Node-API (formerly N-API) is an API for building native addons. It is independent from the underlying JavaScript runtime (for example, V8) and is maintained as part of Node.js itself. This API will be Application Binary Interface (ABI) stable across versions of Node.js. It is intended to insulate addons from changes in the underlying JavaScript engine and allow modules compiled for one major version to run on later major versions of Node.js without recompilation. The ABI stability guide provides a more in-depth explanation.
APIs exposed by Node-API are generally used to create and manipulate JavaScript values. Concepts and operations generally map to ideas specified in the ECMA262 Language Specification.
Node-API is an ABI stable C interface and it allows the usage of the FFI (Foreign Function Interface) to implement bindings written in a programming langunage different from C or C++.
There are many projects that implement Node-API bindings and allow to develop a native addon for Node.js, but at the same time Node-API has been implemented in other JavaScript/TypeScript runtimes. In the following section there are some of them.
NOTE The Node-API team has not tried out or validated the projects listed below and does not endorse them in any way. Similarly, being listed below does not indicate that those projects endorse Node.js or Node-API. The lists are simply provided as a starting point for you to do your own evaluation.
| Project | Programming language |
|---|---|
| napi-rs | Rust |
| napi-sys | Rust |
| nodejs-sys | Rust |
| neon | Rust |
| NodeSwift | Swift |
There are other projects that are in early stage, in development or that it's possible to use as example to understand how to use a programming language to implement native addons for Node.js through Node-API:
| Project | Programming language |
|---|---|
| napi-cs | C# |
| node-api-dotnet | C# |
| swift-napi-bindings | Swift |
| swift-node-addon-examples | Swift |
| napi-nim | Nim |
| zig-napigen | Zig |
| zig-nodejs-example | Zig |
| go-node-api | Go |
| Project | Programming language |
|---|---|
| bun | Zig |
| deno | Rust |
| electron | C++ |
| emnapi | C / JavaScript |
| iotjs | C |
| veil | C |