n/no-process-exit

process.exit() stops the process immediately. Output that hasn't been written yet is lost, finally blocks don't run, and the code that called yours doesn't get a chance to handle the problem or clean up.

Throw an error instead. If nothing catches it, the process ends with a stack trace and a failing exit code. To end with a specific exit code, set process.exitCode and let the process finish by itself.

Configure#

Off by default. To turn it on:

[lint.rules]
"n/no-process-exit" = "error" # or "warn"

Examples#

Reported:

if (!config.valid) {
  console.error("invalid config");
  process.exit(1);
}

Not reported:

if (!config.valid) {
  throw new Error("invalid config");
}

if (!config.valid) {
  console.error("invalid config");
  process.exitCode = 1;
}

When not to use it#

A command line tool's entry file is a reasonable place for process.exit(), for example to stop while timers or sockets are still open.