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20.13 Building Node as EXE

Mar 28, 2025, 6 min read

Node Single executable applications

Read about it here.

Warning

The single executable application feature currently only supports running a single embedded script using theĀ CommonJSĀ module system.

Meaning: const mqtt = require("mqtt"); is not going to work an will give you the following error:

node:internal/util/embedding:48
  throw new ERR_UNKNOWN_BUILTIN_MODULE(id);
 ^

Error [ERR_UNKNOWN_BUILTIN_MODULE]: No such built-in module: mqtt
   at embedderRequire (node:internal/util/embedding:48:11)
   at testing/mqttServer.js:1:14
   at embedderRunCjs (node:internal/util/embedding:37:10)
   at node:internal/main/embedding:18:8 {
 code: 'ERR_UNKNOWN_BUILTIN_MODULE'
}

So this will work on single file apps, and maybe in the future.

steps

Okay I chose to try this on testing/mqttServer.js.

These are just the same steps as in the node.js article

  1. Create a configuration file building a blob, this is the command to do it via cmd
echo '{ "main": "testing/mqttServer.js", "output": "sea-prep.blob" }' > sea-config.json
  1. node --experimental-sea-config sea-config.json, might cause this error.
  2. Create a copy of theĀ nodeĀ executable and name it according to your needs:
    • on windows:
      • node -e "require('fs').copyFileSync(process.execPath, 'hello.exe')"
    • on anything else:
      • cp $(command -v node) hello
  3. Remove the signature of the binary (macOS and Windows only):
    • On macOS:
      • codesign --remove-signature hello
    • On Windows (optional):
      1. signtoolĀ can be used from the installedĀ Windows SDK. If this step is skipped, ignore any signature-related warning from postject.
      2. signtool remove /s hello.exe
  4. Inject the blob into the copied binary by runningĀ postjectĀ with the following options:
    • helloĀ /Ā hello.exeĀ - The name of the copy of theĀ nodeĀ executable created in step 4.
    • NODE_SEA_BLOBĀ - The name of the resource / note / section in the binary where the contents of the blob will be stored.
    • sea-prep.blobĀ - The name of the blob created in step 1.
    • --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2Ā - TheĀ fuseĀ used by the Node.js project to detect if a file has been injected.
    • --macho-segment-name NODE_SEAĀ (only needed on macOS) - The n- ame of the segment in the binary where the contents of the blob will be stored. To summarize, here is the required command for each platform:
  • Linux:
npx postject hello NODE_SEA_BLOB sea-prep.blob \
    --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2
  • On Windows - PowerShell:
npx postject hello.exe NODE_SEA_BLOB sea-prep.blob `
    --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2
  • On Windows - Command Prompt:
npx postject hello.exe NODE_SEA_BLOB sea-prep.blob ^
    --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2
  • on macOS:
npx postject hello NODE_SEA_BLOB sea-prep.blob \
    --sentinel-fuse NODE_SEA_FUSE_fce680ab2cc467b6e072b8b5df1996b2 \
    --macho-segment-name NODE_SEA
  1. Sign the binary (macOS and Windows only):
    • On macOS:
      • codesign --sign - hello
    • On Windows (optional):
      • A certificate needs to be present for this to work. However, the unsigned binary would still be runnable.
      • signtool sign /fd SHA256 hello.exe
  2. Run the binary (exe):
    • Anything that is not windows:
      • ./hello
    • Windows:
      • .\hello.exe

Congratulations, you have yourself an .exe node application.

errors

node ā€”experimental-sea-config sea-config.json returns:

SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'ļæ½', "ļæ½ļæ½{
 "... is not valid JSON

Cannot parse JSON from sea-config.json

This explains it and helps you fix it. (atleast the vscode steps worked for me)

nexe

nexe/nexe: šŸŽ‰ create a single executable out of your node.js apps is the only package I could find that is not deprecated. - (05/06/2024)

Spoiler alert: I couldnā€™t get it to work.

npm i nexe -g

and Iā€™ll be trying to build with the following command:

nexe testing/mqttServer.js --build --verbose
  • --verbose is so that I can better see error messages when something goes wrong.

