Detect WSL, GUI display availability, and normalize Windows binary paths for use inside WSL.

wsl-support

Small, zero-dependency helpers for Node.js CLIs that launch GUI programs (browsers, editors, desktop apps) and need to behave correctly under Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Install

npm install wsl-support

Usage

import {
  isWslEnv,
  hasGuiDisplay,
  normalizeBinaryPathForWsl
} from 'wsl-support'

// True only inside WSL. Guards against false positives on
// native Windows where WSLENV may be set.
isWslEnv()

// True when an X11 or Wayland display is available (e.g. WSLg).
hasGuiDisplay()

// Converts Windows drive paths to their /mnt equivalent when
// running under WSL; strips surrounding quotes everywhere.
normalizeBinaryPathForWsl('C:\\Program Files\\Chrome\\chrome.exe')
// → '/mnt/c/Program Files/Chrome/chrome.exe' (inside WSL)
// → 'C:\\Program Files\\Chrome\\chrome.exe' (everywhere else)

API

isWslEnv(): boolean

Returns true when the current process runs inside WSL. Checks WSL_DISTRO_NAME, WSL_INTEROP, and WSLENV, falling back to sniffing the kernel release string (/microsoft/i) when the environment variables are unavailable. Always false on non-Linux platforms.

hasGuiDisplay(): boolean

Returns true when DISPLAY or WAYLAND_DISPLAY is set, i.e. a GUI program can actually open a window (WSLg, X server, etc.).

normalizeBinaryPathForWsl(input: string): string

Trims and unquotes the input. Inside WSL, converts Windows drive paths (C:\... or C:/...) to /mnt/<drive>/.... Outside WSL, returns the unquoted input unchanged.

Related projects

• pintor
• log-md
• mklicense
• prefers-yarn
• go-git-it
• git-precision

License

MIT (c) Cezar Augusto.