Gulp.js command execution for humans.

As opposed to similar plugins or to
child_process.exec(),
this uses Execa which provides:

- Better Windows support,
including shebangs>)
- Faster and more secure commands, since no shell is used by default
- Execution of
locally installed binaries
- Interleaved stdout/stderr

gulp-execa adds Gulp-specific features to
Execa including:

- a task shortcut syntax
- configurable verbosity
- better errors

Commands can be executed either directly or inside a
files stream. In
streaming mode, unlike other libraries:

- commands are run in parallel,
not serially
- output can be saved either in files or in variables

Example

gulpfile.js:

``js
import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'

import gulp from 'gulp'
import { exec, stream, task } from 'gulp-execa'

export const audit = task('npm audit')

export const outdated = async () => {
await exec('npm outdated')
}

export const sort = () =>
pipeline(
gulp.src('*.txt'),
stream(({ path }) => sort ${path}),
gulp.dest('sorted'),
)
`

Install

`
npm install -D gulp-execa
`

This plugin requires Gulp 5 and Node.js >=18.18.0. It is an ES module and must
be loaded using
an import or import() statement,
not require(). If TypeScript is used, it must be configured to
output ES modules,
not CommonJS.

Methods

task(command, [options])

Returns a Gulp task that executes command.

`js
import { task } from 'gulp-execa'

export const audit = task('npm audit')
`

exec(command, [options])

Executes command. The return value is both a promise and a
child_process instance.

The promise will be resolved with the
command result. If
the command failed, the promise will be rejected with a nice
error. If the
reject: false option was used,
the promise will be resolved with that error instead.

`js
import { exec } from 'gulp-execa'

export const outdated = async () => {
await exec('npm outdated')
}
`

stream(function, [options])

Returns a stream that executes a command on each input file.

function must:

- take a Vinyl file
as argument. The most useful property is file.path but
other properties
are available as well.
- return either:
- a command string
- an options object with a command property
- undefined

`js
import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'

import gulp from 'gulp'
import { stream } from 'gulp-execa'

export const sort = () =>
pipeline(
gulp.src('*.txt'),
stream(({ path }) => sort ${path}),
gulp.dest('sorted'),
)
`

Each file in the stream will spawn a separate process. This can consume lots of
resources so you should only use this method when there are no alternatives such
as:

- firing a command programmatically instead of spawning a child process
- passing several files, a directory or a globbing pattern as arguments to the
command

The debug,
stdout,
stderr,
all and
stdio options cannot be used
with this method.

Command

By default no shell interpreter (like Bash or cmd.exe) is used. This means
command must be just the program and its arguments. No escaping/quoting is
needed, except for significant spaces (with a backslash).

Shell features such as globbing, variables and operators (like && > ;)
should not be used. All of this can be done directly in Node.js instead.

Shell interpreters are slower, less secure and less cross-platform. However, you
can still opt-in to using them with the
shell option.

`js
import { writeFileStream } from 'node:fs'

import gulp from 'gulp'
import { task } from 'gulp-execa'

// Wrong
// export const check = task('npm audit && npm outdated')

// Correct
export const check = gulp.series(task('npm audit'), task('npm outdated'))

// Wrong
// export const install = task('npm install > log.txt')

// Correct
export const install = task('npm install', {
stdout: writeFileStream('log.txt'),
})
`

Options

options is an optional object.

All Execa options can be used.
Please refer to its documentation for a list of possible options.

The following options are available as well.

echo

_Type_: boolean\
_Default_: debug option's value

Whether the command should be printed on the console.

`bash
$ gulp audit
[13:09:39] Using gulpfile ~/code/gulpfile.js
[13:09:39] Starting 'audit'...
[13:09:39] [gulp-execa] npm audit
[13:09:44] Finished 'audit' after 4.96 s
`

debug

_Type_: boolean\
_Default_: true for task() and
exec(), false for
stream().

Whether both the command and its output (stdout/stderr) should be printed
on the console instead of being returned in JavaScript.

`bash
$ gulp audit
[13:09:39] Using gulpfile ~/code/gulpfile.js
[13:09:39] Starting 'audit'...
[13:09:39] [gulp-execa] npm audit

== npm audit security report ===

found 0 vulnerabilities
in 27282 scanned packages
[13:09:44] Finished 'audit' after 4.96 s
`

result

_Type_: string\
_Value_: 'replace' or 'save'\
_Default_: 'replace'

With stream(), whether the command result should:

- replace the file's contents
- save: be pushed
to the file.execa array property

`js
import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'

import gulp from 'gulp'
import { stream } from 'gulp-execa'
import through from 'through2'

export const task = () =>
pipeline(
gulp.src('*.js'),
// Prints the number of lines of each file
stream(({ path }) => wc -l ${path}, { result: 'save' }),
through.obj((file, encoding, func) => {
console.log(file.execa[0].stdout)
func(null, file)
}),
)
`

from

_Type_: string\
_Value_: 'stdout', 'stderr' or 'all'\
_Default_: 'stdout'

Which output stream to use with result: 'replace'.

`js
import { pipeline } from 'node:stream/promises'

import gulp from 'gulp'
import { stream } from 'gulp-execa'
import through from 'through2'

export const task = () =>
pipeline(
gulp.src('*.js'),
// Prints the number of lines of each file, including stderr
stream(({ path }) => wc -l ${path}, { result: 'replace', from: 'all' }),
through.obj((file, encoding, func) => {
console.log(file.contents.toString())
func(null, file)
}),
)
`

maxConcurrency

_Type_: integer\
_Default_: 100

With stream(), how many commands to run in parallel
at once.

See also

- Execa

Support

For any question, _don't hesitate_ to submit an issue on GitHub.

Everyone is welcome regardless of personal background. We enforce a
Code of conduct in order to promote a positive and
inclusive environment.

Contributing

This project was made with ❤️. The simplest way to give back is by starring and
sharing it online.

If the documentation is unclear or has a typo, please click on the page's Edit`
button (pencil icon) and suggest a correction.

If you would like to help us fix a bug or add a new feature, please check our
guidelines. Pull requests are welcome!

Thanks go to our wonderful contributors:

ehmicky 💻 🎨 🤔 📖

Jonathan Haines 🐛