Cargo NW

Application deployment package builder for Node-Webkit

Overview

cargo-nw allows creation custom application deployment packages for NW applications by bundling application files with NW binaries. This tool was created to build Node Webkit Rust WASM applications, but it can be used with any new or existing project.

The deployment is controlled by nw.toml manifest file that allows full customization of information packages in distributables, creation of additional actions (such as program executions during different stages of the build process), copying groups of files using globs or regex filters.

For application icons, only a single large-size .png file needs to be supplied - cargo-nw will automatically resize and generate all appropriate icon variations and file formats. Custom icons can be supplied for each OS.

OS support

MacOS: DMG, archive
Windows: InnoSetup, archive
Linux: SNAP, archive

NOTE: To create a redistributable for each platform, you need to run cargo-nw on that specific platform.

Features

No external dependencies for basic functionality
Automatic download of Node Webkit distribution binaries (optionally SDK)
Automatic handling of application icons
Automatic creation of .desktop file on Linux
Automatic handling of DMG resources
Automatic handling of MacOS and Windows resource manifests
Custom strings for Windows resource manifests
SNAP support for different types of confinement
Creation of firewall rules during Windows installs
Optional inclusion of FFMPEG libraries

Dependencies

Rust
InnoSetup for Windows for creation of interactive Windows installers
Wasmpack if building Node Webkit WASM applications in Rust
SnapCraft + LXD

Installation

cargo install cargo-nw

Documentation

For detailed documentation please see Cargo NW Documentation

Manifest

The nw.toml package manifest file contains TOML specification for the project. It is typically located in the project root.

[application]
name = "my-app"
title = "My App"
version = "0.1.0"
organization = "My Organization"

[description]
short = "This is my app" # max 78 chars
long = """
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, 
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna 
aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation 
ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. 
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit 
esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
"""

[package]
exclude = ["resources/setup"]
execute = [
    { build = { cmd = "my-package-script $OUTPUT" } },
]

[nwjs]
version = "0.70.1"
ffmpeg = false

[windows]
uuid = "95ba1908-ff47-4281-4dca-7461bc1ee058"
group = "App Group" # Windows start menu group
run_on_startup = "everyone"
run_after_setup = true
resources = [
    { Custom = { name = "CustomString", value = "My Info" }},
]

[languages]
languages = ["english","french"]

[firewall]
application = "in:out"
in = [ "bin\\windows-x64\\my-utility.exe" ]
out = [ "bin\\windows-x64\\test.exe" ]