Any possibility to run a Node app from memory?

[al-sabr]

I was wondering if it is possible to execute a folder 📁📂 in which there's an entire Node JS application instead of only some small scripts. Let's say I have a node folder in which I add regularly new apps and each time I add an app I can dynamically trigger a new VM context for that folder and let's say open the browser at http://localhost:12777/nodejs/mynewapp.

[tommie]

I think you're mostly asking for importing/resolving modules. That isn't implemented, and would require work to expose that from libv8.

[al-sabr]

When is this going to be possible?

[tommie]

There are no plans, but contributions are welcome.

[al-sabr]

Any alternative you could recommend to embed a nodejs in gola g an run them?

[stroiman]

Bear in mind that V8 is only a JavaScript engine. Node.JS adds a lot on top. For example, setTimeout and setInterval are not part of ECMAScript, as as such, v8 doesn't provide this functionality. Both browsers and node just happen to expose a similar interface. But they are actually not identical, the browser uses numbers for timeout handles, where node.js uses a timeout object.

I use this for a headless browser - https://github.com/gost-dom/browser - and I will implement some event loop behaviour on top of v8, which could potentially be extracted as a separate Go package.

There's another possibility. The Goja project is a pure Go JavaScript runner, and they have a side project to emulate node.js - so it could be worth looking into. It's also somewhat easier to use from Go than V8.

[stroiman]

Can something be built out of it

If you are asking if it's technically possible, they "maybe". In my own project, I provide a DOM environment to v8go; wrapping native Go types. So I think that the necessary functionality exist (though I still have some additions in my own fork that hasn't been merged here).

The "maybe" part is I think v8go may leak memory for a long running V8 context. It's not an issue for my own use case, where I create many short-lived V8s.

But as I have already mentioned, such functionality doesn't belong here. That should be a different project.

But did you ever check out if Goja serves your needs? In my experience, the maintainer is friendly and helpful.

[stroiman]

And what kind of node.js do you want? Just a node.js like environment with node.js-like module resolution and an event loop? Or do you want parts of the node API?

[al-sabr]

İ wanted to be able to run JS opensource project directly from golang without having the need to deal with embedding nodejs runtime in the go app.

İn the same way there's FrankenPHP which allows you to run full blown PHP Laravel apps directly from golang.

[al-sabr]

How about this project?

https://wasmedge.org/docs/develop/javascript/nodejs/

İt looks promising but I don't know if it fits all nodejs api

[al-sabr]

https://github.com/saghul/txiki.js

This is an insane project which is trying to implement all browser API. Unfortunately there's no FULL nodejs compatibility.

[al-sabr]

New thread for the unimplemented NodeJS API

dop251/goja_nodejs#94