Why does `DEBUG=foo node index.js` fails in `scripts` section of `package.json`

Question

I\'m on Windows 10, but I\'m using git bash. When running from git bash the following:

DEBUG=foo node index.js

it wor

Answer 1

It seems like you're running it on Windows.

Assuming that you have Bash working as you said, I would make a script:

#!/bin/bash
DEBUG=foo node index.js

called e.g. run-debug and use:

"scripts": {
    "start": "bash run-debug"
},

in package.json to make sure that the DEBUG=foo node index.js command is interpreted by Bash and not command.com or whatever the shell in Windows is called. See Issue #6543: npm scripts shell select.

For cases when you want it to run even on systems without Bash, for maximum cross-platform compatibility, it's even better to use a Node script instead of a shell script:

"scripts": {
    "start": "node run-debug.js"
},

In this case the run-debug.js could contain something like:

let env = Object.create(process.env);
env.DEBUG = 'foo';
spawn('node', ['app.js'], {env});

See also:

• NPM script under cygwin/windows: the syntax of the command is incorrect