human-signals 8.x

Complete instructions

Verified against human-signals@8.0.1 on 2026-09-08. 2 of 2 examples executed.

human-signals

What this package provides

human-signals 8.x is an ES module with no runtime dependencies. It requires Node.js >=18.18.0 and documents two named exports:

• signalsByName: signal name → signal object
• signalsByNumber: signal number → signal object

There are no documented functions, CLI commands, or runner APIs. Import the package with ES import or dynamic import(); do not use CommonJS require(). TypeScript output must be ES modules rather than CommonJS.

Look up a signal by name

Use an established signal name such as SIGINT. Signal names are strict: lowercase names such as sigint and unknown names such as SIGOTHER are not valid v8 signal names.

import assert from 'node:assert/strict'
import { signalsByName } from 'human-signals'

const sigint = signalsByName.SIGINT

assert.equal(sigint.name, 'SIGINT')
assert.equal(sigint.number, 2)
assert.equal(sigint.description, 'User interruption with CTRL-C')
assert.equal(sigint.supported, true)
assert.equal(sigint.action, 'terminate')
assert.equal(sigint.forced, false)
assert.equal(sigint.standard, 'ansi')

Each value is a signal object with these fields:

• name: string
• number: number
• description: string
• supported: boolean
• action: 'terminate' | 'core' | 'ignore' | 'pause' | 'unpause'
• forced: boolean
• standard: 'ansi' | 'posix' | 'bsd' | 'systemv' | 'other'

Look up a signal by number

Use a valid signal number as the key. In v8, the TypeScript signal-number types accept valid signal numbers such as 1 or 9; they do not accept -1, 1.5, or 999. 0 is not a valid signal number for the package types, even though it may be passed to process.kill().

import assert from 'node:assert/strict'
import { signalsByNumber } from 'human-signals'

const sigfpe = signalsByNumber[8]

assert.equal(sigfpe.name, 'SIGFPE')
assert.equal(sigfpe.number, 8)
assert.equal(sigfpe.description, 'Floating point arithmetic error')
assert.equal(sigfpe.supported, true)
assert.equal(sigfpe.action, 'core')
assert.equal(sigfpe.forced, false)
assert.equal(sigfpe.standard, 'ansi')

Platform support

signal.supported is OS-specific. It reflects whether Node.js can handle that signal with process.on(name, handler). Do not treat the field as a universal claim that every operating system supports the signal.

Version and compatibility pitfalls

• The current release in the documented ^8.0.0 range is 8.0.1.
• v8 made signal-number types stricter. Do not carry forward code that uses -1, fractional numbers, 999, or 0 as a package signal number.
• Signal names are strict in the older tightened shape as well: use valid uppercase names such as SIGINT, not lowercase or invented names.
• The package is ESM-only according to the documentation. A direct require('human-signals') is not the documented usage.
• The documented v8 lookup types are Signal, not Signal | undefined; still, only use documented signal names and valid signal numbers.

What this skill does not cover

This skill does not cover undocumented exports, the complete signal catalogue, operating-system-specific support results beyond the supported field, sending or handling signals with Node.js, CommonJS integration workarounds, or any CLI/runner behavior. The research documents no CLI, runner, or build-step API for this package.