"Modern inter-process communication made simple. A refreshed IPC bus for local Node.js microservices."

Hi everyone!

Have you ever had to connect several Node.js processes running on the same machine?


Maybe you're splitting a monolith into smaller pieces, running worker daemons, or coordinating local tools?

Standard solutions like child_process, stdin/stdout, named pipes or TCP — they all work, but come with tons of boilerplate: serialization, routing, discovery, and error handling.

This is where nodeBond comes in — a revived and redesigned lightweight IPC bus for local Node.js services.


Yes, it’s an old idea — now completely reworked and updated in version 4.0.0 ✨

🔧 Why nodeBond?

Common IPC pain:

• Setting up raw sockets is error-prone


• No built-in service discovery


• No shared in-memory state (without adding Redis or DB)


• Hard to test or interact manually with services

✅ nodeBond Solves That

Core ideas:

1. Central Hub (nodebond start-hub)


The hub manages service registration and routing:

nodebond start-hub

2. Registering a service

const { register } = require("nodebond");



register({

  id: "data-processor",

  exports: {

    async processData(payload) {

      return { status: "processed", id: payload.id };

    }

  }

});

3. Calling a service

const { call } = require("nodebond/runtime");



const result = await call("data-processor.processData", { id: 123 });

console.log(result);

From CLI:

nodebond call data-processor.processData "{"id":123}"

4. Shared State: get, set, watch

nodebond set printer.status ""ready""

nodebond get printer.status

nodebond watch printer.status

5. CLI Tool

The nodebond CLI gives you full control:

• launch the hub


• call services


• inspect or set variables


• debug your system live

🧪 Real-World Use

You can connect:

• 🖨 printer-service — handles receipt printing
  


• 📦 db-service — fetches client info
  


• 💳 cashbox-service — orchestrates both

One service can call another, pass data, and monitor status variables in real time.

⚠ Considerations

🎯 Use Cases

Choose nodeBond when:

• You split your app into small isolated services


• You want to avoid HTTP overhead or external brokers


• You want a CLI to monitor and test your system


• You want to teach microservice patterns locally

📦 Install

npm install nodebond

CLI version:

npm install -g nodebond

🔄 What's New in v4.0.0?

This project was originally started earlier, but fully reimagined recently:

• ✅ Per-request ID & socket-based responses


• ✅ CLI with token auth (NODEBOND_TOKEN)


• ✅ Global in-memory store (get/set/watch)


• ✅ Unified API for services and tools


• ✅ Clean modular core (hub, IPC, runtime)


• ✅ Fully testable with .bat scripts


• ✅ Windows + Unix socket support

🔗 Learn More

• GitHub: https://github.com/Xzdes/nodeBond
  


• NPM: https://www.npmjs.com/package/nodebond
  

Thanks for reading — I’d love to hear how nodeBond might help your projects too!

nodejs #javascript #ipc #microservices #cli #opensource #nodebond