1NODE(1) BSD General Commands Manual NODE(1)
2
4 node — server-side JavaScript runtime
5
7 node [options] [v8-options] [-e string | script.js | -] [--]
8 [arguments ...]
9 node inspect [-e string | script.js | - | <host>:<port>] ...
10 node [--v8-options]
11
13 Node.js is a set of libraries for JavaScript which allows it to be used
14 outside of the browser. It is primarily focused on creating simple,
15 easy-to-build network clients and servers.
16 Execute node without arguments to start a REPL.
18
20 - Alias for stdin, analogous to the use of - in other command-line
21 utilities. The executed script is read from stdin, and remaining
22 arguments are passed to the script.
23 -- Indicate the end of command-line options. Pass the rest of the
25 arguments to the script.
26 If no script filename or eval/print script is supplied prior to
28 this, then the next argument will be used as a script filename.
29 --abort-on-uncaught-exception
31 Aborting instead of exiting causes a core file to be generated
32 for analysis.
33 --allow-fs-read
35 Allow file system read access when using the permission model.
36 --allow-fs-write
38 Allow file system write access when using the permission model.
39 --allow-child-process
41 Allow spawning process when using the permission model.
42 --allow-worker
44 Allow creating worker threads when using the permission model.
45 --completion-bash
47 Print source-able bash completion script for Node.js.
48 -C, --conditions string
50 Use custom conditional exports conditions. string
51 --cpu-prof
53 Start the V8 CPU profiler on start up, and write the CPU profile
54 to disk before exit. If --cpu-prof-dir is not specified, the pro‐
55 file will be written to the current working directory with a gen‐
56 erated file name.
57 --cpu-prof-dir
59 The directory where the CPU profiles generated by --cpu-prof will
60 be placed. The default value is controlled by the
61 --diagnostic-dir. command-line option.
62 --cpu-prof-interval
64 The sampling interval in microseconds for the CPU profiles gener‐
65 ated by --cpu-prof. The default is 1000.
66 --cpu-prof-name
68 File name of the V8 CPU profile generated with --cpu-prof.
69 --diagnostic-dir
71 Set the directory for all diagnostic output files. Default is
72 current working directory. Set the directory to which all diag‐
73 nostic output files will be written to. Defaults to current
74 working directory. Affects the default output directory of:
75 --cpu-prof-dir. --heap-prof-dir. --redirect-warnings.
76 --disable-proto=mode
78 Disable the `Object.prototype.__proto__` property. If mode is
79 `delete`, the property will be removed entirely. If mode is
80 `throw`, accesses to the property will throw an exception with
81 the code `ERR_PROTO_ACCESS`.
82 --disallow-code-generation-from-strings
84 Make built-in language features like `eval` and `new Function`
85 that generate code from strings throw an exception instead. This
86 does not affect the Node.js `vm` module.
87 --enable-fips
89 Enable FIPS-compliant crypto at startup. Requires Node.js to be
90 built with ./configure --openssl-fips.
91 --enable-source-maps
93 Enable Source Map V3 support for stack traces.
94 --experimental-default-type=type
96 Interpret as either ES modules or CommonJS modules input via
97 --eval or STDIN, when --input-type is unspecified;
98 --experimental-global-webcrypto
100 Expose the Web Crypto API on the global scope.
101 --experimental-import-meta-resolve
103 Enable experimental ES modules support for import.meta.resolve().
104 --experimental-loader=module
106 Specify the module to use as a custom module loader.
107 --experimental-network-imports
109 Enable experimental support for loading modules using `import`
110 over `https:`.
111 --experimental-permission
113 Enable the experimental permission model.
114 --experimental-policy
116 Use the specified file as a security policy.
117 --experimental-shadow-realm
119 Use this flag to enable ShadowRealm support.
120 --experimental-test-coverage
122 Enable code coverage in the test runner.
123 --experimental-websocket
125 Enable experimental support for the WebSocket API.
126 --no-experimental-fetch
128 Disable experimental support for the Fetch API.
129 --no-experimental-global-customevent
131 Disable exposition of the CustomEvent on the global scope.
132 --no-experimental-global-webcrypto
134 Disable exposition of the Web Crypto API on the global scope.
135 --no-experimental-repl-await
137 Disable top-level await keyword support in REPL.
138 --experimental-vm-modules
140 Enable experimental ES module support in VM module.
141 --experimental-wasi-unstable-preview1
143 Enable experimental WebAssembly System Interface support. This
144 flag is no longer required as WASI is enabled by default.
