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meow is designed to be a drop-in for most Node.js projects. It reads your existing package.json, resolves the same npm packages, and runs the same frameworks. This page maps what you already type onto meow, then calls out the few things that are deliberately different.

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Command cheat sheet

node script.js          →  meow run script.js   (or: meow script.js)
node --eval "..."       →  meow -e "..."
npm run dev             →  meow dev              (or: meow run dev)
npm run build           →  meow build            (omni-router → meow run build)
npm start               →  meow start

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The omni-router

meow infers intent from bare invocations, so most habits keep working without the run verb. When the first argument isn’t a known command, meow routes it:
You typemeow runsBecause
meow buildmeow run buildbuild is a standard script name
meow ./app.tsmeow run ./app.tsit’s a file path
meow devmeow run devdev is a script
meow create-next-appmeow x create-next-appunknown → ephemeral package
It also strips competitor-specific flags (--shell, --silent, --no-warnings) and Deno-style run flags (-A, --allow-all, --unstable-*) so scripts copied from other ecosystems don’t crash the parser. Full details in Running code.

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The node shim

When meow runs your scripts, it puts shims for node, npm, pnpm, yarn, bun, npx, pnpx, and bunx first on PATH. So when a framework (Next.js, Vite, Jest workers) shells out to node, it transparently re-enters meow. You don’t have to change how tools invoke each other.
Need a real node for one command? Set MEOW_NO_SHIM=1 and the shim execs the system binary instead.

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File-for-file

Node ecosystemmeowNotes
package.jsonpackage.jsonSame file. meow reads dependencies, devDependencies, scripts, overrides, workspaces. It only edits dependency sections on add/remove.
package-lock.json / pnpm-lock.yamlmeow.lock.jsonlA strict, sorted, merge-resistant JSON-Lines lockfile. See the lockfile.
node_modules/node_modules/Still real directories (no symlinked package contents), materialized via copy-on-write/hardlinks.
.eslintrc, .prettierrc, tsconfig.json, test configmeow.config.jsonOne config. meow generates the tsconfig.json editors expect. See configuration.
tsc, eslint, prettier, jest/vitestmeow check / lint / fmt / testBuilt in. No separate installs.
webpack/esbuild/rollupmeow bundlePowered by Rolldown over meow’s resolver.
meow can also write a tiny package-lock.json compatibility marker so framework detectors that look for it still light up — meow install --compat-lockfile. Your meow.lock.jsonl stays the source of truth.

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What’s genuinely different

These are intentional. Knowing them up front saves surprises.
A fresh meow init project runs in strict-web mode: the clock is frozen, Math.random/crypto.getRandomValues are seeded, and the timezone is pinned to UTC. Code that reads Date.now() expecting real wall-clock time will see a fixed value until you grant the real clock with --allow-clock (or switch to node-compat). This is what makes tests and CI reproducible. See Determinism.
In strict-web, environment variables are invisible and node:fs/node:process throw ERR_STRICT_WEB_WITHDRAWN. You opt back in with --allow-env, --allow-clock, --allow-random, or --trust. In node-compat mode (use it for Node apps and frameworks) the full host surface is available like Node. See Permissions.
"zod": "3.23.8" means exactly 3.23.8. "3.23" means >=3.23.0 <3.24.0, "3" means >=3.0.0 <4.0.0. ^, ~, ||, and hyphen ranges all behave the npm way. npm aliases (npm:pkg@range) and dist-tags (latest) are supported.
There is no .eslintcache, no per-tool daemon, no separate tsc --watch server. meow holds one syntax graph in memory for the lifetime of a command and feeds every tool from it.

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A typical migration

1

Drop meow into the repo

Keep your package.json. Add a meow.config.json:
meow.config.json
{ "mode": "node-compat" }
node-compat is the safe starting point for an existing Node app — full Node surface, host access, real clock.
2

Install

meow install
This resolves your existing dependencies, writes meow.lock.jsonl, and materializes node_modules.
3

Generate editor shims

meow sync
Writes .meow/tsconfig.json and a root tsconfig.json shim so your editor and meow check agree on the type surface.
4

Run your scripts

meow dev
meow run build
meow test

Next: the two runtime modes

The single most important concept when moving a project to meow.