What is this?

A Worker Thread spawner for Node.js with a simple API.

How do I install it?

``bash
npm install worker-spawner
`

How can I use it?

You can find a simple example in the examples folder.

Basic usage

My script:
`js
const { workerThreadExecute } = require('worker-spawner');

const myExpensiveFunction = await workerThreadExecute(__dirname + '/blocking-expensive-function.js', myInput);
console.log(myExpensiveFunction);
`

My worker:
`js
const { parentPort } = require('worker_threads');
parentPort.on('message', (input) => {
// Do some expensive stuff
myOutput = input.map((item) => item * 2);
parentPort.postMessage(myOutput);
});
`

Advanced usage - Preloading

My script:
`js
const { Worker } = require('worker_threads');
const { workerThreadExecute } = require('worker-spawner');
const preloadedWorker = new Worker(__dirname + '/blocking-expensive-function.js');

const myExpensiveFunction = await workerThreadExecute(preloadedWorker, myInput);
console.log(myExpensiveFunction);
`

My worker:
`js
const { parentPort } = require('worker_threads');
parentPort.on('message', (input) => {
// Do some expensive stuff
myOutput = input.map((item) => item * 2);
parentPort.postMessage(myOutput);
});
`

API

The workerThreadExecute function takes two arguments:
- workerPathOrInstance(_required_): Either a path to a worker file or a preloaded worker instance.
- payload(_optional_): The input to be passed to the worker. This input will be passed to the worker as a message.
- options(_optional_): An object containing the following properties:
- unref: If set to true, the worker thread will be unref'd. Defaults to false.
- timeout: The timeout in milliseconds after which the worker will be terminated. Defaults to 0 (no timeout).
- workerOptions(_optional_): Additional worker options respecting the WorkerOptions Interface

Tests

You can run the tests by using the following command:

`bash
npm test
``