Packing your Node.js application into a single executable.

Node.js Packer

Packing your Node.js application into a single executable.

Features

• Works on Linux, Mac and Windows
• Creates a binary distribution of your application
• Supports natively any form of require, including dynamic ones (e.g. require(myPath + 'module.js')
• Supports any module, including direct download and compilation from npm
• Native C++ modules are fully supported
• Features zero-config auto-update capabilities to make your compiled project to stay updated
• Open Source, MIT Licensed

Get Started

It takes less than 5 minutes to compile any project with node-compiler.

You won’t need to modify a single line of code in your application, no matter how you developed it as long as it works in plain node.js!

For previous releases, cf. http://enclose.io/nodec

Install on Windows

First install the prerequisites:

• SquashFS Tools 4.3
• Python 2.6 or 2.7
• Either of,
  • Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, all editions including the Community edition (remember to select “Common Tools for Visual C++ 2015” feature during installation).
  • Visual Studio 2017, any edition (including the Build Tools SKU). Required Components: “MSbuild”, “VC++ 2017 v141 toolset” and one of the Windows SDKs (10 or 8.1).

Then download nodec-x64.zip, and this zip file contains only one executable. Unzip it. Optionally, rename it to nodec.exe and put it under C:\Windows (or any other directory that is part of PATH). Execute nodec from the command line.

Install on Linux

First install the prerequisites:

• SquashFS Tools 4.3
  • sudo yum install squashfs-tools
  • sudo apt-get install squashfs-tools
• gcc and g++ 4.9.4 or newer, or
• clang and clang++ 3.4.2 or newer
• Python 2.6 or 2.7
• GNU Make 3.81 or newer

Then,

curl -L http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-linux-x64.gz | gunzip > nodec
chmod +x nodec
./nodec

Install on macOS

First install the prerequisites:

• SquashFS Tools 4.3: brew install squashfs
• Xcode
  • You also need to install the Command Line Tools via Xcode. You can find this under the menu Xcode -> Preferences -> Downloads
  • This step will install gcc and the related toolchain containing make
• Python 2.6 or 2.7
• GNU Make 3.81 or newer

Then,

curl -L http://enclose.io/nodec/nodec-darwin-x64.gz | gunzip > nodec
chmod +x nodec
./nodec

Usage

nodec [OPTION]... [ENTRANCE]
  -r, --root=DIR                   Specifies the path to the root of the application
  -o, --output=FILE                Specifies the path of the output file
  -d, --tmpdir=DIR                 Specifies the directory for temporary files
      --clean-tmpdir               Cleans all temporary files that were generated last time
      --keep-tmpdir                Keeps all temporary files that were generated last time
      --make-args=ARGS             Passes extra arguments to make
      --vcbuild-args=ARGS          Passes extra arguments to vcbuild.bat
  -n, --npm=FILE                   Specifies the path of npm
      --skip-npm-install           Skips the npm install process
      --npm-package=NAME           Downloads and compiles the specified npm package
      --npm-package-version=VER    Downloads and compiles the specified version of the npm package
      --auto-update-url=URL        Enables auto-update and specifies the URL to get the latest version
      --auto-update-base=STRING    Enables auto-update and specifies the base version string
      --msi                        Generates a .msi installer for Windows
      --pkg                        Generates a .pkg installer for macOS
      --debug                      Enable debug mode
      --quiet                      Enable quiet mode
  -v, --version                    Prints the version of nodec and exit
  -V, --node-version               Prints the version of the Node.js runtime and exit
  -h, --help                       Prints this help and exit

Note: if ENTRANCE was not provided, then a single Node.js interpreter executable will be produced.

Note: To compile to 32-bit windows OS compatible programs on a 64-bit machine, you should use a x64 x32 cross compiling environment. You should be able to find it in your Start Menu after installing Visual Studio. Also, you have to use a 32-bit Node.js, because the arch information is detected via node -pe process.arch.

Examples

Compile a CLI tool

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jashkenas/coffeescript.git
cd coffeescript
nodec bin/coffee
./a.out (or a.exe on Windows)

Compile a web application

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/eggjs/examples.git
cd examples/helloworld
npm install
nodec node_modules/egg-bin/bin/egg-bin.js
./a.out dev (or a.exe dev on Windows)

Compile a npm package

nodec --npm-package=coffee-script coffee
./a.out (or a.exe on Windows)

Learn More

How it works

• Node.js Compiler: compiling your Node.js application into a single executable.

Comparing with Similar Projects

See Also

• Libsquash: portable, user-land SquashFS that can be easily linked and embedded within your application.
• Libautoupdate: cross-platform C library to enable your application to auto-update itself in place.