145 --experimental-wasm-modules
147 Enable experimental WebAssembly module support.
148 --force-context-aware
150 Disable loading native addons that are not context-aware.
151 --force-fips
153 Force FIPS-compliant crypto on startup (Cannot be disabled from
154 script code). Same requirements as --enable-fips.
155 --frozen-intrinsics
157 Enable experimental frozen intrinsics support.
158 --heapsnapshot-near-heap-limit=max_count
160 Generate heap snapshot when the V8 heap usage is approaching the
161 heap limit. No more than the specified number of snapshots will
162 be generated.
163 --heapsnapshot-signal=signal
165 Generate heap snapshot on specified signal.
166 --heap-prof
168 Start the V8 heap profiler on start up, and write the heap pro‐
169 file to disk before exit. If --heap-prof-dir is not specified,
170 the profile will be written to the current working directory with
171 a generated file name.
172 --heap-prof-dir
174 The directory where the heap profiles generated by --heap-prof
175 will be placed. The default value is controlled by the
176 --diagnostic-dir. command-line option.
177 --heap-prof-interval
179 The average sampling interval in bytes for the heap profiles gen‐
180 erated by --heap-prof. The default is 512 * 1024.
181 --heap-prof-name
183 File name of the V8 heap profile generated with --heap-prof.
184 --icu-data-dir=file
186 Specify ICU data load path. Overrides NODE_ICU_DATA.
187 --input-type=type
189 Set the module resolution type for input via --eval, --print or
190 STDIN.
191 --inspect-brk=[host:]port
193 Activate inspector on host:port and break at start of user
194 script.
195 --inspect-port=[host:]port
197 Set the host:port to be used when the inspector is activated.
198 --inspect-publish-uid=stderr,http
200 Specify how the inspector WebSocket URL is exposed. Valid values
201 are stderr and http. Default is stderr,http.
202 --inspect=[host:]port
204 Activate inspector on host:port. Default is 127.0.0.1:9229.
205 V8 Inspector integration allows attaching Chrome DevTools and
207 IDEs to Node.js instances for debugging and profiling. It uses
208 the Chrome DevTools Protocol.
209 --insecure-http-parser
211 Use an insecure HTTP parser that accepts invalid HTTP headers.
212 This may allow interoperability with non-conformant HTTP imple‐
213 mentations. It may also allow request smuggling and other HTTP
214 attacks that rely on invalid headers being accepted. Avoid using
215 this option.
216 --jitless
218 Disable runtime allocation of executable memory. This may be re‐
219 quired on some platforms for security reasons. It can also reduce
220 attack surface on other platforms, but the performance impact may
221 be severe.
222 This flag is inherited from V8 and is subject to change upstream.
224 It may disappear in a non-semver-major release.
225 --max-http-header-size=size
227 Specify the maximum size of HTTP headers in bytes. Defaults to 16
228 KiB.
229 --napi-modules
231 This option is a no-op. It is kept for compatibility.
232 --no-deprecation
234 Silence deprecation warnings.
235 --no-extra-info-on-fatal-exception
237 Hide extra information on fatal exception that causes exit.
238 --no-force-async-hooks-checks
240 Disable runtime checks for `async_hooks`. These will still be
241 enabled dynamically when `async_hooks` is enabled.
242 --no-addons
244 Disable the `node-addons` exports condition as well as disable
245 loading native addons. When `--no-addons` is specified, calling
246 `process.dlopen` or requiring a native C++ addon will fail and
247 throw an exception.
248 --no-global-search-paths
250 Do not search modules from global paths.
251 --no-warnings
253 Silence all process warnings (including deprecations).
254 --node-memory-debug
256 Enable extra debug checks for memory leaks in Node.js internals.
257 This is usually only useful for developers debugging Node.js it‐
258 self.
259 --openssl-config=file
261 Load an OpenSSL configuration file on startup. Among other uses,
262 this can be used to enable FIPS-compliant crypto if Node.js is
263 built with ./configure --openssl-fips.
