nw

An installer for NW.js.

NW.js is a runtime-environment based on Chromium and Node.js. It is used to build desktop applications that run on Windows, OSX, and Linux.

usage

Install locally to your project with: npm install nw and then in your package.json add a script:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "nw"
  }
}

Now it will run your local project when you type npm start.

If your project is in another folder, add the path to the project "start": "nw path/to/app".

You could also call nw directly from node_modules/.bin/nw instead of adding to your package.json.

global

You can also install globally with npm install nw -g and then in any project type nw to run the project. Installing locally is recommended though as each project can have its own dependent version of nw.js.

example

If you want a really quick example try this:

1. git clone https://github.com/zcbenz/nw-sample-apps && cd nw-sample-apps
2. npm init
3. npm install nw
4. "node_modules/.bin/nw" file-explorer

and now you should see a file explorer demo app.

command line options

There are a few (platform-specific) arguments you can pass to the nw executable to customize your nw.js application:

• --mac_plist <path-to-plist-file>: (OS X only) Copies the given file to Info.plist in the app bundle. This lets you do things like change your app's name and point to a different icon.

• --mac_icon <path-to-icns-file>: (OS X only) Copies the given .icns file to the Resources/ dir in the app bundle. You will need to point to the file with a custom plist file as well (see --mac_list)

NOTE: These options will keep the copied files in the app bundle for as long as the bundle is on the filesystem (they're not deleted between app invocations). As a result, they're not recommended if you installed nw globally using -g. Also note that OS X caches these files, so you may need to manually clear these cached files during development.

install a specific version of nw.js

To install a specific version of nw.js use npm with the specific version: npm install [email protected]

Please note: This npm package version tracks the version of nw.js that will be installed, with an additional build number that is used for revisions to the installer. As such 0.12.0-1 and 0.12.0-2 will both install [email protected] but the latter has newer changes to the installer.

You may use npm view nw versions to view the list of available versions.

install a specific build type of nw.js

nw.js has three build types: normal, sdk and nacl. To install a specific build type you may set npm config property nwjs_build_type, environment variable NWJS_BUILD_TYPE or pass command line option --nwjs_build_type:

npm install nw --nwjs_build_type=sdk

Setting option in .npmrc file (https://www.npmjs.org/doc/files/npmrc.html):

nwjs_build_type=sdk

Setting environment variable NWJS_BUILD_TYPE:

export NWJS_BUILD_TYPE=sdk

You can alternatively install sdk build by specifying -sdk suffix in version:

npm install [email protected]

You can also run npm install nw@sdk to get the latest of published SDK versions. (Note: that may be a beta version.)

install a specific architecture

You may use the environment variable npm_config_nwjs_process_arch to override the default architecture (process.arch) and to download NW.js built for some other architecture.

finding the path to the nw.js binary

If you would like to programmatically retrieve the path to the nw.js binary use:

var findpath = require('nw').findpath;
var nwpath = findpath();
// nwpath will equal the path to the binary depending on your environment

Then you can use that path to run NW.js programmatically. For example, to run in the current script's directory:

require('child_process').spawn(
   require('nw').findpath(),
   ['.'].concat( process.argv.slice(2) ),
   {
      cwd: __dirname,
      detached: true,
      stdio: 'ignore'
   }
).unref();

retrieve binaries from custom download location or file path

The installer attempts to download binaries from the default location of https://dl.nwjs.io/v. You can override this by setting the npm config property nwjs_urlbase on the command line by passing the --nwjs_urlbase option:

npm install nw --nwjs_urlbase=http://my.own.location/somewhere

or adding it to your .npmrc file (https://www.npmjs.org/doc/files/npmrc.html):

nwjs_urlbase=http://my.own.location/somewhere

You can alternatively set an environment variable NWJS_URLBASE:

export NWJS_URLBASE=http://my.own.location/somewhere

The installer supports file:// URLs to retrieve files from the local filesystem:

export NWJS_URLBASE=file:///home/bilbo/my/own/mirror

using a proxy with or without authentication

If you are behind a proxy server you have to set an environment variable http_proxy with proxy servers url:

export http_proxy="http://username:[email protected]:8080"

or

export http_proxy="http://myproxy.com:8080"

(However, if the environment variable https_proxy is set, then it will be preferred, as programmed in the get-proxy package.)

license

nw.js's code and this installer use the MIT license.