Bundlers and Koffi#

Bundling#

Native modules#

Simplified in Koffi 2.5.9

Koffi uses native modules to work. The NPM package contains binaries for various platforms and architectures, and the appropriate module is selected at runtime.

In theory, the packagers/bundlers should be able to find all native modules because they are explictly listed in the Javascript file (as static strings) and package them somehow.

If that is not the case, you can manually arrange to copy the node_modules/koffi/build/koffi directory next to your bundled script.

Here is an example that would work:

koffi/
    win32_x64/
        koffi.node
    linux_x64/
        koffi.node
    ...
MyBundle.js

When running in Electron, Koffi will also try to find the native module in process.resourcesPath. For an Electron app you could do something like this

locales/
resources/
    koffi/
        win32_ia32/
            koffi.node
        win32_x64/
            koffi.node
        ...
MyApp.exe

Indirect loader#

New in Koffi 2.6.2

Some bundlers (such as vite) don’t like when require is used with native modules.

In this case, you can use require('koffi/indirect') but you will need to make sure that the native Koffi modules are packaged properly.

Packaging examples#

Electron with electron-builder#

Packaging with electron-builder should work as-is.

Take a look at the full working example in the repository.

Electron Forge#

Packaging with Electron Force should work as-is, even when using webpack as configured initially when you run:

1npm init electron-app@latest my-app -- --template=webpack

Take a look at the full working example in the repository.

NW.js#

Packagers such as nw-builder should work as-is.

You can find a full working example in the repository.

Node.js and esbuild#

You can easily tell esbuild to copy the native files with the copy loader and things should just work. Use something like:

esbuild index.js --platform=node --bundle --loader:.node=copy --outdir=dist/

You can find a full working example in the repository.