ursi / buildNodeModules

An experiment in improving node packaging for nix. Dead simple.

buildNodeModules

The dumbest node to Nix packaging solution yet!

How it works

How node_modules is built

• Map over package-lock.json packages, invoke correct fetcher

• Update package.json & package-lock.lock to point to store paths URLs are rewritten to file:... dependencies that link to the Nix store.

• Run npm install

How node_modules is linked

Our configure/shell hook links individual directories inside the Nix built node_modules directory. This is to work around issues like nix-community/npmlock2nix#86 and that tools like vite expects a writable node_modules.

Usage

• default.nix

stdenv.mkDerivation {
  pname = "my-website";
  version = "0.1.0";

  src = ./.;

  nativeBuildInputs = [
    buildNodeModules.hooks.npmConfigHook
    nodejs
    nodejs.passthru.python # for node-gyp
    npmHooks.npmBuildHook
    npmHooks.npmInstallHook
  ];

  nodeModules = buildNodeModules.fetchNodeModules {
    packageRoot = ./.;
  };
}

• shell.nix

pkgs.mkShell {
  packages = [
    buildNodeModules.hooks.linkNodeModulesHook
    nodejs
  ];

  nodeModules = buildNodeModules.buildNodeModules {
    packageRoot = ./.;
    inherit nodejs;
  };
}