Node.js v20.0.0-rc.2 documentation


Table of contents

Single executable applications#

Stability: 1 - Experimental: This feature is being designed and will change.

Source Code: lib/internal/main/single_executable_application.js

This feature allows the distribution of a Node.js application conveniently to a system that does not have Node.js installed.

Node.js supports the creation of single executable applications by allowing the injection of a blob prepared by Node.js, which can contain a bundled script, into the node binary. During start up, the program checks if anything has been injected. If the blob is found, it executes the script in the blob. Otherwise Node.js operates as it normally does.

The single executable application feature currently only supports running a single embedded script using the CommonJS module system.

Users can create a single executable application from their bundled script with the node binary itself and any tool which can inject resources into the binary.

Here are the steps for creating a single executable application using one such tool, postject:

  1. Create a JavaScript file:

    $ echo 'console.log(`Hello, ${process.argv[2]}!`);' > hello.js 
  2. Create a configuration file building a blob that can be injected into the single executable application (see Generating single executable preparation blobs for details):

    $ echo '{ "main": "hello.js", "output": "sea-prep.blob" }' > sea-config.json 
  3. Generate the blob to be injected:

    $ node --experimental-sea-config sea-config.json 
  4. Create a copy of the node executable and name it according to your needs:

    $ cp $(command -v node) hello 
  5. Remove the signature of the binary:

    • On macOS:
    $ codesign --remove-signature hello 
    • On Windows (optional):

    signtool can be used from the installed Windows SDK. If this step is skipped, ignore any signature-related warning from postject.

    $ signtool remove /s hello 
  6. Inject the blob into the copied binary by running postject with the following options:

    • hello - The name of the copy of the node executable created in step 2.
    • NODE_SEA_BLOB - The name of the resource / note / section in the binary where the contents of the blob will be stored.
    • sea-prep.blob - The name of the blob created in step 1.
    • --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2 - The fuse used by the Node.js project to detect if a file has been injected.
    • --macho-segment-name NODE_SEA (only needed on macOS) - The name of the segment in the binary where the contents of the blob will be stored.

    To summarize, here is the required command for each platform:

    • On systems other than macOS:

      $ npx postject hello NODE_SEA_BLOB sea-prep.blob \
          --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2 
    • On macOS:

      $ npx postject hello NODE_SEA_BLOB sea-prep.blob \
          --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2 \
          --macho-segment-name NODE_SEA 
  7. Sign the binary:

    • On macOS:
    $ codesign --sign - hello 
    • On Windows (optional):

    A certificate needs to be present for this to work. However, the unsigned binary would still be runnable.

    $ signtool sign /fd SHA256 hello 
  8. Run the binary:

    $ ./hello world
    Hello, world! 

Generating single executable preparation blobs#

Single executable preparation blobs that are injected into the application can be generated using the --experimental-sea-config flag of the Node.js binary that will be used to build the single executable. It takes a path to a configuration file in JSON format. If the path passed to it isn't absolute, Node.js will use the path relative to the current working directory.

The configuration currently reads the following top-level fields:

{
  "main": "/path/to/bundled/script.js",
  "output": "/path/to/write/the/generated/blob.blob"
} 

If the paths are not absolute, Node.js will use the path relative to the current working directory. The version of the Node.js binary used to produce the blob must be the same as the one to which the blob will be injected.

Notes#

require(id) in the injected module is not file based#

require() in the injected module is not the same as the require() available to modules that are not injected. It also does not have any of the properties that non-injected require() has except require.main. It can only be used to load built-in modules. Attempting to load a module that can only be found in the file system will throw an error.

Instead of relying on a file based require(), users can bundle their application into a standalone JavaScript file to inject into the executable. This also ensures a more deterministic dependency graph.

However, if a file based require() is still needed, that can also be achieved:

const { createRequire } = require('node:module');
require = createRequire(__filename); 

__filename and module.filename in the injected module#

The values of __filename and module.filename in the injected module are equal to process.execPath.

__dirname in the injected module#

The value of __dirname in the injected module is equal to the directory name of process.execPath.

Single executable application creation process#

A tool aiming to create a single executable Node.js application must inject the contents of the blob prepared with --experimental-sea-config" into:

  • a resource named NODE_SEA_BLOB if the node binary is a PE file
  • a section named NODE_SEA_BLOB in the NODE_SEA segment if the node binary is a Mach-O file
  • a note named NODE_SEA_BLOB if the node binary is an ELF file

Search the binary for the NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2:0 fuse string and flip the last character to 1 to indicate that a resource has been injected.

Platform support#

Single-executable support is tested regularly on CI only on the following platforms:

This is due to a lack of better tools to generate single-executables that can be used to test this feature on other platforms.

Suggestions for other resource injection tools/workflows are welcomed. Please start a discussion at https://github.com/nodejs/single-executable/discussions to help us document them.