@electron/rebuild
@electron/rebuild
This executable rebuilds native Node.js modules against the version of Node.js that your Electron project is using. This allows you to use native Node.js modules in Electron apps without your system version of Node.js matching exactly (which is often not the case, and sometimes not even possible).
How does it work?
Install the package with --save-dev:
npm install --save-dev @electron/rebuild
Then, whenever you install a new npm package, rerun electron-rebuild:
$(npm bin)/electron-rebuild
Or if you're on Windows:
.\node_modules\.bin\electron-rebuild.cmd
If you have a good node-gyp config but you see an error about a missing element on Windows like Could not load the Visual C++ component "VCBuild.exe", try to launch electron-rebuild in an npm script:
"scripts": {
"rebuild": "electron-rebuild -f -w yourmodule"
}
and then
npm run rebuild
What are the requirements?
Node v22.12.0 or higher is required. Building native modules from source uses
node-gyp. Refer to the link for its
installation/runtime requirements.
CLI arguments
Usage: electron-rebuild --version [version] --module-dir [path]
Options:
-v, --version The version of Electron to build against [string]
-f, --force Force rebuilding modules, even if we would skip
it otherwise [boolean]
-a, --arch Override the target architecture to something
other than your system's [string]
-m, --module-dir The path to the node_modules directory to rebuild
[string]
-w, --which-module A specific module to build, or comma separated
list of modules. Modules will only be rebuilt if
they also match the types of dependencies being
rebuilt (see --types). [string]
-o, --only Only build specified module, or comma separated
list of modules. All others are ignored. [string]
-e, --electron-prebuilt-dir The path to the prebuilt electron module [string]
-d, --dist-url Custom header tarball URL [string]
-t, --types The types of dependencies to rebuild. Comma
separated list of "prod", "dev" and "optional".
Default is "prod,optional" [string]
-p, --parallel Rebuild in parallel, this is enabled by default
on macOS and Linux [boolean]
-s, --sequential Rebuild modules sequentially, this is enabled by
default on Windows [boolean]
-b, --debug Build debug version of modules [boolean]
-j, --jobs Number of parallel compile jobs node-gyp should
run (passed as node-gyp --jobs). Defaults to
node-gyp's own default. [number]
--prebuild-tag-prefix GitHub tag prefix passed to prebuild-install.
Default is "v" [string]
--force-abi Override the ABI version for the version of
Electron you are targeting. Only use when
targeting Nightly releases. [number]
--use-electron-clang Use the clang executable that Electron used when
building its binary. This will guarantee compiler
compatibility [boolean]
--disable-pre-gyp-copy Disables the pre-gyp copy step [boolean]
--build-from-source Skips prebuild download and rebuilds module from
source. [boolean]
-h, --help Show help [boolean]
The --dist-url value can also be provided via the ELECTRON_REBUILD_DIST_URL
environment variable. The --dist-url flag takes precedence when both are set.
By default, only your prod and optional dependencies are rebuilt —
devDependencies are not rebuilt. This is because the default value of
types is ['prod', 'optional']. If you have a native module in your
devDependencies that you need rebuilt, you must explicitly include dev in
the list of types:
- CLI:
electron-rebuild --types prod,optional,dev(or-t prod,optional,dev) - API:
rebuild({ ..., types: ['prod', 'optional', 'dev'] })
How can I use this with Electron Forge?
This package is automatically used with Electron Forge when packaging an Electron app.
How can I integrate this into Electron Packager?
electron-rebuild provides a function compatible with the afterCopy hook
for Electron Packager. For example:
import { packager } from "@electron/packager";
import { rebuild } from "@electron/rebuild";
packager({
// … other options
afterCopy: [
async ({ buildPath, electronVersion, arch }) => {
await rebuild({ buildPath, electronVersion, arch });
},
],
// … other options
});
How can I integrate this with prebuild?
If your module uses prebuild for creating prebuilt binaries,
it also uses prebuild-install to download them. If
this is the case, then electron-rebuild will run prebuild-install to download the correct
binaries from the project's GitHub Releases instead of rebuilding them.
How can I integrate this into my build pipeline?
electron-rebuild is also a library that you can require into your app or build process. It has a very simple API:
import { rebuild } from '@electron/rebuild';
// Public: Rebuilds a node_modules directory with the given Electron version.
//
// options: Object with the following properties
// buildPath - An absolute path to your app's directory. (The directory that contains your node_modules)
// electronVersion - The version of Electron to rebuild for
// arch (optional) - Default: process.arch - The arch to rebuild for
// extraModules (optional) - Default: [] - An array of modules to rebuild as well as the detected modules
// onlyModules (optional) - Default: null - An array of modules to rebuild, ONLY these module names will be rebuilt.
// The "types" property will be ignored if this option is set.
// force (optional) - Default: false - Force a rebuild of modules regardless of their current build state
// headerURL (optional) - Default: https://www.electronjs.org/headers - The URL to download Electron header files from
// types (optional) - Default: ['prod', 'optional'] - The types of modules to rebuild
// mode (optional) - The rebuild mode, either 'sequential' or 'parallel' - Default varies per platform (probably shouldn't mess with this one)
// useElectronClang (optional) - Whether to use the clang executable that Electron used when building its binary. This will guarantee compiler compatibility
// Returns a Promise indicating whether the operation succeeded or not
For full API usage, see the API documentation.
A full build process might look something like:
// ESM
import { rebuild } from "@electron/rebuild";
rebuild({
buildPath: import.meta.dirname,
electronVersion: "35.1.5",
})
.then(() => console.info("Rebuild Successful"))
.catch((e) => {
console.error("Building modules didn't work!");
console.error(e);
});
// CommonJS
const { rebuild } = require("@electron/rebuild");
rebuild({
buildPath: __dirname,
electronVersion: "35.1.5",
})
.then(() => console.info("Rebuild Successful"))
.catch((e) => {
console.error("Building modules didn't work!");
console.error(e);
});