angablue/exe

Build a portable binary for Windows systems using Vercel's pkg

Node.js Windows Executable

Build a portable binary for Windows systems using Vercel's pkg. As pkg doesn't support modifying executable properties, this project serves to and aid in automating modifying the executable properties post build with the aid of resedit-js.

🏠 Homepage

Install

Install this package and save to devDependencies using your package manager of choice.

 npm i -D @angablue/exe

Basic Usage

// build.js
const exe = require("@angablue/exe");

const build = exe({
  entry: "./index.js",
  out: "./build/My Cool App.exe",
});

build.then(() => console.log("Build completed!"));

Example Usage

Specify more arguments and completely customise the resultant executable.

// build.js
const exe = require("@angablue/exe");

const build = exe({
  entry: "./index.js",
  out: "./build/My Cool App.exe",
  pkg: ["-C", "GZip"], // Specify extra pkg arguments
  version: "2.4.2",
  target: "latest-win-x64",
  icon: "./assets/icon.ico", // Application icons must be in .ico format
  executionLevel: "asInvoker",
  properties: {
    FileDescription: "My Cool App",
    ProductName: "My Cool App",
    LegalCopyright: "AngaBlue https://anga.blue",
    OriginalFilename: "My Cool App.exe",
  },
});

build.then(() => console.log("Build completed!"));

Configuration Options

Option	Description	Required	Default Value	Example Value	Possible Values
entry	Path to the entry file of the application.	Yes	N/A	'./index.js'	Any valid file path.
out	Path for the output executable file.	Yes	N/A	'./build/My Cool App.exe'	Any valid file path.
pkg	Extra arguments for the pkg package.	No	[]	['-C', 'GZip']	Array of pkg arguments.
version	Version of the application.	No	None	'2.4.2'	Semantic version string. e.g. major.minor.patch
target	Target node version and architecture.	No	'latest-win-x64'	'latest-win-x64'	Windows pkg target string. e.g. latest-win-x64, node18-windows-x64, etc.
icon	Path to the application's icon in .ico format.	No	Node.js icon	'./assets/icon.ico'	Any valid .ico file path.
executionLevel	Execution level for the application.	No	'asInvoker'	'asInvoker'	asInvoker, highestAvailable, requireAdministrator
properties	Metadata for the executable file.	No	None	{ FileDescription: 'My Cool App', ... }	Key-value pairs as shown in example.

Note on properties:

• FileDescription: Description of the executable.
• ProductName: Name of the product.
• LegalCopyright: Copyright details with the URL.
• OriginalFilename: Name of the original file.

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📝 License

Copyright © AngaBlue.
This project is LGPL--3.0--or--later licensed.