/package-commands

title: Package Commands
icon: box-archive

Package Commands

:::info This document covers the packaging and lifecycle commands for building distributable installers and managing native modules. For development commands (dev, build, preview), see [Development Commands](dev-commands.md). :::

All commands are run from the `web/` directory:

cd web
npm run <script>

`npm run package`

Builds the application and packages it into a Windows NSIS installer.

npm run package

**Under the hood:**

1. electron-vite build        → out/
2. electron-builder           → dist/eIsland-{version}-Setup.exe

**Output:** `dist/eIsland-{version}-Setup.exe`

:::warning This command requires **Visual Studio Build Tools 2022** with the "Desktop development with C++" workload and **.NET 10 SDK** for compiling native modules. See [Frontend Setup — Install Dependencies](/developer/environment-setup/frontend-setup.md#install-dependencies). :::

**When to use:**

• Local testing — verify the installer builds correctly on your machine
• Before a release — ensure the installer is functional

`postinstall`

Runs automatically after `npm install`. You should never run this manually.

# This runs automatically — do not invoke manually
npm run postinstall

**Under the hood:** `electron-builder install-app-deps`

**What it does:**

• Rebuilds native modules (e.g., `eisland-windows-smtc-helper`, `eisland-windows-fullscreen-detector`) for Electron's Node.js version
• Ensures native addons are ABI-compatible with the Electron runtime

:::warning If you see native module errors after `npm install`, the `postinstall` hook may have failed. Run `npx electron-builder install-app-deps` manually to rebuild. See [Frontend Setup — Native Module Errors](/developer/environment-setup/frontend-setup.md#native-module-errors). :::

Troubleshooting

`npm run package` Fails

**Missing build tools:**

:::warning `npm run package` requires Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 with the "Desktop development with C++" workload and .NET 10 SDK. See [Frontend Setup — Install Dependencies](/developer/environment-setup/frontend-setup.md#install-dependencies). :::

# Verify build tools are installed
# 1. Open Visual Studio Installer
# 2. Check "Desktop development with C++" workload is installed
# 3. Install .NET 10 SDK from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/10.0

# Then retry
npm run package

Native Module Errors After `npm install`

# Rebuild native modules for Electron
npx electron-builder install-app-deps