Node.js build steps

By default, Airplane handles installing dependencies and building your code for you. See Custom build steps below to suplement this behavior.

1. Install dependencies: Airplane installs dependencies listed in the dependencies section of your package.json using the following command. If you do not have a package.json, no dependencies are installed. Airplane detects if you're using npm or yarn and runs the respective command::

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npm ci --production

bash
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yarn install --non-interactive --production --frozen-lockfile

2. Transpile and bundle: Airplane transpiles your code into JavaScript that supports your task's Node version. The transpiled code uses CommonJS modules—the default for Node.js applications. If your task pulls in other files, they are bundled into one single file.

The default build steps work for most tasks, but you can also customize some steps.

You can override the install command in your package.json. For example, to install both dependencies and devDependencies, add:

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{
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  "airplane": {
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    "install": "npm ci --include=dev"
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  }
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}

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{
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  "airplane": {
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    "install": "yarn install --non-interactive --production=false --frozen-lockfile"
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  }
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}

After Airplane has installed dependencies, it transpiles and bundles your task. If you need to run a custom script before the build stage, you can add a postinstall command to your package.json. For example:

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{
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  "scripts": {
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    "generate": "echo generating..."
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  },
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  "airplane": {
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    "postinstall": "npm run generate"
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  }
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}