Build NW.js applications for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Tested and runs on Node 14, 16 and 18!
Using npm:
npm install nw-builder
Using yarn:
yarn add nw-builder
Using pnpm:
pnpm add nw-builder
Usage:
nwbuild [options] [path] [-- <args>]
Options:
-p, --platforms Platforms to build, comma-sperated, can be:
win32, win64, osx32, osx64, linux32, linux64 or
win, osx, linux [default: <Current OS>]
-v, --version The nw version, eg. 0.64.1 [default: "latest"]
-r, --run Runs NW.js for the current platform [default: false]
-o, --buildDir The build folder [default: "./build"]
-f, --forceDownload Force download of NW.js [default: false]
--cacheDir The cache folder
--quiet Disables logging [default: false]
-- <args> Pass custom arguments to the NW.js instance
(-r, --run mode only)
To run NW.js in dev mode:
nwbuild -r path/to/app -- <args>
var NwBuilder = require('nw-builder');
var nw = new NwBuilder({
files: './path/to/nwfiles/**/**', // use the glob format
platforms: ['osx64', 'win32', 'win64', 'linux32', 'linux64'],
version: 'latest',
argv: ['<nwjs_arg>', ... ] // see nwjs docs for possible <nwjs_arg> values
});
// Log stuff you want
nw.on('log', console.log);
nw.build().then(function () {
console.log('all done!');
}).catch(function (error) {
console.error(error);
});
To run NW.js in dev mode:
nw.run()
.then(function () {
console.log("all done!");
})
.catch(function (error) {
console.error(error);
});
Stay up to date via the Changelog.
Type: String
Default value: null
The path to your node webkit app. It supports simple-glob so you can do stuff like ['foo/*.js', '!foo/bar.js', 'foo/bar.js']
.
Type: String
Default value: 'latest'
The version of NW.js you want to use. Per default it looks up the latest version. Here is a list of all available releases.
Type: String
Default value: 'sdk'
The flavor of NW.js you want to use. Per default it will be sdk
. Here is a list of all flavor available.
The value sdk
is most used for development whereas normal
for production.
Type (CLI)
: String
(comma separated values)
Type (API)
: Array
of String
Default value: [<current OS>
]
The platforms you want to build. Can be ['win32', 'win64', 'osx32', 'osx64', 'linux32', 'linux64']
The values ['win', 'osx', 'linux']
can also be used and will build both the 32 and 64 bit versions of the specified platforms.
Be aware that the osx32 version can only be built with legacy version of nwjs. Since > 0.12.0, only 64 bits for osx works.
Type: String
Default value: false
The Name of your NW.js app. If this value is set to null, it will autodetect the name
from your projects package.json. This will be used to generate a plist file for mac.
Type: String
Default value: false
The version of your NW.js app. If this value is set to null, it will autodetect the version
form your projects package.json. This will be used to generate a plist file for mac.
Type: String
Default value: ./build
This is where the releases are saved.
Type: String
Default value: ./cache
This is where the cached NW.js downloads are.
Type: String
or function
Default value: default
How you want to save your build.
default
[appName]versioned
[appName] -v[appVersion]timestamped
[appName] - [timestamp];- A function with options as scope (e.g
function () {return this.appVersion;}
)
Type: Boolean
Default value: false
This will delete everything in your build_dir
directory, including the cached downloaded prebuilt binaries.
Type (CLI)
: String
(comma separated values)
Type (API)
: Array
of String
Default Value: []
Pass Command Line Options when you run an NW.js instance. Ignored in case of build.
Type: String
Default value: false
MAC ONLY: The path to your credits.html file. If your don't provide your own it will use the one provided by NW.js
Type: String
Default value: false
MAC ONLY: The path to your ICNS icon file. If your don't provide your own it will use the one provided by NW.js
Type: Boolean
Default value: null
WINDOW ONLY: Instead of zipping the application and merging it into the executable the application content is placed next to the application (which speed up the startup time for large apps). The default behaviour is platform specific. For windows
and linux
, the application is zipped and merged into the executable. For mac
, the application is not zipped.
