Add and document verification tooling for contributors

[ST-DDT]

Split from #3851 (comment)

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Currently, the docs don't mention any tooling other than pnpm run preflight to verify changes for contributors.

[ST-DDT]

ST-DDT in #3851 (comment)

Also whats the easiest way to run faker locally? via testing or starting pnpm run docs:dev and then using the browser console?

There are 4 ways. In descending order of my personal preference.

• pnpm tsx my-test.ts (easy to repeat and debug, looking into complex values may require JSON.stringify, no need to switch windows)
• pnpm run docs:dev and then via browser console (easy to look into array/complex values , you may need to run it/generate:apidocs repeatedly)
• clone and use the playground or create your own (you may need to build/install repeatedly)
• write a (temporary) test, (vitest may add noise to your logs or run more tests than you intended)

@faker-js/members Should we document that somewhere or prepare a commamd for that like pnpm run testxecute/texecute? Currently only docs:dev ist documented.

[ST-DDT]

Shinigami92 in #3851 (comment)

IMO this is a really niche case. However you could store scripts in _local folder, because this folder will be ignored by the clean script.

faker/package.json

Line 6 in 8b4e2b1

"clean": "git clean -fdx --exclude _local",

[ST-DDT]

matthewmayer in #3851 (comment)

Also whats the easiest way to run faker locally? via testing or starting pnpm run docs:dev and then using the browser console?

There are 4 ways. In descending order of my personal preference.

• pnpm tsx my-test.ts (easy to repeat and debug, looking into complex values may require JSON.stringify, no need to switch windows)

• pnpm run docs:dev and then via browser console (easy to look into array/complex values , you may need to run it/generate:apidocs repeatedly)

• clone and use the playground or create your own (you may need to build/install repeatedly)

• write a (temporary) test, (vitest may add noise to your logs or run more tests than you intended)

@faker-js/members Should we document that somewhere or prepare a commamd for that like pnpm run testxecute/texecute? Currently only docs:dev ist documented.

Personally I do

pnpm run build
node

Now you are in node REPL so can do like:

const {fakerCY}=require(".")
fakerCY.location.zipCode()

[ST-DDT]

IMO this is a really niche case.

Validating the changes you are about to contribute, shouldn't be a niche case.

I did run into the same problem/need recently.

However you could store scripts in _local folder, because this folder will be ignored by the clean script.

I probably forgot about it and I didn't find any docs related to it.

[ST-DDT]

Personally I do

pnpm run build
node

Now you are in node REPL so can do like:

const {fakerCY}=require(".")
fakerCY.location.zipCode()

What would you think about a pnpm run repl command that (builds and) automatically imports faker, so you can just start using it?
(Maybe with a text similar to the one on our website?)

pnpm run build && node --import scripts/init-repl.ts
// or
pnpm run build && pnpm tsx scripts/repl.ts

// scripts/init-repl.ts
import * as all from '../scr/index.ts';
Object.assign(globalThis, all);
const version = ...
console.log(`
You can now start using Faker ${version}:
e.g. 'faker.food.description()' or 'fakerZH_CN.person.firstName()'
For other languages please refer to https://fakerjs.dev/guide/localization.html#available-locales
For a full list of all methods please refer to https://fakerjs.dev/api/
`);

[matthewmayer]

It's a nice shortcut.

I don't honestly know how much the average JS developer is familiar with the Node REPL. Frontend developers probably prefer browser devtools.

[ST-DDT]

I primarily use our browser console as well, but it is ill suited for debugging.