From the [man page](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/start), npm start:

&gt; runs a package&#39;s &quot;start&quot; script, if one was provided.
If no version is specified, then it starts the &quot;active&quot; version.

Admittedly, that description is completely unhelpful, and that&#39;s all it says. At least it&#39;s more documented than socket.io.

Anyhow, what really happens is that npm looks in your [package.json](http://wiki.joyent.com/display/node/npm+Integration) file, and if you have something like

&gt; &quot;scripts&quot;: { &quot;start&quot;: &quot;coffee server.coffee&quot; }

then it will do that. If npm can&#39;t find your start script, it defaults to:

&gt; node server.js

&amp;nbsp;

The [documentation has been updated](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/start). My answer has substantial changes vs the accepted answer: I wanted to reflect documentation is up-to-date, and accepted answer has a few broken links.

Also, I didn&#39;t understand when the accepted answer said &quot;it defaults to `node server.js`&quot;. I think the documentation clarifies the default behavior:

&gt; npm-start
&gt;========
&gt; 
&gt; Start a package
&gt; 
&gt; Synopsis
&gt;---------
&gt; 
&gt; `npm start [-- &lt;args&gt;]`
&gt; Description
&gt;---------
&gt; 
&gt; This runs an arbitrary command **specified in the package&#39;s &quot;`start`&quot;
&gt; property of its &quot;`scripts`&quot; object**. If no &quot;`start`&quot; property is specified
&gt; on the &quot;`scripts`&quot; object, **it will run `node server.js`.**

In summary, running `npm start` could do one of two things:

 
 1. `npm start {command_name}`: Run an arbitrary command (i.e. if such command is specified  in the `start` property of package.json&#39;s `scripts` object)
 2. `npm start`: Else if no `start` property exists (or no `command_name` is passed): Run `node server.js`, (which *may not be appropriate*, for example the OP doesn&#39;t have `server.js`; the OP runs `node `**`app.js`** )
 3. I said I would list only 2 items, but are other possibilities (i.e. error cases). For example, if there is no `package.json` in the directory where you run `npm start`, you may see an error: `npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open  &#39;.\package.json&#39;`

I am using [django-rest-framework](http://django-rest-framework.org/). It provides an awesome Django admin style browsable self-documenting API. But anyone can visit those pages and use the interface to add data (POST). How can I disable it?

How to disable admin-style browsable interface of django-rest-framework?

I got an error:

    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected end of file in the line

With this code:

    &lt;html&gt;
        &lt;?php
            function login()
            {
                // Login function code
            }
            if (login())
        {?&gt;

        &lt;h2&gt;Welcome Administrator&lt;/h2&gt;
        &lt;a href=\&quot;upload.php\&quot;&gt;Upload Files&lt;/a&gt;
        &lt;br /&gt;
        &lt;a href=\&quot;points.php\&quot;&gt;Edit Points Tally&lt;/a&gt;

        &lt;?php}
            else
            {
                echo &quot;Incorrect login details. Please login&quot;;
            }
        ?&gt;
        Some more HTML code
    &lt;/html&gt;

What&#39;s the problem?


Parse error: Syntax error, unexpected end of file in my PHP code

I have installed an application using the command `express new &#39;filename&#39;`.  I have just learned that you can start an application using:

    npm start

Thus far I have used:

    node app.js
to start my server. Anyone know what the difference is between the two? Thanks.

Difference between `npm start` &amp; `node app.js`, when starting app?

I have installed an application using the command <code>express new 'filename'</code>. I have just learned that you can start an application using:
<pre><code class="hljs language-sql">npm start
</code></pre>
Thus far I have used:
<pre><code class="hljs">node app.js
</code></pre>
to start my server. Anyone know what the difference is between the two? Thanks.

How can I get the most accurate time stamp in Node.js?

ps My version of Node.js is 0.8.X and the [node-microtime extension][1] doesn&#39;t work for me (crash on install) 


  [1]: https://github.com/wadey/node-microtime

How to get a microtime in Node.js?

I am having issues including files to execute in my NodeJs project.

I have two files in the same directory:

**a.js**

    var test = &quot;Hello World&quot;;

and 

**b.js**

    require(&#39;./a.js&#39;);
    console.log(test);


I execute b.js with `node b.js` and get the error `ReferenceError: test is not defined`.

I have looked through the docs http://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#modules_file_modules

What am I missing? Thanks in advance.

NodeJs require(&#39;./file.js&#39;) issues

I&#39;m trying to get HTTPS working on express.js for node, and I can&#39;t figure it out.

