Node.js SEA (Single Executable Application) with Express.js, TypeScript, and esbuild

This is a template for creating Single Executable Applications (SEA) for Node.js Express.js servers, using TypeScript and esbuild. The build process is containerized with Docker to allow for cross-platform builds.

Features

• Node.js SEA: Package your application into a single executable.
• Express.js: A minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework.
• TypeScript: A typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript.
• esbuild: An extremely fast JavaScript bundler and minifier.
• Docker: Containerize the build process for cross-platform compatibility.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v20.x or later)
• Docker

Getting Started

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install

Available Scripts

• npm start: Start the application from the bundled output.
• npm run dev: Start the application in development mode with file watching.
• npm run clean: Remove the dist directory.
• npm run build:ts: Build the TypeScript source code using esbuild.
• npm run build:sea: Build the Single Executable Application for the host machine.
• npm run build:docker:arm64: Build a Docker image for linux/arm64.
• npm run build:docker:amd64: Build a Docker image for linux/amd64.
• npm run extract:sea:arm64: Extract the linux/arm64 executable from its Docker image.
• npm run extract:sea:amd64: Extract the linux/amd64 executable from its Docker image.

Building the Single Executable Application (SEA)

Local Build

To build the SEA on your local machine, run the following command:

npm run build:sea

This will generate an executable file named app in the dist directory.

Cross-Platform Build with Docker

To build the SEA for a different architecture (e.g., linux/arm64 or linux/amd64), you can use the provided Docker scripts.

1. Build the Docker image for your target platform:

   For linux/arm64:

   npm run build:docker:arm64

   For linux/amd64:

   npm run build:docker:amd64

2. Extract the executable from the Docker image:

   After building the image, run the corresponding extraction script.

   For linux/arm64:

   npm run extract:sea:arm64

   For linux/amd64:

   npm run extract:sea:amd64

   This will copy the executable from the Docker container to your local dist directory, named app-linux-arm64 or app-linux-amd64.

Project Structure

.
├── dist/                  # Compiled output
├── scripts/               # Build scripts
│   ├── build-sea.js       # Script for building the SEA
│   └── extract-sea.sh     # Script for extracting the SEA from Docker
├── src/                   # Source code
│   └── index.ts           # Main application file
├── .dockerignore          # Files to ignore in Docker builds
├── Dockerfile             # Docker configuration
├── package.json           # Project dependencies and scripts
├── sea-config.json        # SEA configuration
├── tsconfig.json          # TypeScript configuration
└── README.md              # This file

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.