bhanditz / abi-stable-node

NAPI — Node with PoC ABI stable API for native modules.

Node.js API (N-API)

This repository is the home for ABI Stable Node API project (N-API). The goal of this project is to provide a stable Node API for native module developers. N-API aims to provide ABI compatibility guarantees across different Node versions and also across different Node VMs - allowing N-API enabled native modules to just work across different versions and flavors of Node.js without recompilations.

It is introduced by this Node enhancement proposal: 005-ABI-Stable-Module-API.md.

N-API is now part of core. Documentation is available here: https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/n-api.html.

As of Node.js version 8.6.0 N-API is enabled by default. If you use an N-API enabled module you will be warned that it is experimental as follows:

(node:16761) Warning: N-API is an experimental feature and could change at any time.

Node.js versions 8.12.0 and above provide N-API as a stable feature.

Branches

Currently this repo is being used only for meta issue management and future planning by the N-API team. All branches can be considered stale as they are no longer being maintained. Updates and changes to N-API are being done in the core repo.

API Design & Shape

The current shape of the API can be found in header file node_api.h. Full documentation is available as part of the standard Node.js API docs here: https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/n-api.html.

There is also a header-only C++ API, which simplifies development while still using the same ABI-stable Node API underneath. It is distributed as a separate npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-addon-api.

N-API enabled modules

Module	Converted By	Location	Conversion Status	Performance Assessment
leveldown	n-api team	https://github.com/sampsongao/leveldown/tree/napi	Completed	#55
nanomsg	n-api team	https://github.com/sampsongao/node-nanomsg/tree/napi	Completed	#57
canvas	n-api team	https://github.com/jasongin/node-canvas/tree/napi	Completed	#77
node-sass	n-api team	https://github.com/boingoing/node-sass/tree/napi	Completed	#82
iotivity	gabrielschulhof	https://github.com/gabrielschulhof/iotivity-node/tree/abi-stable	Completed	N/A
node-sqlite3	n-api team	https://github.com/mhdawson/node-sqlite3/tree/node-addon-api	Completed

Testing

In addition to running the tests in the converted modules we also have

• a converted version of the NAN examples node-addon-examples

• a converted version of the core addons tests which can be run with make test addons-napi

How to get involved

• Convert a native module to use N-API and report issues on conversion and performance;
• Port ABI stable APIs to your fork of Node and let us know if there are gaps;
• Review the roadmap and see how you can help accelerate this project.

Badges

The use of badges is recommended to indicate the minimum version of N-API required for the module. This helps to determine which Node.js major versions are supported. Addon maintainers can consult the N-API support matrix to determine which Node.js versions provide a given N-API version. The following badges are available:

Hangout link for weekly standup https://zoom.us/j/363665824 (PRIMARY) https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/c0eevtrlajniu7h8cjrdk0f56c8?authkey=COH04YCalJS8Ug (backup)

Project Participants

Active

Name	GitHub Link
Arunesh Chandra	aruneshchandra
Taylor Woll	boingoing
Hitesh Kanwathirtha	digitalinfinity
Gabriel Schulhof	gabrielschulhof
Jim Schlight	jschlight
Michael Dawson	mhdawson
Nicola Del Gobbo	NickNaso
Anisha Rohra	anisha-rohra
Kyle Farnung	kfarnung

Emeritus

Name	GitHub Link
Cory Mickelson	corymickelson
Ian Halliday	ianwjhalliday
Jason Ginchereau	jasongin
Sampson Gao	sampsongao