PM2 and pm2-runtime are both tools used for managing Node.js applications, but they are designed for different environments and use cases.
PM2
PM2 is a popular process manager for Node.js applications that is used in development and production environments. It provides features like process monitoring, automatic restarts on failure, load balancing, and zero-downtime deployments. PM2 is suitable for managing applications directly on servers or virtual machines where you have full control over the environment. It allows you to start, stop, and monitor applications easily using a simple command-line interface. PM2 also supports clustering, which can improve the performance and reliability of your applications by spreading the load across multiple instances[2][3][4].
pm2-runtime
pm2-runtime is a variant of PM2 that is specifically designed for use in containerized environments, such as Docker. It acts as a drop-in replacement for the Node.js binary, designed to keep the application running in the foreground. This behavior is crucial in container environments because the container needs to stay alive as long as the application it contains is running. Unlike PM2, which by default runs applications in the background, pm2-runtime ensures that the Node.js application aligns with the typical behavior expected in containerized applications, where the main process should not daemonize (run in the background)[1][3].
When to Use Each
Use PM2 when you are managing Node.js applications directly on servers or VMs. It is ideal for scenarios where you need robust process management, including features like log mana...
