# moxystudio/node-cross-spawn

A cross platform solution to node's spawn and spawnSync

Repository: https://github.com/moxystudio/node-cross-spawn
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/node-cross-spawn
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: spawn, windows, cross-platform, shebang, path-ext, cmd, exec
Last push: 2024-11-18T14:20:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4448, "days_push": 653, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1171, forks 136 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:51.566053+00:00)

## What it is
cross-spawn is a Node.js library providing a drop-in replacement for child_process.spawn and spawnSync that works reliably across platforms. It fixes Windows-specific issues such as PATHEXT handling, shebang support, spaces in commands, and node_modules/.bin shim escaping.

## Use cases
- spawn child processes reliably on Windows from Node.js
- run npm or other executables from a Node script cross-platform
- execute commands with spaces or posix relative paths on Windows
- run scripts with shebang lines on Windows
- replace node's spawn with a safer cross-platform alternative
- spawn commands in node_modules/.bin with correct argument escaping

## When to choose
- you need cross-platform child process spawning in Node.js, especially Windows compatibility
- you run executables like npm or node_modules/.bin shims from Node scripts
- you want a drop-in replacement for spawn/spawnSync without manual shell escaping

## When to avoid
- you only target Unix-like systems and don't need Windows fixes
- you need advanced process control beyond what spawn offers
- you can rely on node's built-in options.shell and handle escaping yourself

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: developer-tools, cli
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: cross-platform, windows
- tags: child-process, spawn, shebang, windows-compatibility, npm, command-line, nodejs

## Member repositories
- moxystudio/node-cross-spawn (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:51.566053+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:28:32.279736+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/moxystudio/node-cross-spawn (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:51.566053+00:00, sha f10f3fc46741)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.