Publish merjs to npm registry

[justrach]

Goal

Make merjs installable via npm: npm install -g merlionjs or npx merlionjs init my-app

Deliverables

• Create packages/npm/ package structure
• Set up npm account for merlionjs package
• Configure CI workflow for automated publishing on release
• Test on macOS (Intel/ARM), Linux (x64/ARM64), Windows
• Update README with npm installation instructions

Package Structure

packages/npm/
├── package.json       # Main package manifest
├── index.js           # Programmatic API
├── install.js         # Post-install binary download
├── bin/mer            # CLI wrapper
└── README.md

Installation Flow

1. User runs npm install -g merlionjs
2. postinstall hook runs install.js
3. Script detects platform (macOS/Linux/Windows) and arch (x64/arm64)
4. Downloads appropriate binary from GitHub releases
5. Verifies SHA256 checksum
6. Places binary in bin/ directory

Install Commands

# Global install
npm install -g merlionjs
mer init my-app

# One-time use with npx
npx merlionjs init my-app

Technical Details

• Downloads from: https://github.com/justrach/merjs/releases
• Supports: macOS (x64/arm64), Linux (x64/arm64), Windows (x64)
• Requires Node.js 16+
• No runtime Node.js dependency for the framework itself

Published

✅ Package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/merlionjs

Note on Package Name

Originally tried merjs but npm rejected it for similarity to existing packages (merge, memfs, ejs, pegjs). Using merlionjs instead which matches the website domain.

Related

• PyPI distribution issue Publish merjs to PyPI registry #78
• Issue dx: consumer build.zig has to reach into merjs internals (src/main.zig, tools/codegen.zig, src/worker.zig) #67 (build system DX)

[justrach]

Resolved by PR #81.