node-libplist

WebAssembly build of libimobiledevice's libplist with a minimal Node.js API.

For library details, implementation notes, and plist format specifics, please see the upstream project: https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libplist

API

Types

• PlistPrimitive: string | number | boolean
• PlistValue: PlistPrimitive | PlistObject | PlistArray
• PlistObject: { [key: string]: PlistValue }
• PlistArray: PlistValue[]

Functions

• parse(buffer: Buffer): Promise<PlistValue>: Parse XML or binary plist from a buffer.
• parseFile(filePath: string): Promise<PlistValue>: Parse plist from a file path.
• toXml(obj: PlistValue): Promise<string>: Convert a JavaScript value to plist XML.
• toBinary(obj: PlistValue): Promise<Buffer>: Convert a JavaScript value to binary plist.
• binaryToXml(binaryData: Buffer): Promise<string>: Convert binary plist to XML.
• xmlToBinary(xmlData: string | Buffer): Promise<Buffer>: Convert XML plist to binary.

Usage: Direct XML ↔ Binary

import plist from 'node-libplist';

// XML → Binary
const xmlString = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0"><dict><key>number</key><real>1.0</real></dict></plist>`;
const binary = await plist.xmlToBinary(xmlString);

// Binary → XML
const xmlOut = await plist.binaryToXml(binary);

Usage: Object ↔ Plist

import plist from 'node-libplist';

// Object → XML/Binary (JSON-bridged)
const obj = { intVal: 42, realVal: 3.14 };
const xml = await plist.toXml(obj);
const bin = await plist.toBinary(obj);

// Parse buffer (XML or binary) to JS object (JSON-bridged)
const parsed = await plist.parse(bin);

Notes

• Direct format conversions (xmlToBinary, binaryToXml) do not use the JSON bridge and preserve original plist types as-is.
• JSON-bridged conversions (parse, toXml, toBinary) follow libplist's JSON writer/parser:
  • Real values printed as integer-valued numbers (e.g., 1.0) are emitted without a decimal and re-parsed as integers.
  • 0.0 is special-cased and stays a real.
  • Real values with fractional digits (e.g., 3.14) remain real.