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 bundles the gyp project used by the Chromium team and takes away the pain of dealing with the various differences in build platforms.

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

• Easy to use, consistent interface
• Same commands to build your module on every platform
• Supports multiple target versions of Node.js

Installation

You can install with npm:

$ npm install -g node-gyp

You will also need to install:

On Unix

• python (v2.7 recommended, v3.x.x is not supported)
• make
• A proper C/C++ compiler toolchain, like GCC

On macOS

• python (v2.7 recommended, v3.x.x is not supported) (already installed on macOS)
• Xcode
  • You also need to install the Command Line Tools via Xcode. You can find this under the menu Xcode -> Preferences -> Downloads (or by running xcode-select --install in your Terminal)
    • This step will install gcc and the related toolchain containing make

On Windows

Option 1

Install all the required tools and configurations using Microsoft's windows-build-tools using npm install --global --production windows-build-tools from an elevated PowerShell or CMD.exe (run as Administrator).

Option 2

Install tools and configuration manually:

• Visual C++ Build Environment:

  • Option 1: Install Visual C++ Build Tools using the Default Install option.

  • Option 2: Install Visual Studio 2015 and select Common Tools for Visual C++ during setup. This also works with the free Community and Express for Desktop editions.

  • Option 3: if you already have Visual Studio 2015 installed and did not install the Common Tools for Visual C++ during setup, you can File -> New -> Project, pick any of the options under Templates -> Other Languages -> Visual C++ then Ok and Visual Studio will offer to install the Common Tools for Visual C++ with a "Install Missing Features" / "You need the Universal Windows App Development Tools to develop Windows app projects." dialog.

  💡 [Windows Vista / 7 only] requires .NET Framework 4.5.1

• Install Python 2.7 (v3.x.x is not supported), and run npm config set python python2.7 (or see below for further instructions on specifying the proper Python version and path.)

• Launch cmd, npm config set msvs_version 2015

If the above steps didn't work for you, please visit Microsoft's Node.js Guidelines for Windows for additional tips.

If you have multiple Python versions installed, you can identify which Python version node-gyp uses by setting the '--python' variable:

$ node-gyp --python /path/to/python2.7

If node-gyp is called by way of npm, and you have multiple versions of Python installed, then you can set npm's 'python' config key to the appropriate value:

$ npm config set python /path/to/executable/python2.7

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.

The binding.gyp file

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" ]
    }
  ]
}

Some additional resources for addons and writing gyp 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
--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 ~/.node-gyp)
--ensure	Don't reinstall headers if already present
--dist-url=$url	Download header tarball from custom URL
--proxy=$url	Set HTTP proxy for downloading header tarball
--cafile=$cafile	Override default CA chain (to download tarball)
--nodedir=$path	Set the path to the node source code
--python=$path	Set path to the Python 2 binary
--msvs_version=$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.