Understanding the Functionality of the 'nodemon' Tool in Node.js Development

One of the challenges developers face while working on projects is the need to constantly restart the server whenever a change is made in the codebase. This can be time-consuming and disruptive to the flow of work. However, 'nodemon' is a tool that simplifies this process in Node.js development.

'Nodemon' provides the functionality of automatically restarting your Node.js application whenever it detects any file changes in the directory. In other words, it watches the file system for changes and automatically restarts the server. This process enhances efficiency, and it allows developers to focus on their coding activities without the interruption of manually restarting the server.

Using 'nodemon' is fairly straightforward. Once installed, you merely have to start your script with 'nodemon' instead of 'node'. For instance,

nodemon server.js

This starts your server, and each time you make and save changes in your application, 'nodemon' will automatically restart the server.

It's worth noting that 'nodemon' does not make changes to the script or interfere with the runtime of Node.js; its primary functionality is to monitor the Node.js application and react to file changes. With 'nodemon', you can configure what files to watch, how to delay restarting, and even decide what to do before each restart.

In terms of best practices, it's crucial to note that while 'nodemon' is great for development, it's not advised to use it for production applications. This is because in a production environment, there are more robust and full-featured process supervisors that ensure your application automatically restarts, recovers from crashes, and stays alive.

In summary, 'nodemon' is a handy tool for Node.js development, providing automatic restart of your application when it detects file changes, thus enhancing efficiency and productivity in the development process.