node-gyp README

The project's README from github.com/nodejs/node-gyp. As one markdown file: README.md.

node-gyp - Node.js native addon build tool

Build Status npm

node-gyp is a cross-platform command-line tool written in Node.js for compiling native addon modules for Node.js. It contains a vendored copy of the gyp-next project that was previously used by the Chromium team and extended to support the development of Node.js native addons.

Note that node-gyp is not used to build Node.js itself.

All current and LTS target versions of Node.js are supported. Depending on what version of Node.js is actually installed on your system node-gyp downloads the necessary development files or headers for the target version. List of stable Node.js versions can be found on Node.js website.

Features

Installation

[!Important] Python >= v3.12 requires node-gyp >= v10

You can install node-gyp using npm:

npm install -g node-gyp

Depending on your operating system, you will need to install:

On Unix

On macOS

On Windows

Install tools with Chocolatey using the visualstudio2026-workload-vctools package:

choco install python visualstudio2026-workload-vctools -y

Or install and configure Python and Visual Studio tools manually:

To target native ARM64 Node.js on Windows on ARM, add the components "Visual C++ compilers and libraries for ARM64" and "Visual C++ ATL for ARM64".

To use the native ARM64 C++ compiler on Windows on ARM, ensure that you have Visual Studio 2022 17.4 or later installed.

It's advised to install the following PowerShell module: VSSetup using Install-Module VSSetup -Scope CurrentUser. This will make Visual Studio detection logic use a more flexible and accessible method, avoiding PowerShell's ConstrainedLanguage mode.

Configuring Python Dependency

node-gyp requires that you have installed a supported version of Python. If you have multiple versions of Python installed, you can identify which version node-gyp should use in one of the following ways:

  1. by setting the --python command-line option, e.g.:
node-gyp <command> --python /path/to/executable/python
  1. If node-gyp is called by way of npm, and you have multiple versions of Python installed, then you can set the npm_config_python environment variable to the appropriate path:
export npm_config_python=/path/to/executable/python

    Or on Windows:

py --list-paths  # To see the installed Python versions
set npm_config_python=C:\path\to\python.exe  # CMD
$Env:npm_config_python="C:\path\to\python.exe"  # PowerShell

  1. If the PYTHON environment variable is set to the path of a Python executable, then that version will be used if it is a supported version.

  2. If the NODE_GYP_FORCE_PYTHON environment variable is set to the path of a Python executable, it will be used instead of any of the other configured or built-in Python search paths. If it's not a compatible version, no further searching will be done.

Build for Third Party Node.js Runtimes

When building modules for third-party Node.js runtimes like Electron, which have different build configurations from the official Node.js distribution, you should use --dist-url or --nodedir flags to specify the headers of the runtime to build for.

Also when --dist-url or --nodedir flags are passed, node-gyp will use the config.gypi shipped in the headers distribution to generate build configurations, which is different from the default mode that would use the process.config object of the running Node.js instance.

Some old versions of Electron shipped malformed config.gypi in their headers distributions, and you might need to pass --force-process-config to node-gyp to work around configuration errors.

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" ]
    }
  ]
}

Further reading

The docs directory contains additional documentation on specific node-gyp topics that may be useful if you are experiencing problems installing or building addons using node-gyp.

Some additional resources for Node.js native addons and writing gyp configuration files:

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. The value max will use all available CPU cores
--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 OS cache directory)
--ensure Don't reinstall headers if already present
--dist-url=$url Download header tarball from custom URL
--proxy=$url Set HTTP(S) proxy for downloading header tarball
--noproxy=$urls Set urls to ignore proxies when downloading header tarball
--cafile=$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 binary
--msvs_version=$version Set Visual Studio version (Windows only)
--solution=$solution Set Visual Studio Solution version (Windows only)
--force-process-config Force using runtime's process.config object to generate config.gypi file

Configuration

package.json

Use the config object in your package.json with each key in the form node_gyp_OPTION_NAME. Any of the command options listed above can be set (dashes in option names should be replaced by underscores).

For example, to set devdir equal to /tmp/.gyp, your package.json would contain this:

{
  "config": {
    "node_gyp_devdir": "/tmp/.gyp"
  }
}

Environment variables

Use the form npm_package_config_node_gyp_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_package_config_node_gyp_devdir=/tmp/.gyp

Or this on Windows:

set npm_package_config_node_gyp_devdir=c:\temp\.gyp

Note that in versions of npm before v11 it was possible to use the prefix npm_config_ for environment variables. This was deprecated in npm@11 and will be removed in npm@12 so it is recommended to convert your environment variables to the above format.

npm configuration for npm versions before v9

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.

node-gyp (nodejs/node-gyp)

Searching Database…

10.7K ·GitHub
Node-gyp
What is this?node-gyp is a cross-platform command-line tool that compiles native addon modules for Node.js, wrapping a vendored copy of the gyp-next build system (originally from Chromium) adapted for Node.js native addons.
Is this a build tool or a library I import into my code?It is a CLI build tool invoked via commands like configure, build, and rebuild; you don't import it in your JS code, you run it against a binding.gyp file to produce a compiled .node file.
How do I use node-gyp to build my addon?Install it via npm, go to your addon's root directory, run node-gyp configure to generate Makefiles or vcxproj files from your binding.gyp, then run node-gyp build to produce the compiled .node bindings in build/Debug or build/Release.
What do I need installed before running node-gyp?You need a supported Python version and a C/C++ compiler toolchain: on Unix that's GCC and make, on macOS the Xcode Command Line Tools, and on Windows either the Chocolatey visualstudio2026-workload-vctools package or Python plus Visual Studio C++ build tools.
Any install pitfalls I should know about?Python >= v3.12 requires node-gyp >= v10; Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 isn't auto-detected and needs --msvsversion=2015; and some old Electron header distributions ship a malformed config.gypi that may need --force-process-config.
Does it work the same on Linux, macOS, and Windows?Yes, the same build commands work across all supported platforms, though each OS needs its own toolchain (GCC/make on Unix, Xcode CLT on macOS, Visual Studio tools on Windows).
Does node-gyp build Node.js itself?No, node-gyp is only for building native addon modules for Node.js; it is explicitly not used to build Node.js itself.
Can node-gyp build addons for Electron?Yes, for third-party runtimes like Electron you pass --dist-url or --nodedir to point node-gyp at that runtime's headers instead of the official Node.js distribution.
How does node-gyp know which Python to use if I have multiple versions?You can set it explicitly with the --python flag, the npm_config_python environment variable, the PYTHON environment variable, or the NODE_GYP_FORCE_PYTHON variable which overrides all other search paths.
What commands does node-gyp support?It supports help, build, clean, configure, rebuild, install, list, and remove, covering generating build files, compiling, and managing downloaded Node.js header versions.
What are similar projects?nexe, node, pkg, readme-md-generator, tsx, just, vue-cli, truffle
Which topics is it in?build-system, npx, makefile, js, runtime, build-tool, node, electron, command-line, command-line-tool, npm, nodejs
Creator
nodejs
Size
6 MB
Stars
10.7K
Updated
CommitOct 14Releasev13.1.0Oct 02
Age
14y
Commits · 90 Days