A minimalist bytecode compiler for Node.js.
This tool truly compiles your JavaScript code into V8
bytecode, so that you can protect your source code. It can be used with Node.js, as well as Electron and NW.js (check examples/
directory).
npm install --save bytenode
Or globally:
sudo npm install -g bytenode
-
In Node 10.x, Bytenode does not work in debug mode. See #29.
-
Any code depends on
Function.prototype.toString
function will break, because Bytenode removes the source code from.jsc
files and puts a dummy code instead. See #34. -
In recent versions of Node, the
--no-flush-bytecode
must be set. Bytenode sets it internally, but if you encounter any issues, try to run Node with that flag:$ node --no-flush-bytecode server.js
. See #41. -
Arrow functions (especially Async arrow functions) cause crash in Puppeteer and in Electron apps if used in render processes. See #106, #47. They also cause an issue with the ndb debugger. See #135. Use the usual async functions instead.
- How To Compile Node.js Code Using Bytenode
- Bytenode Webpack Plugin
- Creating JS Binaries For Electron
- Electron Bytenode Example
Usage: bytenode [option] [ FILE... | - ] [arguments]
Options:
-h, --help show help information.
-v, --version show bytenode version.
-c, --compile [ FILE... | - ] compile stdin, a file, or a list of files
-n, --no-module compile without producing commonjs module
-e, --electron compile for Electron
-l, --loader [ FILE | PATTERN ] create a loader file and optionally define
loader filename or pattern using % as filename replacer
defaults to %.loader.js
Examples:
$ bytenode -c script.js compile `script.js` to `script.jsc`.
$ bytenode -c server.js app.js
$ bytenode -c src/*.js compile all `.js` files in `src/` directory.
$ bytenode -c *.js -l %.load.js create `filename.load.js` loader files along side `.jsc` files
$ bytenode script.jsc [arguments] run `script.jsc` with arguments.
$ bytenode open Node REPL with bytenode pre-loaded.
Examples:
- Compile
express-server.js
toexpress-server.jsc
.
user@machine:~$ bytenode --compile express-server.js
- Run your compiled file
express-server.jsc
.
user@machine:~$ bytenode express-server.jsc
Server listening on port 3000
- Compile all
.js
files in./app
directory.
user@machine:~$ bytenode --compile ./app/*.js
- Compile all
.js
files in your project.
user@machine:~$ bytenode --compile ./**/*.js
Note: you may need to enable globstar
option in bash (you should add it to ~/.bashrc
):
shopt -s globstar
- Starting from v1.0.0, bytenode can compile from
stdin
.
$ echo 'console.log("Hello");' | bytenode --compile - > hello.jsc
const bytenode = require('bytenode');
Generates v8 bytecode buffer.
- Parameters:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
javascriptCode | string | JavaScript source that will be compiled to bytecode. |
- Returns:
{Buffer} The generated bytecode.
- Example:
let helloWorldBytecode = bytenode.compileCode(`console.log('Hello World!');`);
This helloWorldBytecode
bytecode can be saved to a file. However, if you want to use your code as a module (i.e. if your file has some exports
), you have to compile it using bytenode.compileFile({compileAsModule: true})
, or wrap your code manually, using Module.wrap()
function.
Asynchronous function which generates v8 bytecode buffer for Electron.
Same as bytenode.compileCode()
, but generates bytecode for the version of Electron currently installed in node_modules.
- Parameters:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
javascriptCode | string | JavaScript source that will be compiled to bytecode. |
- Returns:
{Promise<Buffer>} A Promise which resolves with the generated bytecode.
- Example:
let helloWorldBytecode = await bytenode.compileElectronCode(`console.log('Hello World!');`);
This helloWorldBytecode
bytecode can be saved to a file. However, if you want to use your code as a module (i.e. if your file has some exports
), you have to compile it using bytenode.compileFile({compileAsModule: true})
, or wrap your code manually, using Module.wrap()
function.
Runs v8 bytecode buffer and returns the result.
- Parameters:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
bytecodeBuffer | Buffer | The buffer object that was created using compileCode function. |
- Returns:
{any} The result of the very last statement executed in the script.
- Example:
bytenode.runBytecode(helloWorldBytecode);
// prints: Hello World!
Asyncrhonous function which compiles JavaScript file to .jsc file.
- Parameters:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
args | object | string | |
args.filename | string | The JavaScript source file that will be compiled. |
args.compileAsModule | boolean | If true, the output will be a commonjs module. Default: true. |
args.electron | boolean | If true, the output will be a compiled through Electrong. Default: false. |
args.output | string | The output filename. Defaults to the same path and name of the original file, but with .jsc extension. |
output | string | The output filename. (Deprecated: use args.output instead) |
- Returns:
{Promise<string>}: A Promise that resolves as the compiled filename.
- Examples:
let compiledFilename = bytenode.compileFile({
filename: '/path/to/your/file.js',
output: '/path/to/compiled/file.jsc' // if omitted, it defaults to '/path/to/your/file.jsc'
});
Previous code will produce a commonjs module that can be required using require
function.
let compiledFilename = await bytenode.compileFile({
filename: '/path/to/your/file.js',
output: '/path/to/compiled/file.jsc',
compileAsModule: false
});
Previous code will produce a direct .jsc
file, that can be run using bytenode.runBytecodeFile()
function. It can NOT be required as a module. Please note that compileAsModule
MUST be false
in order to turn it off. Any other values (including: null
, ""
, etc) will be treated as true
. (It had to be done this way in order to keep the old code valid.)
Runs .jsc file and returns the result.
- Parameters:
Name | Type |
---|---|
filename | string |
- Returns:
{any} The result of the very last statement executed in the script.
- Example:
// test.js
console.log('Hello World!');
bytenode.runBytecodeFile('/path/to/test.jsc');
// prints: Hello World!
- Parameters:
Name | Type |
---|---|
filename | string |
- Returns:
{any} exported module content
- Example:
let myModule = require('/path/to/your/file.jsc');
Just like regular .js
modules. You can also omit the extension .jsc
.
.jsc
file must have been compiled using bytenode.compileFile()
, or have been wrapped inside Module.wrap()
function. Otherwise it won't work as a module and it can NOT be required.
Please note .jsc
files must run with the same Node.js version that was used to compile it (using same architecture of course). Also, .jsc
files are CPU-agnostic. However, you should run your tests before and after deployment, because V8 sanity checks include some checks related to CPU supported features, so this may cause errors in some rare cases.
I had the idea of this tool many years ago. However, I finally decided to implement it after seeing this issue by @hashseed. Also, some parts were inspired by v8-compile-cache by @zertosh.