Node.js Task Runner

With the introduction of Node.js v22, Node.js now has a built-in task runner. This is a handy alternative to npm run and yarn run that is focused on speed.

Update: The task runner is now stable as of Node.js v22.10.0.

Table of contents

• How to use the Task Runner
• Limitations of the Node.js Task Runner
• node --run vs npm run
• How to get Node.js v22
• Further Reading

How to use the Task Runner

To get started using the Node.js task runner, use node --run with the latest version of Node.js. node --run allows you to quickly run one of your “scripts” from your package.json file. For example, node --run generate will run the “generate” script.

Limitations of the Node.js Task Runner

The Node.js task runner aims to be built-in and more performant than the package manager alternatives. By doing so, it has been intentionally limited to only the package.json file in the current directory.

It will not look for any other package.json file to run the script. It will append the current node_modules/.bin to the PATH when running the script, but it won’t search for the node_modules, it will just use the one in the current directory. The task runner will also ignore any pre or post scripts and stick to only running the requested script.

node --run vs npm run

Barring the intentional limitations listed above, node --run and npm run work very similarly. However, in my testing, node --run outperforms npm run by about 100ms. That might not seem like much, but considering how many times a day one developer runs scripts from their package.json multiplied by the size of their team, it can add up to hours in development time saved over a year.

How to get Node.js v22

To get any of these new features and improvements, download Node.js version 22 from nodejs.org.

You can also use a Node.js version manager like Volta.

Further Reading

• Node.js task runner docs
• Node.js 22 release notes
• Node.js version 22 changelog