Windows Services with node.js

2016-02-01

node.js has become my go to technology when I need a quick and dirty solution to automating a task. Occasionally these are tasks that run constantly and monitor something to trigger an action. Now, (unfortunately) I work mostly with Windows systems and node does not integrate cleanly into the service architecture. Writing a service wrapper does not sound like to much fun...

But luckily, NSSM exists with it's rather bland website and meek appearance. The Non Sucking Service Manager is a gem when it comes to wrapping programs to act as Windows services.

To get a node instance running copy the nssm.exe, the standalone node.exe and your script with all required dependencies armed into one folder. Open a command line prompt with administrator rights and execute the following command:

cd myservicedir
nssm install MyNodeService node.exe myscript.js

That's it! As long as the system is running, so will the script be executed. Obviously you can read all the luscious details about NSSM in the rather good documentation.