next-sea

A Next.js deployment adapter that packages your application as a Node.js Single Executable Application (SEA).

next build
./server

Requirements

• Node.js >= 26.0.0
• Next.js >= 16.2.0

Installation

npm install --save-dev next-sea

Setup

Add the adapter to next.config.ts:

import type { NextConfig } from "next";

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  adapterPath: import.meta.resolve("next-sea"),
};

export default nextConfig;

Build and run:

next build
./server

The adapter enables output: "standalone" and creates the executable after the Next.js build completes. No extra packaging command is required.

Configuration

Use environment variables when building:

| Variable | Default | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | NEXT_SEA_OUTPUT | ./server | Executable output path | | NEXT_SEA_NODE | Current node binary | Target Node.js binary |

Cross-Compilation

Download the Node.js 26 binary for the target platform and pass it when building:

NEXT_SEA_NODE=./toolchains/node-v26-linux-x64/bin/node \
NEXT_SEA_OUTPUT=./dist/server-linux-x64 \
next build

The generated SEA disables V8 code cache and snapshots so that the build host and target platform may differ. Native addons still need to match the target OS, architecture, C library, and Node ABI. The target Node.js binary is copied into the SEA; it does not need to be executable on the build host.

How It Works

1. modifyConfig() enables Next.js standalone output.
2. onBuildComplete() schedules packaging after Next.js finishes writing the standalone tree.
3. Before the build process exits, the adapter copies public/ and .next/static/ into the standalone tree.
4. The adapter packs the complete standalone server, including traced node_modules.
5. Node.js 26 embeds the compressed payload and a small bootstrap script into a SEA.
6. On first run, the executable extracts the payload into a content-addressed cache and starts the unmodified standalone server.js.

The extracted application uses the normal Node.js filesystem module resolver, preserving dynamic require() behavior without rebundling or patching Next.js internals.

Cache

~/.cache/next-sea/<sha256>/              # Linux
~/Library/Caches/next-sea/<sha256>/      # macOS
%LOCALAPPDATA%\next-sea\<sha256>\        # Windows

Set NEXT_SEA_CACHE_DIR at runtime to override the cache location.

License

MIT