request: Start server only if it is not running.

[FDiskas]

If I already have running local server on port 1234
I was sure that start-server-and-test :1234 'cypress open --e2e --browser chrome' first will check if it is not running already before starting the local server.

Why this is not the case?

[benzado]

How can it know if a server is already running? It could try connecting to the port, but that only confirms that something is listening... it could be a server from a different project!

I like that start-server-and-test will take ownership of the test server and terminates it when the tests are done. If it becomes too clever about using already running servers, it becomes too complex.

If your test server and development server are frequently fighting over the same port, may I suggest using a different port number for testing? You can even use a random port each time with a script like this:

#!/bin/bash

export PORT=$RANDOM
export CYPRESS_BASE_URL="http://localhost:$PORT"
npm exec -c "start-server-and-test start :$PORT 'cypress open'"