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x/denoify/README.md

🦕For NPM module authors that would like to support Deno but do not want to write and maintain a port.
garronej/denoify
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🦕 Support Deno and release on NPM with a single codebase.🦕


What it is

A build tool that takes as input a TypeScript codebase that was meant to target node and/or the web and spits out a modified version of the source files ready to be deployed as a Deno module.

what_denoify_does

NOTE: Denoify won’t run on Deno, it is a Node module.

If you are just looking for a quick way to load NPM modules in your Deno project you can check out CommonJS module Loading, unlike Denoify, it won’t give you types definitions, it will involve node_modules/ and require --allow-read but it will also be easier to get working.

This tool is mainly for NPM module maintainer, to enable them to bring first-class citizen Deno support to their modules and doing so without introducing breaking changes.

Motivations

  • Although it is quite easy to port a module to Deno no one wants to maintain two codebase.
  • Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool able to bring Deno support to NPM modules?

Example of modules using Denoify

Modules that have been made cross-runtime using Denoify:

Video introduction

NOTE: New features have been introduced since this meeting was hold

Watch the video

Limitations

Coming up next is a detailed guide on how to set up denoify with your project and how to publish on deno.land/x but before anything here are the current limitations you need to be aware of.

  • If your module is vanilla JS it needs to be ported to TypeScript first. (1)
  • Not all Node’s builtin are supported yet. (2) But thanks to the new .deno.ts mechanism, à la React Native, that let you have specific deno implementation for some of your files, the lack of support for Buffer, "https" or "net", while being annoying, is no longer a dead end.
  • If your module has dependencies you will have to enable those dependencies to run on Deno. While it is well documented, be aware that it is a time consuming process.
  • require() is not yet supported.
  • You can’t (yet) fs.readFile() files that are part of the module ( files inside a res/ directory for example ). (4)

(1) Don’t be afraid, renaming your source with .ts and dropping some any here and there will do the trick. You will be able to pull it off even if you aren’t familiar with typescript. Ref

(2) You can consult here the current state of the Node’s builtin support.

(4) In Deno the files that forms your module won’t be pre-fetched and placed in node_module like in node so you won’t be able to access files that are not on the disk.

GUIDES

Setting up an existing project

Check out this repo to see in practice how to set up Denoify in your project.

Starting a project from scratch

denoify_ci

denoify_ci is a template repo that automates the boring and tedious tasks of:

  • Filling up the package.json
  • Setting up TypeScript and Denoify.
  • Writing a README.md with decent presentation and instructions on how to install/import your module in different environments.
  • Testing with multiple Node and Deno versions before publishing.
  • Publishing on NPM and deno.land/x ( via GitHub releases ).

Get started

NEW v0.4.0: Now that deno.land/x allows to publish modules under a subdirectory of a GitHub repo denoify no longer generate a mod.ts at the root of the project but under deno_dist. deno_dist should be stipulated as subdirectory when registering your module on deno.land/x.

TODO LIST / Things that need to change

  • Support myModule.deno.ts alongside myModule.ts for deno specific implementation of part of the code. (Like in React Native)
  • Support custom replacer for import/export statements.
  • 🔥 Support CDN (Pika, jspm, UNPKG …) urls as Deno ports and feature side loading of type definitions. Done via custom replacer.
  • Support .tsx
  • index.ts should be rename mod.ts to respect Deno’s naming recommendations.
  • Add cli option for specifying the output directory.