Type: Object
Default value: null
Allows to configure the underling zip library parameters, like store or compression ratio.
See archiver documentation for detailed description of properties.
Type: String
or Object
Default value: false
MAC ONLY: Pass a string containing the path to your own plist file. If a string isn't passed, a plist file will be generated from your package.json. Pass an object to overwrite or add properties to the generated plist file.
Type: Object
Default value: {}
WINDOWS ONLY: Some descriptors of the executable. If your don't provide your own FileDescription
, it will default to options.appName
. If you are building on MAC or LINUX you must have Wine installed to use this option.
See the MSDN docs for more options than the basic list below,
winVersionString: {
'CompanyName': 'Some Company',
'FileDescription': 'Process Name',
'ProductName': 'Some Product',
'LegalCopyright': 'Copyright 2017',
}
Type: String
Default value: null
WINDOWS ONLY: The path to your ICO icon file. If your don't provide your own it will use the one provided by NW.js. If you are building on MAC or LINUX you must have Wine installed to use this option.
Type: Boolean
Default value: null
MAC ONLY: Use a app.nw
folder instead of ZIP
file, this significantly improves the startup speed of applications on mac
, since no decompressing is needed. Builds on other platforms will still use ZIP
files. The default behaviour of node-webkit-builder is to not use ZIP
files on the mac
platform. In case of the mac
platform the option macZip
can override the option zip
.
Type: Boolean
Default value: true
WINDOWS AND LINUX ONLY: Merge the source file package with the Node Webkit executable.
Allows you to specify platform-specific manifest values. Example manifest:
{
"name": "nw-demo",
"version": "0.1.0",
"main": "index.html",
"window": {
"frame": false,
"toolbar": false
},
"platformOverrides": {
"win": {
"window": {
"toolbar": true
}
},
"win32": {
"window": {
"frame": true,
"toolbar": false
}
},
"win64": {
"window": {
"frame": true
}
},
"osx": {
...
},
"osx32": {
...
},
"osx64": {
...
},
"linux": {
...
},
"linux32": {
...
},
"linux64": {
...
},
}
The platform-specific options will override the others only when building that platform only and the platformOverrides
property will be removed.
For example, when building for Windows, the manifest generated and put into the end app (from the manifest above) would be:
{
"name": "nw-demo",
"version": "0.1.0",
"main": "index.html",
"window": {
"frame": true,
"toolbar": false
}
}
Additionally, when specifying multiple version of the same platform such as "win", "win32", and "win64", changes will be applied such that "win" applies to both "win32" and "win64", while "win32" and "win64" apply only to the specified version. Also note that "win32" and "win64" can further override changes made in "win".
See #85 and #94 for more information. If you need this during development too, see platform-overrides and gulp-platform-overrides. There is no Grunt plugin, yet.
## Troubleshooting
Darwin (OS X kernel) has a low limit for file descriptors (256 per process) by default, so you might get an EMFILE
error or an error mentioning "too many open files" if youtry to open more file descriptors than this.
To get around it, run ulimit -n 1024
(or add it to your ~/.bash_profile
). For more information, see henvic/osx-ulimit.
This project was created by Steffen Müller and has been maintained by Gabe Paez, Andy Trevorah, Adam Lynch and Rémy Boulanouar in the past. This project is currently maintained by Ayushman Chhabra.
- Pick and install a Node version manager
- Linux/OSX - nvm
- Windows 8+ - nvm-windows
- Windows 7 - nodist
- Win/Lin/OSX - volta
- Use your version manager to install Node 14.19, 16.9, 18.2 or above
- Run
corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@7.1.7 --activate
pnpm install
- If you haven't used
pnpm
before, here is a cheatsheet
- If you haven't used
pnpm demo
to test your changes at first glancepnpm test
to run unit tests- Don't forget to run
pnpm format && pnpm lint
before commiting your changes
- Whenever possible, open an issue before submitting a pull request.
- PRs should have short descriptive titles. For example:
- fix(docs): fix typo in
options.platform
description - feat(platform): add support for mac m1
- fix(docs): fix typo in
- Ideally, a PR should reference a related issue
- Ensure there are tests that cover your changes