CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsnpm
Alexander Mills
Alexander Mills

Reputation: 100010

Run postinstall hook for any local dependency

If we have this:

{
  "scripts":{
    "postinstall":"./scripts/postinstall.sh"
  }
}

Then this postinstall hook will run whenever we do an

$ npm install

At the command line

What I am wondering however, is if there is a way to run a postinstall hook when we install a dependency like this

$ npm install x

Is there some NPM hook that we can use for that?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2536

Answers (1)

RobC
RobC

Reputation: 24992

Short answer There's no functionality built-in to npm which provides this kind of hook that I'm aware of.

Possible solution, albeit a bash one, would be to completely override the npm install x command with your own custom logic. For example:

  1. Create a .sh script as follows. Lets name the file custom-npm-install.sh:

    #!/usr/bin/env bash

npm() {
  if [[ $* == "install "* || $* == "i "* ]]; then

    # When running `$ npm install <name>` (i.e. `$ npm install ...` followed
    # by a space char and some other chars such as a package name - run
    # the command provided.
    command npm "$@"

    # Then run a pseudo `postinstall` command, such as another shell script.
    command path/to/postinstall.sh
  else
    # Run the `$ npm install` command and all others as per normal.
    command npm "$@"
  fi
}

  2. Add the following snippet to your .bash_profile file ( Note: you'll need to define the actual path to custom-npm-install.sh):

    # Custom logic applied when the `npm install <name>` or the
# shorthand equivalent `npm i <name>` command is run.
. path/to/custom-npm-install.sh

Notes

  1. After configuring your .bash_proile as per point two above, you'll need to create a new terminal session/window for it to be effective. The logic will be effective in all terminal sessions thereafter.

  2. Now, whenever you run npm install <name> or the many other variations such as:

    • npm install <name>@<version>
    • npm install <name> <name> --save-dev
    • npm i -D <name>
    • etc, etc...

    custom-npm-install.sh will run the command as per normal and then run the command ./scripts/postinstall.sh (i.e. whatever the subsequently given command is set to).

  3. All other npm commands will be run as normal, e.g. npm install

  4. Given custom-npm-install.sh current logic the ./scripts/postinstall.sh will be run whenever npm install <name> ... is entered via the CLI. However, if you wanted it to run ONLY when a specific package is installed then you'll need to change the conditional logic in the if statement. For example if you want ./scripts/postinstall.sh to run ONLY when installing shelljs then change the if statement to:

    if [[ $* == "install "*" shelljs"* || $* == "i "*" shelljs"* ]];

Upvotes: 2

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