Nexe is a command-line utility that compiles your Node.js application into a single executable file.
- Ability to run multiple applications with different node.js runtimes.
- Distributable binaries without needing node / npm.
- Starts faster.
- Lockdown specific application versions, and easily rollback.
- Faster deployments.
- Linux / Mac / BSD / Windows
- Python 2.6 or 2.7 (use --python if not in PATH)
- Windows: Visual Studio 2010+
- Use the techniques below for working around dynamic require statements to exclude the module from the bundling, and deploy along side the executable in a node_module folder so your app can find it. Note: On windows you may need to have your app be named node.exe if .node file depends on node.
Such As:
var x = require(someVar);
In this case nexe won't bundle the file
var x;
if (someCheck) {
x = require("./ver1.js");
} else {
x = require("./var2.js");
}
In this case nexe will bundle both files.
Workarounds:
- for dynamic requires that you want bundled add the following into your project
var dummyToForceIncludeForBundle = false;
if (dummyToForceIncludeForBundle) {
require("./loadedDynamicallyLater.js");
// ...
}
this will trick the bundler into including them.
- for dynamic files getting included that you don't want to be
var moduleName = "./ver2.js";
if (someCheck) {
moduleName = "./ver1.js";
}
var x = require(moduleName);
Note: neither file will be bundled.
Using these two techniques you can change your application code so modules are not bundles, and generate a includes.js file as part of your build process so that the right files get bundled for your build configuration.
Once the module is bundled it is part of the executable. __dirname is therefore the executable dir (process.execPath). Thus if you put resources on a relative path from the the executable your app will be able to access them.
If you had a data file at /dev/myNodeApp/stateManager/handler/data/some.csv
and a file at /dev/myNodeApp/stateManager/handler/loader.js
module.exports = fw.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, "./data/some.csv"));
You would need to deploy some.csv in a sub dir data/
along side your executable
There are potential use cases for __dirname where the executable path is not the correct substitution, and could result in a silent error (possibly even in a dependency that you are unaware of).
Note: __filename will be 'undefined'
child_process.spawn works is unmodified, but child_process.fork will make an attempt to launch a new instance of your executable and run the bundled module.
Via NPM:
npm install nexe [-g]
Or git:
git clone https://github.com/crcn/nexe.git
Usage: nexe -i [sources] -o [binary] [options]
Options:
-i, --input The entry javascript files [default: cwd]
-o, --output The output binary [default: out.nex]
-r, --runtime The node.js runtime to use [default: "latest"]
-t, --temp The path to store node.js sources [default: ./tmp/nexe]
-f, --flags Don't parse node and v8 flags, pass through app flags [default: false]
-v, --version Display version number
-p, --python Set path of python to use. [default: "python"]
-F, --framework Set the framework to use. [default: "nodejs"]
var nexe = require('nexe');
nexe.compile({
input: 'input.js', // where the input file is
output: 'path/to/bin', // where to output the compiled binary
nodeVersion: '5.5.0', // node version
nodeTempDir: 'src', // where to store node source.
nodeConfigureArgs: ['opt', 'val'], // for all your configure arg needs.
nodeMakeArgs: ["-j", "4"], // when you want to control the make process.
python: 'path/to/python', // for non-standard python setups. Or python 3.x forced ones.
resourceFiles: [ 'path/to/a/file' ], // array of files to embed.
flags: true, // use this for applications that need command line flags.
jsFlags: "--use_strict", // v8 flags
framework: "node" // node, nodejs, or iojs
}, function(err) {
if(err) {
return console.log(err);
}
// do whatever
});
As of 0.4.0 you can now embed nexe options into package.json. Note that this Format is still in works, so it is likely to change.
"nexe": {
"input": "./bin/nexe",
"output": "nexe^$",
"temp": "src",
"runtime": {
"framework": "node",
"version": "5.5.0",
"js-flags": "--use_strict",
"ignoreFlags": true
}
}
Notes:
- output: can use ^$ for platform specific file extension
- js-flags: this is also known as v8 flags, and supports all v8 flags.
- Jared Allard (@jaredallard) <[email protected]> (Active)
- Christopher Karper (@ckarper) <[email protected]> (Active)
- Craig Condon (@crcn) <[email protected]> (Old Project Owner)