node-gyp
- Node.js native addon build tool
node-gyp
is a cross-platform command-line tool written in Node.js for
compiling native addon modules for Node.js. It contains a vendored copy of the
gyp-next project that was previously used
by the Chromium team, extended to support the development of Node.js native addons.
Note that node-gyp
is not used to build Node.js itself.
Multiple target versions of Node.js are supported (i.e. 0.8
, ..., 4
, 5
, 6
,
etc.), regardless of what version of Node.js is actually installed on your system
(node-gyp
downloads the necessary development files or headers for the target version).
Features
- The same build commands work on any of the supported platforms
- Supports the targeting of different versions of Node.js
Installation
You can install node-gyp
using npm
:
npm install -g node-gyp
Depending on your operating system, you will need to install:
On Unix
- Python v3.6, v3.7, v3.8, or v3.9
make
- A proper C/C++ compiler toolchain, like GCC
On macOS
ATTENTION: If your Mac has been upgraded to macOS Catalina (10.15), please read macOS_Catalina.md.
- Python v3.6, v3.7, v3.8, or v3.9
- Xcode
- You also need to install the
XCode Command Line Tools
by runningxcode-select --install
. Alternatively, if you already have the full Xcode installed, you can find them under the menuXcode -> Open Developer Tool -> More Developer Tools...
. This step will installclang
,clang++
, andmake
.
- You also need to install the
On Windows
Install the current version of Python from the Microsoft Store package.
Install tools and configuration manually:
- Install Visual C++ Build Environment: Visual Studio Build Tools (using "Visual C++ build tools" workload) or Visual Studio Community (using the "Desktop development with C++" workload)
- Launch cmd,
npm config set msvs_version 2017
If the above steps didn't work for you, please visit Microsoft's Node.js Guidelines for Windows for additional tips.
To target native ARM64 Node.js on Windows 10 on ARM, add the components "Visual C++ compilers and libraries for ARM64" and "Visual C++ ATL for ARM64".
Configuring Python Dependency
node-gyp
requires that you have installed a compatible version of Python, one of: v3.6, v3.7,
v3.8, or v3.9. If you have multiple Python versions installed, you can identify which Python
version node-gyp
should use in one of the following ways:
- by setting the
--python
command-line option, e.g.:
node-gyp <command> --python /path/to/executable/python
- If
node-gyp
is called by way ofnpm
, and you have multiple versions of Python installed, then you can setnpm
's 'python' config key to the appropriate value:
npm config set python /path/to/executable/python
-
If the
PYTHON
environment variable is set to the path of a Python executable, then that version will be used, if it is a compatible version. -
If the
NODE_GYP_FORCE_PYTHON
environment variable is set to the path of a Python executable, it will be used instead of any of the other configured or builtin Python search paths. If it's not a compatible version, no further searching will be done.
How to Use
To compile your native addon, first go to its root directory:
cd my_node_addon
The next step is to generate the appropriate project build files for the current
platform. Use configure
for that:
node-gyp configure
Auto-detection fails for Visual C++ Build Tools 2015, so --msvs_version=2015
needs to be added (not needed when run by npm as configured above):
node-gyp configure --msvs_version=2015
Note: The configure
step looks for a binding.gyp
file in the current
directory to process. See below for instructions on creating a binding.gyp
file.
Now you will have either a Makefile
(on Unix platforms) or a vcxproj
file
(on Windows) in the build/
directory. Next, invoke the build
command:
node-gyp build
Now you have your compiled .node
bindings file! The compiled bindings end up
in build/Debug/
or build/Release/
, depending on the build mode. At this point,
you can require the .node
file with Node.js and run your tests!
Note: To create a Debug build of the bindings file, pass the --debug
(or
-d
) switch when running either the configure
, build
or rebuild
commands.
binding.gyp
file
The A binding.gyp
file describes the configuration to build your module, in a
JSON-like format. This file gets placed in the root of your package, alongside
package.json
.
A barebones gyp
file appropriate for building a Node.js addon could look like:
{
"targets": [
{
"target_name": "binding",
"sources": [ "src/binding.cc" ]
}
]
}
Further reading
Some additional resources for Node.js native addons and writing gyp
configuration files:
- "Going Native" a nodeschool.io tutorial
- "Hello World" node addon example
- gyp user documentation
- gyp input format reference
- "binding.gyp" files out in the wild wiki page
Commands
node-gyp
responds to the following commands:
Command | Description |
---|---|
help |
Shows the help dialog |
build |
Invokes make /msbuild.exe and builds the native addon |
clean |
Removes the build directory if it exists |
configure |
Generates project build files for the current platform |
rebuild |
Runs clean , configure and build all in a row |
install |
Installs Node.js header files for the given version |
list |
Lists the currently installed Node.js header versions |
remove |
Removes the Node.js header files for the given version |
Command Options
node-gyp
accepts the following command options:
Command | Description |
---|---|
-j n , --jobs n |
Run make in parallel. The value max will use all available CPU cores |
--target=v6.2.1 |
Node.js version to build for (default is process.version ) |
--silly , --loglevel=silly |
Log all progress to console |
--verbose , --loglevel=verbose |
Log most progress to console |
--silent , --loglevel=silent |
Don't log anything to console |
debug , --debug |
Make Debug build (default is Release ) |
--release , --no-debug |
Make Release build |
-C $dir , --directory=$dir |
Run command in different directory |
--make=$make |
Override make command (e.g. gmake ) |
--thin=yes |
Enable thin static libraries |
--arch=$arch |
Set target architecture (e.g. ia32) |
--tarball=$path |
Get headers from a local tarball |
--devdir=$path |
SDK download directory (default is OS cache directory) |
--ensure |
Don't reinstall headers if already present |
--dist-url=$url |
Download header tarball from custom URL |
--proxy=$url |
Set HTTP(S) proxy for downloading header tarball |
--noproxy=$urls |
Set urls to ignore proxies when downloading header tarball |
--cafile=$cafile |
Override default CA chain (to download tarball) |
--nodedir=$path |
Set the path to the node source code |
--python=$path |
Set path to the Python binary |
--msvs_version=$version |
Set Visual Studio version (Windows only) |
--solution=$solution |
Set Visual Studio Solution version (Windows only) |
Configuration
Environment variables
Use the form npm_config_OPTION_NAME
for any of the command options listed
above (dashes in option names should be replaced by underscores).
For example, to set devdir
equal to /tmp/.gyp
, you would:
Run this on Unix:
export npm_config_devdir=/tmp/.gyp
Or this on Windows:
set npm_config_devdir=c:\temp\.gyp
npm
configuration
Use the form OPTION_NAME
for any of the command options listed above.
For example, to set devdir
equal to /tmp/.gyp
, you would run:
npm config set [--global] devdir /tmp/.gyp
Note: Configuration set via npm
will only be used when node-gyp
is run via npm
, not when node-gyp
is run directly.
License
node-gyp
is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE
file for details.