proctor

~ Watch over your javascripts.

Proctor lets you watch over your javascript file with a function as an export. For instance(and as a real-world example), I can have a server file like this:

// server.js
var http = require('http');
 
var server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello, World!\n');
});
 
exports.startServer = function (config) {
  server.listen(config.port);
  console.log('Server running at ' + config.port);
};

Notice that this file only exports a startServer function, so it is impossible to develop with something like forever. Instead, I can use Proctor:

// run.js
var Proctor = require('proctor');
 
var runner = new Proctor({
  file: 'server.js',
  fn: 'startServer',
  restart: true,
  config: {
    port: 3333
  }
});
 
runner.start();

Now when I run node run.js, Proctor will spin up a separate child process in which to run my file, and reload it automatically when it is changed. This is perfect for build system support, especially if you're developing a web app.