This is my `app.js` code.

    var express = require(&#39;express&#39;);
    var fs = require(&#39;fs&#39;);
    
    var privateKey = fs.readFileSync(&#39;sslcert/server.key&#39;);
    var certificate = fs.readFileSync(&#39;sslcert/server.crt&#39;);
    
    var credentials = {key: privateKey, cert: certificate};
    
    
    var app = express.createServer(credentials);
    
    app.get(&#39;/&#39;, function(req,res) {
    	res.send(&#39;hello&#39;);
    });
    
    app.listen(8000);

When I run it, it seems to only respond to HTTP requests.

I wrote simple vanilla `node.js` based HTTPS app:

    var   fs = require(&quot;fs&quot;),
          http = require(&quot;https&quot;);
    
    var privateKey = fs.readFileSync(&#39;sslcert/server.key&#39;).toString();
    var certificate = fs.readFileSync(&#39;sslcert/server.crt&#39;).toString();
    
    var credentials = {key: privateKey, cert: certificate};
    
    var server = http.createServer(credentials,function (req, res) {
      res.writeHead(200, {&#39;Content-Type&#39;: &#39;text/plain&#39;});
      res.end(&#39;Hello World\n&#39;);
    });
    
    server.listen(8000);

And when I run this app, it *does* respond to HTTPS requests. Note that I don&#39;t think the toString() on the fs result matters, as I&#39;ve used combinations of both and still no es bueno.

----

EDIT TO ADD:

For production systems, you&#39;re probably better off using Nginx or HAProxy to proxy requests to your nodejs app. You can set up nginx to handle the ssl requests and just speak http to your node app.js. 

EDIT TO ADD (4/6/2015)

For systems on using AWS, you are better off using EC2 Elastic Load Balancers to handle SSL Termination, and allow regular HTTP traffic to your EC2 web servers. For further security, setup your security group such that only the ELB is allowed to send HTTP traffic to the EC2 instances, which will prevent external unencrypted HTTP traffic from hitting your machines.

----


Enabling HTTPS on express.js

I&#39;m trying to run _npm_ behind a proxy. I&#39;ve tried both entering the proxy directly or through _Authoxy_:

    npm config set proxy http://localhost:8999
    npm config set https-proxy http://localhost:8999

Regardless of which proxy I use, I always end up with the same error when running `npm search`:

	npm info it worked if it ends with ok
	npm verb cli [ &#39;node&#39;, &#39;/usr/local/bin/npm&#39;, &#39;search&#39; ]
	npm info using npm@1.1.45
	npm info using node@v0.8.4
	npm verb config file /Users/xxx/.npmrc
	npm verb config file /usr/local/etc/npmrc
	npm verb config file /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc
	npm WARN Building the local index for the first time, please be patient
	npm verb url raw /-/all
	npm verb url resolving [ &#39;https://registry.npmjs.org/&#39;, &#39;./-/all&#39; ]
	npm verb url resolved https://registry.npmjs.org/-/all
	npm info retry registry request attempt 1 at 09:48:47
	npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/-/all
	npm info retry will retry, error on last attempt: Error: tunneling socket could not be established, sutatusCode=403
	npm info retry registry request attempt 2 at 09:48:57
	npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/-/all
	npm info retry will retry, error on last attempt: Error: tunneling socket could not be established, sutatusCode=403
	npm info retry registry request attempt 3 at 09:49:57
	npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/-/all
	npm ERR! Error: tunneling socket could not be established, sutatusCode=403
	npm ERR!     at ClientRequest.onConnect (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/request/tunnel.js:148:19)
	npm ERR!     at ClientRequest.g (events.js:185:14)
	npm ERR!     at ClientRequest.EventEmitter.emit (events.js:115:20)
	npm ERR!     at Socket.socketOnData (http.js:1383:11)
	npm ERR!     at TCP.onread (net.js:410:27)

The command always fails with `sutatusCode` [sic!] **403** - which means unauthorized. I have set up Authoxy to not require a username/password. The same error happens when I bypass Authoxy and provide the real proxy credentials for our NTLM proxy in the form of http:// user:pass@proxy:port.

How can I make this work through the proxy?

**Update**

I have created an issue on the NPM project to report this: https://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues/2866


npm behind a proxy fails with status 403

I&#39;m using passportJS and I&#39;m wanting to supply more than just `req.body.username` and `req.body.password` to my authentication strategy (passport-local). 

