npm command-line interface

# npm-start

Start a package

## Table of contents

- Synopsis
- Description
- Example
- Configuration

- `ignore-scripts`
- `script-shell`

- See Also

### Synopsis

    npm start [-- <args>]

### Description

This runs a predefined command specified in the `"start"` property of a package's `"scripts"` object.

If the `"scripts"` object does not define a `"start"` property, npm will run `node server.js`.

Note that this is different from the default node behavior of running the file specified in a package's `"main"` attribute when evoking with `node .`

As of `npm@2.0.0`, you can use custom arguments when executing scripts. Refer to `npm run-script` for more details.

### Example

    {
      "scripts": {
        "start": "node foo.js"
      }
    }

    npm start

    > npm@x.x.x start
    > node foo.js

    (foo.js output would be here)

### Configuration

#### `ignore-scripts`

- Default: false
- Type: Boolean

If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.

Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such as `npm start`, `npm stop`, `npm restart`, `npm test`, and `npm run-script` will still run their intended script if `ignore-scripts` is set, but they will not run any pre- or post-scripts.

#### `script-shell`

- Default: '/bin/sh' on POSIX systems, 'cmd.exe' on Windows
- Type: null or String

The shell to use for scripts run with the `npm exec`, `npm run` and `npm init <package-spec>` commands.

### See Also

- npm run-script
- npm scripts
- npm test
- npm restart
- npm stop