Node.js

Build with Flox

Not only can you develop your software with Flox, but you can build it as well. See the builds concept page for more details.

npm

Building Node.js packages with npm looks similar to building for containers or serverless functions. On a high level, builds for Node.js-based projects generally follow this pattern:

[build.myproject]
command = '''
# Install dependencies
npm ci

# Build
npm run build
# -> assuming this yields a `dist` directory

# Install the build result to `out` # (1)!
mkdir -p $out
mv ./dist $out/

## If your app does not use a bundler
## and needs additional node_modules at runtime,
## `npm prune` and copy the node modules to $out
#
# npm prune --include "prod"
# cp -r ./node_modules $out

# Create a run script # (2)!
mkdir -p $out/bin
echo "#!/usr/bin/env sh"
echo 'exec node $out/dist/index.js "$@"' >> $out/bin/myproject
chmod 755 $out/bin/myproject
'''

If you expect to install multiple Node.js applications in the same environment, we recommend putting the dist (and optional node_modules) under an appropriate namespace, e.g. install them as /libexec/myproject/dist.
If your npm build already produces a binary that can be executed drectly, you can also copy or link that to $out/bin. Note that only binaries in $out/bin are wrapped to ensure they run within a consistent environment.