264 --pending-deprecation
266 Emit pending deprecation warnings.
267 --policy-integrity=sri
269 Instructs Node.js to error prior to running any code if the pol‐
270 icy does not have the specified integrity. It expects a Subre‐
271 source Integrity string as a parameter.
272 --preserve-symlinks
274 Instructs the module loader to preserve symbolic links when re‐
275 solving and caching modules other than the main module.
276 --preserve-symlinks-main
278 Instructs the module loader to preserve symbolic links when re‐
279 solving and caching the main module.
280 --prof Generate V8 profiler output.
282 --prof-process
284 Process V8 profiler output generated using the V8 option --prof.
285 --redirect-warnings=file
287 Write process warnings to the given file instead of printing to
288 stderr.
289 --report-compact
291 Write diagnostic reports in a compact format, single-line JSON.
292 --report-dir --report-directory
294 Location at which the diagnostic report will be generated. The
295 `file` name may be an absolute path. If it is not, the default
296 directory it will be written to is controlled by the
297 --diagnostic-dir. command-line option.
298 --report-filename
300 Name of the file to which the diagnostic report will be written.
301 --report-on-fatalerror
303 Enables the diagnostic report to be triggered on fatal errors
304 (internal errors within the Node.js runtime such as out of mem‐
305 ory) that leads to termination of the application. Useful to in‐
306 spect various diagnostic data elements such as heap, stack, event
307 loop state, resource consumption etc. to reason about the fatal
308 error.
309 --report-on-signal
311 Enables diagnostic report to be generated upon receiving the
312 specified (or predefined) signal to the running Node.js process.
313 Default signal is SIGUSR2.
314 --report-signal
316 Sets or resets the signal for diagnostic report generation (not
317 supported on Windows). Default signal is SIGUSR2.
318 --report-uncaught-exception
320 Enables diagnostic report to be generated on un-caught excep‐
321 tions. Useful when inspecting JavaScript stack in conjunction
322 with native stack and other runtime environment data.
323 --secure-heap=n
325 Specify the size of the OpenSSL secure heap. Any value less than
326 2 disables the secure heap. The default is 0. The value must be a
327 power of two.
328 --secure-heap-min=n
330 Specify the minimum allocation from the OpenSSL secure heap. The
331 default is 2. The value must be a power of two.
332 --test Starts the Node.js command line test runner.
334 --test-concurrency
336 The maximum number of test files that the test runner CLI will
337 execute concurrently.
338 --test-name-pattern
340 A regular expression that configures the test runner to only exe‐
341 cute tests whose name matches the provided pattern.
342 --test-reporter
344 A test reporter to use when running tests.
345 --test-reporter-destination
347 The destination for the corresponding test reporter.
348 --test-only
350 Configures the test runner to only execute top level tests that
351 have the `only` option set.
352 --test-shard
354 Test suite shard to execute in a format of <index>/<total>.
355 --throw-deprecation
357 Throw errors for deprecations.
358 --title=title
360 Specify process.title on startup.
361 --tls-cipher-list=list
363 Specify an alternative default TLS cipher list. Requires Node.js
364 to be built with crypto support. (Default)
365 --tls-keylog=file
367 Log TLS key material to a file. The key material is in NSS SS‐
368 LKEYLOGFILE format and can be used by software (such as Wire‐
369 shark) to decrypt the TLS traffic.
370 --tls-max-v1.2
372 Set default maxVersion to 'TLSv1.2'. Use to disable support for
373 TLSv1.3.
374 --tls-max-v1.3
376 Set default maxVersion to 'TLSv1.3'. Use to enable support for
377 TLSv1.3.
378 --tls-min-v1.0
380 Set default minVersion to 'TLSv1'. Use for compatibility with old
381 TLS clients or servers.
382 --tls-min-v1.1
384 Set default minVersion to 'TLSv1.1'. Use for compatibility with
385 old TLS clients or servers.
386 --tls-min-v1.2
388 Set default minVersion to 'TLSv1.2'. This is the default for 12.x
389 and later, but the option is supported for compatibility with
390 older Node.js versions.
391 --tls-min-v1.3
393 Set default minVersion to 'TLSv1.3'. Use to disable support for
394 TLSv1.2 in favour of TLSv1.3, which is more secure.
395 --trace-atomics-wait
397 Print short summaries of calls to Atomics.wait(). This flag is
398 deprecated.
