▶️ Basic execution

Array syntax

import {execa} from 'execa';

await execa('npm', ['run', 'build']);

Template string syntax

All available methods can use either the array syntax or the template string syntax, which are equivalent.

await execa`npm run build`;

String argument

await execa`npm run ${'task with space'}`;

Number argument

await execa`npm run build --concurrency ${2}`;

Subcommands

const result = await execa`get-concurrency`;

// Uses `result.stdout`
await execa`npm run build --concurrency ${result}`;

Concatenation

const tmpDirectory = '/tmp';
await execa`mkdir ${tmpDirectory}/filename`;

Multiple arguments

const result = await execa`get-concurrency`;

await execa`npm ${['run', 'build', '--concurrency', result]}`;

No arguments

await execa`npm run build ${[]}`;
// Same as:
await execa('npm', ['run', 'build']);

Empty string argument

await execa`npm run build ${''}`;
// Same as:
await execa('npm', ['run', 'build', '']);

Conditional argument

const commandArguments = failFast ? ['--fail-fast'] : [];
await execa`npm run build ${commandArguments}`;

Multiple lines

await execa`npm run build
	--concurrency 2
	--fail-fast`;

Shells

By default, any shell-specific syntax has no special meaning and does not need to be escaped. This prevents shell injections. More info.

// This prints `$TASK_NAME`, not `build`
await execa({env: {TASK_NAME: 'build'}})`echo $TASK_NAME`;

Options

Options can be passed to influence the execution's behavior.

Array syntax

await execa('npm', ['run', 'build'], {timeout: 5000});

Template string syntax

await execa({timeout: 5000})`npm run build`;

Global/shared options

const timedExeca = execa({timeout: 5000});

await timedExeca('npm', ['run', 'build']);
await timedExeca`npm run test`;

Return value

Subprocess

The subprocess is returned as soon as it is spawned. It is a child_process instance with additional methods and properties.

const subprocess = execa`npm run build`;
console.log(subprocess.pid);

Result

The subprocess is also a Promise that resolves with the result.

const {stdout} = await execa`npm run build`;

Synchronous execution

execaSync() and $.sync() return the result without needing to await. The subprocess is not returned: its methods and properties are not available.

import {execaSync} from 'execa';

const {stdout} = execaSync`npm run build`;

Synchronous execution is generally discouraged as it holds the CPU and prevents parallelization. Also, the following features cannot be used:

• Streams: subprocess.stdin, subprocess.stdout, subprocess.stderr, subprocess.readable(), subprocess.writable(), subprocess.duplex().
• The stdin, stdout, stderr and stdio options cannot be 'overlapped', an async iterable, an async transform, a Duplex, nor a web stream. Node.js streams can be passed but only if either they have a file descriptor, or the input option is used.
• Signal termination: subprocess.kill(), subprocess.pid, cleanup option, cancelSignal option, forceKillAfterDelay option.
• Piping multiple subprocesses: subprocess.pipe().
• subprocess.iterable().
• IPC: sendMessage(), getOneMessage(), getEachMessage(), result.ipcOutput, ipc option, serialization option, ipcInput option.
• result.all is not interleaved.
• detached option.
• The maxBuffer option is always measured in bytes, not in characters, lines nor objects. Also, it ignores transforms and the encoding option.

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