google/zx
★ 45,808 stars
Covered in week 2026-W20 · the 2026-05 report
A tool for writing better scripts
What zx is
Bash is great, but when it comes to writing more complex scripts, many people prefer a more convenient programming language. JavaScript is a perfect choice, but the Node.js standard library requires additional hassle before using. No compromise, take the best of both. The zx package provides useful cross-platform wrappers around childprocess, escapes arguments and gives sensible defaults.
From the repository README · read it on GitHub →
Transcript
Ansible Tower starts at 13 grand a year. Google's zx does it free. It lets you write shell scripts in JavaScript with built-in helpers for fetching APIs, parsing JSON, and chaining commands, all without the nightmare of bash quoting rules. Over 45,000 stars and 1.8 million weekly npm downloads. If you've ever wrestled with bash variables inside double quotes inside single quotes, zx eliminates that entire class of bugs. Your deployment scripts become readable, testable JavaScript. Star it if this saved you money.