399 --trace-deprecation
401 Print stack traces for deprecations.
402 --trace-event-categories categories
404 A comma-separated list of categories that should be traced when
405 trace event tracing is enabled using --trace-events-enabled.
406 --trace-event-file-pattern pattern
408 Template string specifying the filepath for the trace event data,
409 it supports ${rotation} and ${pid}.
410 --trace-events-enabled
412 Enable the collection of trace event tracing information.
413 --trace-exit
415 Prints a stack trace whenever an environment is exited proac‐
416 tively, i.e. invoking `process.exit()`.
417 --trace-sigint
419 Prints a stack trace on SIGINT.
420 --trace-sync-io
422 Print a stack trace whenever synchronous I/O is detected after
423 the first turn of the event loop.
424 --trace-tls
426 Prints TLS packet trace information to stderr.
427 --trace-uncaught
429 Print stack traces for uncaught exceptions; usually, the stack
430 trace associated with the creation of an Error is printed,
431 whereas this makes Node.js also print the stack trace associated
432 with throwing the value (which does not need to be an Error in‐
433 stance).
434 Enabling this option may affect garbage collection behavior nega‐
436 tively.
437 --trace-warnings
439 Print stack traces for process warnings (including deprecations).
440 --track-heap-objects
442 Track heap object allocations for heap snapshots.
443 --unhandled-rejections=mode
445 Define the behavior for unhandled rejections. Can be one of
446 `strict` (raise an error), `warn` (enforce warnings) or `none`
447 (silence warnings).
448 --use-bundled-ca, --use-openssl-ca
450 Use bundled Mozilla CA store as supplied by current Node.js ver‐
451 sion or use OpenSSL's default CA store. The default store is se‐
452 lectable at build-time.
453 The bundled CA store, as supplied by Node.js, is a snapshot of
455 Mozilla CA store that is fixed at release time. It is identical
456 on all supported platforms.
457 Using OpenSSL store allows for external modifications of the
459 store. For most Linux and BSD distributions, this store is main‐
460 tained by the distribution maintainers and system administrators.
461 OpenSSL CA store location is dependent on configuration of the
462 OpenSSL library but this can be altered at runtime using environ‐
463 ment variables.
464 See SSL_CERT_DIR and SSL_CERT_FILE.
466 --use-largepages=mode
468 Re-map the Node.js static code to large memory pages at startup.
469 If supported on the target system, this will cause the Node.js
470 static code to be moved onto 2 MiB pages instead of 4 KiB pages.
471 mode must have one of the following values: `off` (the default
473 value, meaning do not map), `on` (map and ignore failure, report‐
474 ing it to stderr), or `silent` (map and silently ignore failure).
475 --v8-options
477 Print V8 command-line options.
478 --v8-pool-size=num
480 Set V8's thread pool size which will be used to allocate back‐
481 ground jobs. If set to 0 then V8 will choose an appropriate size
482 of the thread pool based on the number of online processors. If
483 the value provided is larger than V8's maximum, then the largest
484 value will be chosen.
485 --zero-fill-buffers
487 Automatically zero-fills all newly allocated Buffer and Slow‐
488 Buffer instances.
489 -c, --check
491 Check the script's syntax without executing it. Exits with an
492 error code if script is invalid.
493 -e, --eval string
495 Evaluate string as JavaScript.
496 -h, --help
498 Print command-line options. The output of this option is less
499 detailed than this document.
500 -i, --interactive
502 Open the REPL even if stdin does not appear to be a terminal.
503 -p, --print string
505 Identical to -e, but prints the result.
506 -r, --require module
508 Preload the specified module at startup. Follows `require()`'s
509 module resolution rules. module may be either a path to a file,
510 or a Node.js module name.
511 -v, --version
513 Print node's version.
514
516 FORCE_COLOR
517 Used to enable ANSI colorized output. The value may be one of: 1
518 , true , or an empty string to indicate 16-color support, 2 to
519 indicate 256-color support, or 3 to indicate 16 million-color
520 support. When used and set to a supported value, both the
521 NO_COLOR and NODE_DISABLE_COLORS environment variables are ig‐
522 nored. Any other value will result in colorized output being dis‐
523 abled.
