Azure DevOps Pipelines run a Node.js script as a step

Question

What's the easiest way to run a Node.js script as a step in Azure DevOps Pipeline (release step)?

I tried a few approaches and it seems like this is not as straightforward as I'd like it to be. I'm looking for a general approach idea.

My last attempt was adding the script to the source repository under tools/script.js. I need to run it in a release pipeline (after build), from where I can't access the repo directly, so I have added the entire repo as a second build artifact. Now I can reach the script file from the release agent, but I haven't found a way to actually run the script, there seems to be no option to run a Node.js script on an agent in general.

Answer 1

Option 1: Visual Pipeline Editor

1) Create the script file you want to run in your build/release steps

You can add the file to your Azure project repository, e.g. under tools/script.js and add any node modules it needs to run to your package.json, for example:

npm install --save-dev <module>

Commit and push, so your changes are online and Azure can see them.

2) Add your repo as an artifact for your release pipeline

You can skip this for build pipelines as they already have access to the repository.

3) Edit your release pipeline to ensure environment

Add a step to make sure correct Node version is on agent (Node.js Tool Installer):

Add a step to install all required node modules (npm):

4) Add your node script step

Use the Bash step to run your node script, make sure the working directory is set to root of the project (where package.json is located):

Option 2: YAML

you have a script\shell step where you can execute custom commands, just use that to achieve the goal. Agent have node installed on them, one thing you might need to do is use the pick node version step to use the right node version for your script

Example:

trigger:
- master

pool:
  vmImage: 'Ubuntu-16.04'

steps:
- checkout: self
  persistCredentials: true
  clean: true

- bash: |
    curl $BEDROCK_BUILD_SCRIPT > build.sh
    chmod +x ./build.sh
  displayName: My script download
  env:
    BEDROCK_BUILD_SCRIPT: https://url/yourscript.sh

- task: ShellScript@2
  displayName: My script execution
  inputs:
  scriptPath: build.sh