Mastering Node.js - Second Edition

Adding scripts to package.json

Another advantage is that npm can also be used as a build tool. The scripts field in your package file allows you to set various build directives executed at some point following certain npm commands. For example, you might want to minify Javascript, or execute some other processes that build dependencies that your module will need whenever npm install is executed. The available directives are as listed:

• prepublish, publish, postpublish: Run by the npm publish command as well as on local npm install without any arguments.
• prepublishOnly: Run before published only on the npm publish command.
• prepare: Run before the package is published and on npm install  without any arguments. Run after prepublish, but before ...