How to pack a Node-WebKit (Node.js) Application into a single executable file?

The Task

You have a node-webkit application and want to:

• Distribute a single executable file instead of a bunch of files.
• Protect the application's resources.
• Change the exe's icon.
• Add a splashscreen.

For this tutorial, let's use a simple application; it consists of an HTML file that shows an image. Both files will be included in the packed exe. You can get the sample on GitHub.

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How do you distribute a Node-WebKit application now? The Problems.

To distribute a node-webkit application, you have to copy a lot of files: the application's sources (*.html, *js, images, and other resources), and the node-webkit binaries.

Look at a typical set of files; there are nw.js runtime files and application files:

(This directory should be copied to the client computer)
├───nwjs-v0.19.4-win-ia32
│   │   credits.html
│   │   d3dcompiler_47.dll
│   │   ffmpeg.dll
│   │   icudtl.dat
│   │   libEGL.dll
│   │   libGLESv2.dll
│   │   natives_blob.bin
│   │   node.dll
│   │   nw.dll
│   │   nw.exe
│   │   nw_100_percent.pak
│   │   nw_200_percent.pak
│   │   nw_elf.dll
│   │   resources.pak
│   │   snapshot_blob.bin
│   │   
│   └───locales
│           am.pak
│           ar.pak
│           ...
│           
└───show-image-app
        image.png
        index.html
        package.json
								

The standard approach has several serious problems:

• No ways to prepare a single executable file of a node.js-based application.
• The application's files are available for anyone for extraction and modifications.
• It's impossible to change the exe's icon and add a splashscreen.
• There's no ways to add a splashscreen.

BoxedApp Packer packs all the files together into a single exe file ("packed exe"). The packed exe doesn't unpack embedded files to the disk. They are totally in the memory.

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Prepare the package

First of all, you need nw.js runtime; you can download it from the official nw.js website.

Important! Runtime files bitness: 32-bit vs. 64-bit.

Download the 32-bit version of nw.js runtime to ensure the packed exe will run on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.

Using the 64-bit nw.js runtime files, BoxedApp Packer will produce a 64-bit executable that won't run on 32-bit Windows.

At the same time, if you use the 32-bit nw.js runtime files, the 32-bit executable will be produced, which can run on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.

Download BoxedApp Packer, launch it. Select nw.exe as the input exe, specify the output exe path (you can select any name).

To run node-webkit based application, the folder name is passed to nw.exe, so the command line looks like:

> nw.exe show-image-app

<BoxedAppVar:OldCmdLine> show-image-app

Then add nw.js runtime files: select Application Directory in the file tree, click Add Files..., select the runtime files (except nw.exe), and add the files.

Then click Import Directory... and select "locales" (this folder is a part of the runtime).

Now it's time to import the application files. Again, click Import Directory and then select "show-image-app".

Build it and run. It works!

Screenshots

1. Select nw.exe

2. Set output name

3. Override command line

Download

Both sources and BoxedApp Packer project are available on GitHub.

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