I also ran the following powershell because I thought I needed to do that (pretty sure I did need it, but canā€™t confirm):

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://boxstarter.org/bootstrapper.ps1'))
get-boxstarter -Force
Install-BoxstarterPackage https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nodejs/node/HEAD/tools/bootstrap/windows_boxstarter -DisableReboots
refreshenv

I did ignore an error though with the Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force.

Error: vcbuild.bat nosign release x64 exited with code: 1

This is the error I was getting, and it had multiple stages, which I was able to find out because of the --verbose

Could not find NASM.

Looking for NASM
Could not find NASM, install it or build with openssl-no-asm. See BUILDING.md.
āˆš Compiling Node with arguments: nosign,release,x64
āˆš Finished in 1.117s

Error: vcbuild.bat nosign release x64 exited with code: 1

I got this error, so I googled and ended on this thread where someone told me to go install it from here.

After I ran the installer (it took a bit to show up, so I thought it didnā€™t work lol), I got the next error:

Failed to find a suitable Visual Studio installation.

Looking for NASM
Looking for Visual Studio 2022
Failed to find a suitable Visual Studio installation.
Try to run in a "Developer Command Prompt" or consult
https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/HEAD/BUILDING.md#windows
āˆš Compiling Node with arguments: nosign,release,x64
āˆš Finished in 1.054s

Error: vcbuild.bat nosign release x64 exited with code: 1

So I went to the BUILDING.md where it tells me to get The .NET SDK component fromĀ Visual Studio 2022, which will be installed with the installer.

So I did that, the Community edition. This feels redundant AF.

I also signed in, for good measure, then I launched it. To try and find a Developer Command Prompt to give me extra luck on this EPIC Journey.

Okay so I opened the folder, went under the view and selected terminal and rand the nexe testing/mqttServer.js --build --verbose command again.

Looking for NASM
Looking for Visual Studio 2022
Failed to find a suitable Visual Studio installation.
Try to run in a "Developer Command Prompt" or consult
https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/HEAD/BUILDING.md#windows
āˆš Compiling Node with arguments: nosign,release,x64
āˆš Finished in 1.176s

Error: vcbuild.bat nosign release x64 exited with code: 1

Well shit.

Letā€™s try installing Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools

I already have Chocolatey installed, so I just ran the following command in powershell (with administrator):

choco install visualstudio2022buildtools

and replied Y to all questions. (close visual studio + installer first)

If you donā€™t have chocolatey yet, I think this was the install command in powershell:

@"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

(copied from 20.00 MEAN tutorial)

Then I relaunched visual studio to try again. >> still the same error.

Letā€™s try Visual C++ workload:

choco install visualstudio2022-workload-vctools in powershell with administrator.

Same error.

Then it occurred to me, maybe I should restart my pc.

The console is getting spammedā€¦

After waiting 10 minutes, with a few warnings in between the random spam of <random word that i assume is a filename>.cc I end up with this:

C:\Users\Gebruiker\.nexe\21.6.0\deps\v8\src\diagnostics\x64\disasm-x64.cc(2453,20): warning C4312: 'reinterpret_cast': conversion from 'uint32_t' to 'uint8_t *' of greater size [C:\Users\Gebruiker\.nexe\21.6.0\tools\v8_gypfi
les\v8_base_without_compiler.vcxproj]
C:\Users\Gebruiker\.nexe\21.6.0\deps\v8\src\diagnostics\x64\disasm-x64.cc(2699,31): warning C4312: 'reinterpret_cast': conversion from 'int32_t' to 'uint8_t *' of greater size [C:\Users\Gebruiker\.nexe\21.6.0\tools\v8_gypfil 
es\v8_base_without_compiler.vcxproj]
āˆš Compiling Node with arguments: nosign,release,x64
āˆš Finished in 643.727s

Error: vcbuild.bat nosign release x64 exited with code: 1

docker

this would be a good alternative.

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