Nix Recipe: Setup Nodejs

This is a nix recipe for building and running nodejs in a virtual nix environment.

Step 1: Create nodejs.nix

In your project folder, create a new file nodejs.nix and add following:

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{ nixpkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {}, version, sha256 }:

let
inherit (nixpkgs) python37 utillinux stdenv autoPatchelfHook fetchurl binutils-unwrapped patchelf xcbuild;
inherit (stdenv) mkDerivation;

in
mkDerivation {
inherit version;

name = "nodejs-${version}";
src = fetchurl {
  url = "https://nodejs.org/dist/v${version}/node-v${version}${if stdenv.isDarwin then "-darwin-x64" else "-linux-x64"}.tar.xz"; # this darwin/linux check doesn't work since sha is different for packages
  inherit sha256;
};

# Dependencies for building node.js (Python and utillinux on Linux, just Python on Mac)
buildInputs = with nixpkgs; [ xcbuild binutils-unwrapped patchelf glib python37 ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isLinux utillinux;
nativeBuildInputs = with nixpkgs; [ autoPatchelfHook ];

installPhase = ''
  echo "installing nodejs"
  mkdir -p $out
  cp -r ./ $out/
'';

meta = with stdenv.lib; {
  description = "Event-driven I/O framework for the V8 JavaScript engine";
  homepage = "https://nodejs.org";
  license = licenses.mit;
};

passthru.python = python37;
}

Note:

This will download the nodejs package depending on darwin or linux and build it.

Step 2: Create shell.nix

Add shell.nix with the following content:

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let
nixpkgs = import (builtins.fetchTarball https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/20.03.tar.gz) {
  overlays = [];
  config = {};
};

installNodeJS = import (./nodejs.nix) {
  inherit nixpkgs;
  version = "13.6.0";
  sha256 = "${if nixpkgs.stdenv.isDarwin then "0z64v76w8x02yg2fz2xys580m9mlwklriz1s5b0rxn569j4kwiya" else "166pm67i7qys3x6x1dy5qr5393k0djb04ylgcg8idnk7m0ai7w00"}";
};
frameworks = nixpkgs.darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks;


in
with nixpkgs;

stdenv.mkDerivation {
  name = "nodejs-env";
  buildInputs = [ installNodeJS ];

  nativeBuildInputs = [
    zsh
    vim
  ] ++ (
    stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [
      frameworks.Security
      frameworks.CoreServices
      frameworks.CoreFoundation
      frameworks.Foundation
    ]
  );

  # Post Shell Hook
  shellHook = ''
  '';
}

Note:

Here, the nix packages are installed from 20.03 release.
NodeJS 13.6.0 version is installed, this is passed as argument. Different version can also be installed provided corresponding SHA is added.
All node packages can be installed via NPM in this environment.

Step 3: Run nix shell

Run below command to build and setup nodejs in a virtual environment.

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nix-shell --pure shell.nix