File this one under quick tips.

If you've ever written a Node.js application, you've seen the package.json file. Usually, you need it to specify npm modules that the app depends on, but package.json has a lot of other capabilities. For example, you can specify the node version required for the app.  The package.json file is a node concept, but since we're talking about Meteor here, we're not crossing any streams. 

An oft-forgotten feature is the package.json scripts field. In a nutshell, it allows you to specify shortcuts for long command, and then run those shortcuts.

:::

How can I use this in Meteor? I don't know about you, but I always, always forget to specify my Meteor settings file when starting Meteor. It gets quite annoying as the some aspect of the app crashes before I even notice. So I've gotten in the habit of using npm start. My app crashes have gone way down ever since.

// package.json (comments won't work in real JSON files)

{
"name": "myapp",
"scripts": {
"start": "meteor --settings settings.json"
}
}$ npm start

Important note: some shortcuts, such as start are reserved. This means you can run them with npm start. All other shortcuts must be run with npm run <task>.

I recently developed a Meteor project that used the built-in Cordova integration. The Cordova workflow allows you to start your Meteor app in the iOS simulator, or in Xcode. I was always mixing up these commands, so I created some shortcuts.

{
"name": "myapp",
"scripts": {
"start": "meteor --settings settings.json",
"simulate": "meteor run ios --settings settings.json",
"ios": "meteor run ios-device --settings settings.json"
}
}

Now I can start my app in Xcode by running npm run ios.

Furthermore, we were using Polymer components for the look-and-feel, and a Facebook app. So for pushing production builds, I wanted to be sure to optimize Polymer with vulcanize and also to use my production Facebook app ID, and not my test ID. This turned into a long command just get a production iOS build that was impossible to remember. npm scripts to the rescue.

{
"name": "myapp",
"scripts": {
"start": "meteor --settings settings.json",
"simulate": "meteor run ios --settings settings.json",
"ios": "meteor run ios-device --settings settings.json",
"build": "NODE_ENV=production VULCANIZE=true meteor build ../myapp-dist --server=https://api.myapp.com/ --mobile-settings settings-production.json"
}
}

Now, npm run build will build a production app ready to upload through Xcode.

:::

I regularly use one other benefit of package.json, which may or may not be relevant to you. If you host your Meteor apps on Modulus, the modulus CLI will read a mod-project-name field from your package.json, and then you won't have to specify the project when you run modulus deploy. 

{
"name": "myapp",
"mod-project-name": "myapp"
}

:::

We are saving only keystrokes here, but they add up! With more free minutes in your day, you are sure to prosper! Happy coding! 

BONUS TIP! Dean Radcliffe gives us a bonus tip over on Crater.io: "The scripts section of package.json serves like a makefile/Rakefile which lists useful commands when 'npm run' is run with no args."