C++ embedder API

Added in: v12.19.0

Node.js provides a number of C++ APIs that can be used to execute JavaScript in a Node.js environment from other C++ software.

The documentation for these APIs can be found in src/node.h in the Node.js source tree. In addition to the APIs exposed by Node.js, some required concepts are provided by the V8 embedder API.

Because using Node.js as an embedded library is different from writing code that is executed by Node.js, breaking changes do not follow typical Node.js deprecation policy and may occur on each semver-major release without prior warning.

Example embedding application

The following sections will provide an overview over how to use these APIs to create an application from scratch that will perform the equivalent of node -e <code>, i.e. that will take a piece of JavaScript and run it in a Node.js-specific environment.

The full code can be found in the Node.js source tree.

Setting up per-process state

Node.js requires some per-process state management in order to run:

• Arguments parsing for Node.js CLI options,
• V8 per-process requirements, such as a v8::Platform instance.

The following example shows how these can be set up. Some class names are from the node and v8 C++ namespaces, respectively.

CPPcopy

Per-instance state

Node.js has a concept of a “Node.js instance”, that is commonly being referred to as node::Environment. Each node::Environment is associated with:

• Exactly one v8::Isolate, i.e. one JS Engine instance,
• Exactly one uv_loop_t, i.e. one event loop, and
• A number of v8::Contexts, but exactly one main v8::Context.
• One node::IsolateData instance that contains information that could be shared by multiple node::Environments that use the same v8::Isolate. Currently, no testing if performed for this scenario.

In order to set up a v8::Isolate, an v8::ArrayBuffer::Allocator needs to be provided. One possible choice is the default Node.js allocator, which can be created through node::ArrayBufferAllocator::Create(). Using the Node.js allocator allows minor performance optimizations when addons use the Node.js C++ Buffer API, and is required in order to track ArrayBuffer memory in process.memoryUsage().

Additionally, each v8::Isolate that is used for a Node.js instance needs to be registered and unregistered with the MultiIsolatePlatform instance, if one is being used, in order for the platform to know which event loop to use for tasks scheduled by the v8::Isolate.

The node::NewIsolate() helper function creates a v8::Isolate, sets it up with some Node.js-specific hooks (e.g. the Node.js error handler), and registers it with the platform automatically.

CPPcopy