From fa53ec1de56bc4e6fda11e4dd98508dd622bce50 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Smith <owlstronaut@github.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:51:56 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix!: don't magically find and run a server.js file on start
 BREAKING CHANGE: If a package has a server.js file but no start script, it
 will no longer be automatically run when the start event is triggered. This
 change removes the implicit behavior of running server.js and requires an
 explicit start script to be defined in the package.json.

---
 lib/is-server-package.js | 11 -----------
 lib/run-script-pkg.js    |  3 ---
 lib/run-script.js        |  3 +--
 test/run-script.js       | 28 ++--------------------------
 4 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 42 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 lib/is-server-package.js

diff --git a/lib/is-server-package.js b/lib/is-server-package.js
deleted file mode 100644
index c36c40d..0000000
--- a/lib/is-server-package.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-const { stat } = require('node:fs/promises')
-const { resolve } = require('node:path')
-
-module.exports = async path => {
-  try {
-    const st = await stat(resolve(path, 'server.js'))
-    return st.isFile()
-  } catch (er) {
-    return false
-  }
-}
diff --git a/lib/run-script-pkg.js b/lib/run-script-pkg.js
index 161caeb..64018b0 100644
--- a/lib/run-script-pkg.js
+++ b/lib/run-script-pkg.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ const promiseSpawn = require('@npmcli/promise-spawn')
 const packageEnvs = require('./package-envs.js')
 const { isNodeGypPackage, defaultGypInstallScript } = require('@npmcli/node-gyp')
 const signalManager = require('./signal-manager.js')
-const isServerPackage = require('./is-server-package.js')
 
 const runScriptPkg = async options => {
   const {
@@ -37,8 +36,6 @@ const runScriptPkg = async options => {
     await isNodeGypPackage(path)
   ) {
     cmd = defaultGypInstallScript
-  } else if (event === 'start' && await isServerPackage(path)) {
-    cmd = 'node server.js'
   }
 
   if (!cmd) {
diff --git a/lib/run-script.js b/lib/run-script.js
index b00304c..625f2e4 100644
--- a/lib/run-script.js
+++ b/lib/run-script.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
 const runScriptPkg = require('./run-script-pkg.js')
 const validateOptions = require('./validate-options.js')
-const isServerPackage = require('./is-server-package.js')
 
 const runScript = async options => {
   validateOptions(options)
@@ -12,4 +11,4 @@ const runScript = async options => {
   return runScriptPkg({ ...options, pkg })
 }
 
-module.exports = Object.assign(runScript, { isServerPackage })
+module.exports = runScript
diff --git a/test/run-script.js b/test/run-script.js
index c63a4cb..abc6230 100644
--- a/test/run-script.js
+++ b/test/run-script.js
@@ -74,9 +74,8 @@ t.test('run-script', async t => {
     t.strictSame(res, { code: 0, signal: null })
   })
 
-  await t.test('start event, pkg has server.js but no start script', async t => {
+  await t.test('start event, pkg has no start script, early exit', async t => {
     const path = t.testdir({ 'server.js': '' })
-    spawk.spawn(/.*/, a => a.includes('node server.js'))
     const res = await runScript({
       event: 'start',
       path,
@@ -85,11 +84,7 @@ t.test('run-script', async t => {
         scripts: {},
       },
     })
-    t.match(res, {
-      event: 'start',
-      script: 'node server.js',
-      pkgid: '@npmcli/run-script-test@1.2.3',
-    })
+    t.strictSame(res, { code: 0, signal: null })
   })
 
   await t.test('pkg does not have requested script, with custom cmd', async t => {
@@ -111,22 +106,3 @@ t.test('run-script', async t => {
     t.ok(spawk.done())
   })
 })
-
-t.test('isServerPackage', async t => {
-  await t.test('is server package', async t => {
-    const testdir = t.testdir({
-      'server.js': '',
-    })
-    await t.resolves(runScript.isServerPackage(testdir), true)
-  })
-  await t.test('is not server package - no server.js', async t => {
-    const testdir = t.testdir({})
-    await t.resolves(runScript.isServerPackage(testdir), false)
-  })
-  await t.test('is not server package - invalid server.js', async t => {
-    const testdir = t.testdir({
-      'server.js': {},
-    })
-    await t.resolves(runScript.isServerPackage(testdir), false)
-  })
-})