I have 3 form fields: `username`, `password`, &amp; `foo`

How do I go about accessing `req.body.foo` from my local strategy which looks like:

    passport.use(new LocalStrategy(
      {usernameField: &#39;email&#39;},
        function(email, password, done) {
          User.findOne({ email: email }, function(err, user) {
            if (err) { return done(err); }
            if (!user) {
              return done(null, false, { message: &#39;Unknown user&#39; });
            }
            if (password != 1212) {
              return done(null, false, { message: &#39;Invalid password&#39; });
            }
            console.log(&#39;I just wanna see foo! &#39; + req.body.foo); // this fails!
            return done(null, user, aToken);
            
          });
        }
    ));

I&#39;m calling this inside my route (not as route middleware) like so:

      app.post(&#39;/api/auth&#39;, function(req, res, next) {
        passport.authenticate(&#39;local&#39;, {session:false}, function(err, user, token_record) {
          if (err) { return next(err) }
          res.json({access_token:token_record.access_token});
       })(req, res, next);
  
      });

Using PassportJS, how does one pass additional form fields to the local authentication strategy?

Before, in an older version of express, I could do this:

    express.createServer({key:&#39;keyFile&#39;, cert:&#39;certFile&#39;});

However, in newer versions of express this no longer works:

    var app = express();

Should I call `app.use()` to set the certs? If so how?

How do I setup a SSL certificate for an express.js server?

The docs read:

&gt; The app.VERB() methods provide the routing functionality in Express,
&gt; where VERB is one of the HTTP verbs, such as app.post(). Multiple
&gt; callbacks may be give, all are treated equally, and behave just like
&gt; middleware, with the one exception that these callbacks may invoke
&gt; next(&#39;route&#39;) to bypass the remaining route callback(s). This
&gt; mechanism can be used to perform pre-conditions on a route then pass
&gt; control to subsequent routes when there is no reason to proceed with
&gt; the route matched.

What do they mean by &quot;bypass the remaining route callbacks?&quot;? I know that `next()` will pass control to the next matching route. But... what function will get control with `next(&#39;route&#39;)`...?

What is the difference between next() and next(&#39;route&#39;) in an expressjs app.VERB call?

User requests some page and I want to know (on server side) what is the language in his/her browser. So I could render template with the right messages. &lt;br&gt;

On client side it&#39;s easy:

    var language = window.navigator.userLanguage || window.navigator.language



How can I get the browser language in node.js (express.js)?

How do I use npm to show the latest version of a module? I am expecting something like `npm --latest express` to print out `v3.0.0`.

npm - how to show the latest version of a package

I am creating a node command line interface. It is installed globally and uses a bin file to execute.

I plan to have a command window open at the root directory of the files I am working on and then just run the command however I have been unable to determine the current working directory as `process.cwd()` is returning the directory of the node package. I initially assumed that since the code is being executed using a batch file as a wrapper (that is how bin files can execute without node at the beginning) then it is impossible but coffee-script manages to do it. I took a look at the coffee-script source but couldn&#39;t follow it (not experienced enough).

To test it for yourself create a package with this package.json file:

    {
      &quot;name&quot;: &quot;test-package&quot;,
      &quot;version&quot;: &quot;1.0.0&quot;,
      &quot;bin&quot;: {
        &quot;test-package&quot;:  &quot;./bin/test-package&quot;
      },
      &quot;main&quot;: &quot;/lib/test&quot;
    }

this test-package file in bin:


    #!/usr/bin/env node

    var path = require(&#39;path&#39;);
    var fs   = require(&#39;fs&#39;);
    var lib  = path.join(path.dirname(fs.realpathSync(__filename)), &#39;../lib&#39;);

    require(lib + &#39;/test&#39;);
    
Could anyone shed some light onto this.

and then try and get the command line directory inside lib/test.


Determine command line working directory when running node bin script

I tried to install twitter bower on my Mac, and I used

    npm install bower -g

Then I tried `bower --help`, and the output was `bower command not found`. Why is that?

bower command not found

What is the practical difference between `npm install` and `npm update`? When should I use which?

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	ReneGAED	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - node.js	Yusuf X	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - node.js	The Red Pea	View Answer on Stackoverflow

Difference between `npm start` & `node app.js`, when starting app?

node.js Problem Overview

node.js Solutions

Solution 1 - node.js

Solution 2 - node.js

Parse error: Syntax error, unexpected end of file in my PHP code

How to disable admin-style browsable interface of django-rest-framework?

Attributions