
          console.log(event.colour);
        });
      },
      env: {
        PORT: '8181'
      },
      cwd: __dirname,
      ignore: ['node_modules/**'],
      ext: 'js,coffee',
      watch: ['server'],
      delay: 1000,
      legacyWatch: true
    }
  },
  exec: {
    options: {
      exec: 'less'
    }
  }
}

Advanced Usage

A common use case is to run nodemon with other tasks concurrently. It is also common to open a browser tab when starting a server, and reload that tab when the server code changes. These workflows can be achieved with the following config, which uses a custom options.callback function, and grunt-concurrent to run nodemon, node-inspector, and watch in a single terminal tab:

concurrent: {
  dev: {
    tasks: ['nodemon', 'node-inspector', 'watch'],
    options: {
      logConcurrentOutput: true
    }
  }
},
nodemon: {
  dev: {
    script: 'index.js',
    options: {
      nodeArgs: ['--debug'],
      env: {
        PORT: '5455'
      },
      // omit this property if you aren't serving HTML files and 
      // don't want to open a browser tab on start
      callback: function (nodemon) {
        nodemon.on('log', function (event) {
          console.log(event.colour);
        });
        
        // opens browser on initial server start
        nodemon.on('config:update', function () {
          // Delay before server listens on port
          setTimeout(function() {
            require('open')('http://localhost:5455');
          }, 1000);
        });

        // refreshes browser when server reboots
        nodemon.on('restart', function () {
          // Delay before server listens on port
          setTimeout(function() {
            require('fs').writeFileSync('.rebooted', 'rebooted');
          }, 1000);
        });
      }
    }
  }
},
watch: {
  server: {
    files: ['.rebooted'],
    options: {
      livereload: true
    }
  } 
}

Note that using the callback config above assumes you have open installed and are injecting a LiveReload script into your HTML file(s). You can use grunt-inject to inject the LiveReload script.

Required property

script

Type: String

Script that nodemon runs and restarts when changes are detected.

Options

args

Type: Array of Strings

List of arguments to be passed to your script.

nodeArgs

Type: Array of Strings

List of arguments to be passed to node. The most common argument is --debug or --debug-brk to start a debugging server.

callback

Type: Function Default:

function(nodemon) {
  // By default the nodemon output is logged
  nodemon.on('log', function(event) {
    console.log(event.colour);
  });
};

Callback which receives the nodemon object. This can be used to respond to changes in a running app, and then do cool things like LiveReload a web browser when the app restarts. See the nodemon docs for the full list of events you can tap into.

ignore

Type: Array of String globs Default: ['node_modules/**']

List of ignored files specified by a glob pattern relative to the watched folder. Here is an explanation of how to use the patterns to ignore files.

ext

Type: String Default: 'js'

String with comma separated file extensions to watch. By default, nodemon watches .js files.

watch

Type: Array of Strings Default: ['.']

List of folders to watch for changes. By default nodemon will traverse sub-directories, so there's no need in explicitly including sub-directories.

delay

Type: Number Default: 1000

Delay the restart of nodemon by a number of milliseconds when compiling a large amount of files so that the app doesn't needlessly restart after each file is changed.

legacyWatch

Type: Boolean Default: false

If you wish to force nodemon to start with the legacy watch method. See https://github.com/remy/nodemon/blob/master/faq.md#help-my-changes-arent-being-detected for more details.

cwd

Type: String

The current working directory to run your script from.

env

Type: Object

Hash of environment variables to pass to your script.

exec

Type: String

You can use nodemon to execute a command outside of node. Use this option to specify a command as a string with the argument being the script parameter above. You can read more on exec here.

Changelog

0.3.0 - Updated to nodemon 1.2.0.

0.2.1 - Updated README on npmjs.org with correct options.

0.2.0 - Updated to nodemon 1.0, added new callback option.

Breaking changes:

0.1.2 - nodemon can now be listed as a dependency in the package.json and grunt-nodemon will resolve the nodemon.js file's location correctly.

0.1.1 - Added legacyWatch option thanks to @jonursenbach.

0.1.0 - Removed debug and debugBrk options as they are encapsulated by the nodeArgs option.

Breaking changes:

0.0.10 - Added nodeArgs option thanks to @eugeneiiim.

0.0.9 - Fixed bug when using cwd with ignoredFiles.

0.0.8 - Added error logging for incorrectly installed nodemon.

0.0.7 - Added debugBreak option thanks to @bchu.

0.0.6 - Added env option.

0.0.5 - Added cwd option.

0.0.4 - Added nodemon as a proper dependency.

0.0.3 - Uses local version of nodemon for convenience and versioning.

0.0.2 - Removes .nodemonignore if it was previously generated and then the ignoredFiles option is removed.

0.0.1 - Added warning if nodemon isn't installed as a global module.

0.0.0 - Initial release