npm-restart

npm restart [args...]

npm restart runs the lifecycle hooks prerestart, restart, and postrestart in order. If no restart script is defined in package.json, it falls back to running stop followed by start (so the package's own start and stop scripts execute). This is the conventional way to bounce a long-running Node process described by package.json scripts without rewriting the command in your shell.

Unlike a process supervisor (pm2, systemd), npm restart does not background the new process or persist it across shell exits — it simply runs the start script in the foreground. For production process management use a real supervisor.

npm(1), npm-start(1), npm-stop(1)