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+# Toolchains
+
+API docs for [Toolchain](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/main/toolchains.html) support.
+
+When you call `nodejs_register_toolchains()` in your `WORKSPACE` file it will setup a node toolchain for executing tools on all currently supported platforms.
+
+If you have an advanced use-case and want to use a version of node not supported by this repository, you can also register your own toolchains.
+
+## Node.js binary for the target platform
+
+Sometimes your target platform (where your software runs) is different from the host platform (where you run Bazel) or execution platform (where Bazel actions run).
+The most common case is developing a docker image on MacOS, which will execute in a Linux container.
+
+Our toolchain support is conditional on the execution platform, as it's meant for running nodejs tools during the build.
+It is not needed for this use case. Instead, simply select the nodejs you want to include in the runtime.
+
+For example, rules_docker has a `nodejs_image` rule, which takes a `node_repository_name` attribute indicating
+which nodejs binary you want to include in the image. `nodejs_linux_amd64` is the value you'd use.
+
+## Cross-compilation
+
+Bazel Toolchains are intended to support cross-compilation, e.g. building a linux binary from mac or windows.
+Most JavaScript use cases produce platform-independent code,
+but the exception is native modules which use [node-gyp](https://github.com/nodejs/node-gyp).
+Any native modules will still be fetched and built, by npm/yarn, for your host platform,
+so they will not work on the target platform.
+The workaround is to perform the npm_install inside a docker container so that it produces modules for the target platform.
+
+Follow https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/issues/506 for updates on support for node-gyp cross-compilation.
+
+## Registering a custom toolchain
+
+To run a custom toolchain (i.e., to run a node binary not supported by the built-in toolchains), you'll need four things:
+
+1) A rule which can build or load a node binary from your repository
+   (a checked-in binary or a build using a relevant [`rules_foreign_cc` build rule](https://bazelbuild.github.io/rules_foreign_cc/) will do nicely).
+2) A [`node_toolchain` rule](Core.html#node_toolchain) which depends on your binary defined in step 1 as its `target_tool`.
+3) A [`toolchain` rule](https://bazel.build/reference/be/platform#toolchain) that depends on your `node_toolchain` rule defined in step 2 as its `toolchain`
+   and on `@rules_nodejs//nodejs:toolchain_type` as its `toolchain_type`. Make sure to define appropriate platform restrictions as described in the
+   documentation for the `toolchain` rule.
+4) A call to [the `register_toolchains` function](https://bazel.build/rules/lib/globals#register_toolchains) in your `WORKSPACE`
+   that refers to the `toolchain` rule defined in step 3.
+
+Examples of steps 2-4 can be found in the [documentation for `node_toolchain`](Core.html#node_toolchain).
+
+If necessary, you can substitute building the node binary as part of the build with using a locally installed version by skipping step 1 and replacing step 2 with:
+
+2) A `node_toolchain` rule which has the path of the system binary as its `target_tool_path`
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