Local native Node module causes error: Uncaught Error: No native build was found for platform=win32 arch=x64 runtime=electron abi=75 uv=1 libc=glibc

Question

I have a native Node addon I wrote that I'm trying to add to an Electron app. I use npm install /path/to/addon to install the addon. Then electron-rebuild and electron-build, which don't complain.

But when I run npm start, in the dev console I get the following error:

Uncaught Error: No native build was found for platform=win32 arch=x64 runtime=electron abi=75 uv=1 libc=glibc
    at Function.load.path (C:\path\to\node_modules\node-gyp-build\index.js:55:9)
    at load (C:\path\to\node_modules\node-gyp-build\index.js:20:30)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\path\to\index.js:2:42)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\path\to\index.js:27:3)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:880:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:892:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:735:32)
    at Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:648:12)
    at Module._load (electron/js2c/asar.js:717:26)
    at Function.Module._load (electron/js2c/asar.js:717:26)

I can't find much online regarding this error. I've tried recompiling everything, tried rebuilding the addon with Electron as target and nothing helps. Why does this error happen, and how can I remedy it?

Answer 1

The error was with a silly one. In index.js, I was doing

let addon= require("node-gyp-build")("./");

Essentially, "./" will not link correctly when installed with npm since ./ is the root directory of the current project not the installed. Using __dirname instead will properly link the addon

let addon= require("node-gyp-build")(__dirname);

Note: I also switched to using prebuildify which means I no longer have to run npm electron-builder