Quick and dirty process management that we used to use. Shared for the Node.js Meetup

gistfile1.js

var _children = [];

var Beaker = function(){
};

isNumeric = function(n) {
  return !isNaN(parseFloat(n)) && isFinite(n);
};

Beaker.startChild = function(fileName, callback){
  var self = this;
  var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
  if(self.debug) args.push('--debug');
  var child = spawn('node', args);
  child.processFile = fileName;
  child.arguments = args;
  child.on('exit', (function(aChild){
    return function(code, signal){
      var idx = _children.indexOf(aChild);
      if(idx>-1&&_children[idx]) console.log(('Child ('+_children[idx].processFile+') '+aChild.pid+' is dying!').yellow);
      else console.log(('Child ('+aChild.pid+') is dying!').yellow);
      self.applog({
        process: aChild.processFile,
        pid: aChild.pid,
        status: 'Dying',
        code: code,
        signal: signal
      });
      if(idx>-1){
        _children.splice(idx, 1);
        console.log('Child killed successfully!'.green);
      }
    };
  })(child));
  child.on('uncaughtException', (function(aChild){
    return function(err){
      self.applog({
        process: aChild.processFile,
        pid: aChild.pid,
        status: 'Uncaught Exception',
        error: err.toString()
      });
    };
  })(child));
  child.stdout.on('data', (function(aChild){
    return function(data){
      self.applog({
        process: aChild.processFile,
        pid: aChild.pid,
        status: 'STDOUT',
        data: data.toString()
      });
    };
  })(child));
  child.stderr.on('data', (function(aChild){
    return function(data){
      self.applog({
        process: aChild.processFile,
        pid: aChild.pid,
        status: 'STDERR',
        error: data.toString()
      });
    };
  })(child));
  self.applog({
    process: child.processFile,
    pid: child.pid,
    arguments: child.arguments,
    status: 'Starting'
  });
  _children.push(child);
  if(typeof(callback)=='function') callback(child);
};

Beaker.restartChild = function(childName){
  var self = this;
  for(var idx in _children){
    if(_children[idx].processFile.match(childName)){
      var child = _children[idx];
      var processName = child.processFile;
      child.kill();
      setTimeout((function(processName){
        return function(){
          self.startChild(processName);
        };
      })(processName), 500);
    }
  }
};

Beaker.killChild = function(details){
  var self = this;
  var killChild = function(idx){
    if(_children[idx]){
      console.log(('Killing ('+_children[idx].processFile+'): '+_children[idx].pid).yellow);
      self.applog({
        process: _children[idx].processFile,
        pid: _children[idx].pid,
        status: 'Killing'
      });
      var child = _children[idx];
      _children.splice(idx, 1)
      child.kill();
    }
  };
  if(isNumeric(details)) killChild(details);
  else{
    var l = _children.length-1;
    while(l>0){
      if(_children[l].processFile.match(details)) killChild(l);
      l--;
    }
  }
};

Beaker.childProcesses = function(options){
  options = options || {};
  if(options.filter){
    var filter = new RegExp(options.filter);
        filtered = [];
    for(var i in _children){
      if(_children[i].processFile.match(filter)) filtered.push(_children[i]);
    }
    return filtered;
  }
  return _children;
};