Gruntfile.js - Throwing error 'Recursive process.nextTick detected"

Question

I have defined a simple Gruntfile.js per the official instructions and yet I am getting a warning when I run the grunt watch ('$ grunt watch') or grunt default task ('$ grunt ').

The error is:

(node) warning: Recursive process.nextTick detected. This will break in the next version of node. Please use setImmediate for recursive deferral.

I have read the related StackOverflow question and answer here: grunt throw "Recursive process.nextTick detected", but that didn't resolve my issue.

My Gruntfile.js is:

module.exports = function(grunt) {
  grunt.initConfig({
    pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
    concat: {
      options: {
        separator: ';'
      },
      dist: {
        src: ['client/app/**/*.js'],
        dest: 'client/dist/<%= pkg.name %>.js'
      }
    },
    uglify: {
      options: {
        banner: '/*! <%= pkg.name %> <%= grunt.template.today("dd-mm-yyyy") %> */\n'
      },
      dist: {
        files: {
          'dist/<%= pkg.name %>.min.js': ['<%= concat.dist.dest %>']
        }
      }
    },
    jshint: {
      files: ['client/app/**/*.js', 'server/**/*.js'],
      options: {
        // options here to override JSHint defaults
        globals: {
          jQuery: true,
          console: true,
          module: true, 
          document: true
        }
      }
    },
    watch: {
      files: ['<% jshint.files %>'],
      tasks: ['jshint']
    }
  });

  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-jshint');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-concat');

  grunt.registerTask('default', ['watch']);
  grunt.registerTask('test', ['jshint']);
  grunt.registerTask('build-dev', ['jshint', 'concat']);
  grunt.registerTask('build', ['jshint', 'concat', 'uglify']);

};

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered May 27 '14 at 22:30

OK. I figured it out. And dagnabbit, the bug was in the same Gruntfile that I copied hither from thither.

Node did NOT like the watch instructions to reference the jshint.files property and then call the jshint task. So instead, I put the files in explicitly as follows. After changing the following lines (with context):

 watch: {
       files: ['client/app/**/*.js', 'server/**/*.js'],
       tasks: ['jshint']
     }

the grunt watch and default tasks (the default task was performing the watch task), it worked without any warnings!

rather than copying and pasting those files from jshint to watch, you could say `files: jshint.files` instead of `files: ['<%= jshint.files %>']` — Erik Donohoo, May 27 '14 at 22:34

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 20 '14 at 23:02

So I know this question has been answered, but I'll share my insights into this error as it proved to be a colossal waste of time.

Here's my original Gruntfile:

module.exports = function (grunt) {
    grunt.initConfig({
        pkg: grunt.file.readJSON('package.json'),
        watch: {
            dev: {
                files: ['**/*.js', 'public/stylesheets/**/*.scss'],
                tasks: ['express:dev'],
                options: {
                    spawn: false
                }
            }
        },
        express: {
            dev: {
                options: {
                    script: 'server.js',
                    node_env: 'development'
                }
            }
        }
    });

    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
    grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-express-server');

    grunt.registerTask('default', ['express:dev', 'watch']);
};

In a similar vain to Chad, I resolved the issue by removing js files from my watch task, which restarts Express. The below configuration of the aforementioned task works fine for me:

watch: {
    dev: {
        files: ['public/stylesheets/**/*.scss'],
        tasks: ['express:dev'],
        options: {
            spawn: false
        }
    }
},

Gruntfile.js - Throwing error 'Recursive process.nextTick detected"

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