Node.js API (N-API) Package

This package contains header-only C++ wrapper classes for the ABI-stable Node.js API (N-API), along with library code that enables backward-compatibility with use with older versions of Node.js that do not have N-API built-in.

To use N-API in a native module:

1. Add a dependency on this package to package.json:

  "dependencies": {
    "node-addon-api": "github:nodejs/node-addon-api",
  }

2. Reference this package's include directory and gyp file in binding.gyp:

  'include_dirs': ["<!(node -p \"require('node-addon-api').include\")"],
  'dependencies': ["<!(node -p \"require('node-addon-api').gyp\")"],

3. Ensure C++ exceptions are enabled in binding.gyp. The N-API C++ wrapper classes use exceptions for error-handling; the base ABI-stable C APIs do not.

  'cflags!': [ '-fno-exceptions' ],
  'cflags_cc!': [ '-fno-exceptions' ],
  'xcode_settings': { 'GCC_ENABLE_CPP_EXCEPTIONS': 'YES' },
  'msvs_settings': {
    'VCCLCompilerTool': { 'ExceptionHandling': 1 },
  },

4. Include napi.h in the native module code. To ensure only ABI-stable APIs are used, DO NOT include node.h, nan.h, or v8.h.

#include "napi.h"

At build time, the N-API back-compat library code will be used only when the targeted node version does not have N-API built-in.

See the main project README or preliminary documentation for more details about N-API.

WG Members / Collaborators