524 NO_COLOR
526 Alias for NODE_DISABLE_COLORS
527 NODE_DEBUG modules...
529 Comma-separated list of core modules that should print debug in‐
530 formation.
531 NODE_DEBUG_NATIVE modules...
533 Comma-separated list of C++ core modules that should print debug
534 information.
535 NODE_DISABLE_COLORS
537 When set to 1, colors will not be used in the REPL.
538 NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS file
540 When set, the well-known “root” CAs (like VeriSign) will be ex‐
541 tended with the extra certificates in file. The file should con‐
542 sist of one or more trusted certificates in PEM format.
543 If file is missing or misformatted, a message will be emitted
545 once using process.emitWarning(), but any errors are otherwise
546 ignored.
547 This environment variable is ignored when `node` runs as setuid
549 root or has Linux file capabilities set.
550 The NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS environment variable is only read when
552 the Node.js process is first launched. Changing the value at
553 runtime using process.env.NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS has no effect on
554 the current process.
555 NODE_ICU_DATA file
557 Data path for ICU (Intl object) data. Will extend linked-in data
558 when compiled with small-icu support.
559 NODE_NO_WARNINGS
561 When set to 1, process warnings are silenced.
562 NODE_OPTIONS options...
564 A space-separated list of command-line options, which are inter‐
565 preted as if they had been specified on the command line before
566 the actual command (so they can be overridden). Node.js will
567 exit with an error if an option that is not allowed in the envi‐
568 ronment is used, such as --print or a script file.
569 NODE_PATH directories...
571 A colon-separated list of directories prefixed to the module
572 search path.
573 NODE_PENDING_DEPRECATION
575 When set to 1, emit pending deprecation warnings.
576 NODE_PRESERVE_SYMLINKS
578 When set to 1, the module loader preserves symbolic links when
579 resolving and caching modules.
580 NODE_REDIRECT_WARNINGS file
582 Write process warnings to the given file instead of printing to
583 stderr. Equivalent to passing --redirect-warnings file on the
584 command line.
585 NODE_REPL_HISTORY file
587 Path to the file used to store persistent REPL history. The de‐
588 fault path is ~/.node_repl_history, which is overridden by this
589 variable. Setting the value to an empty string ("" or " ") will
590 disable persistent REPL history.
591 NODE_REPL_EXTERNAL_MODULE file
593 Path to a Node.js module which will be loaded in place of the
594 built-in REPL. Overriding this value to an empty string (`''`)
595 will use the built-in REPL.
596 NODE_SKIP_PLATFORM_CHECK
598 When set to 1, the check for a supported platform is skipped dur‐
599 ing Node.js startup. Node.js might not execute correctly. Any
600 issues encountered on unsupported platforms will not be fixed.
601 NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED
603 When set to 0, TLS certificate validation is disabled.
604 NODE_V8_COVERAGE dir
606 When set, Node.js writes JavaScript code coverage information to
607 dir.
608 OPENSSL_CONF file
610 Load an OpenSSL configuration file on startup. Among other uses,
611 this can be used to enable FIPS-compliant crypto if Node.js is
612 built with ./configure --openssl-fips.
613 If the --openssl-config command-line option is used, this envi‐
615 ronment variable is ignored.
616 SSL_CERT_DIR dir
618 If --use-openssl-ca is enabled, this overrides and sets OpenSSL's
619 directory containing trusted certificates.
620 SSL_CERT_FILE file
622 If --use-openssl-ca is enabled, this overrides and sets OpenSSL's
623 file containing trusted certificates.
624 TZ Specify the timezone configuration.
626 UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE size
628 Sets the number of threads used in libuv's threadpool to size.
629
631 Bugs are tracked in GitHub Issues: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues
632
634 Copyright Node.js contributors. Node.js is available under the MIT li‐
635 cense.
636 Node.js also includes external libraries that are available under a vari‐
638 ety of licenses. See https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/HEAD/LICENSE
639 for the full license text.
640
642 Website: https://nodejs.org/
643 Documentation: https://nodejs.org/api/
645 GitHub repository and issue tracker: https://github.com/nodejs/node
647 IRC (general questions): libera.chat #node.js (unofficial)
649
651 Written and maintained by 1000+ contributors:
652 https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/HEAD/AUTHORS
653 December 20, 2023