Use npm start to launch node app

There are many ways to fire up a node app. Quick, which one of these is right for your app?

• node app.js
• coffee app.coffee
• supervise -x ./node_modules/.bin/iced -e js,coffee,iced,jade,styl,css --no-restart-on exit app.iced
• ./launch.js

Ugh. And what happens when you switch between apps? Wait, was this one monitored with supervisor? No, wait, it's a CoffeeScript app with a standard JavaScript launcher, right?

Forget all of that noise. Open up your package.json and add this line:

{ "scripts": { "start": "node app.js"} },

Replace "node app.js" with whatever you use to start your app. Do this for every app you work on. Next time you need to fire up your app, just do this:

npm start

That's it. Now your startup is the same across all apps and you never have to think about any ridiculous mishmash of commands and flags. Either do your coworkers. Or any contributors. Success.