Bundling & Distribution

tynd build --bundle turns the raw self-contained binary into platform-native installers. Tools auto-download on first build — no manual setup beyond rpmbuild on Linux.

Quick start

tynd build --bundle            # all formats for the host OS
tynd build --bundle app,dmg    # comma-separated list

Output lands in release/:

Required config

export default {
  runtime: "lite",
  backend: "backend/main.ts",
  frontendDir: "dist",
  bundle: {
    identifier: "com.example.myapp",   // reverse-DNS, required
    categories: ["Utility"],           // XDG / Launch Services
    shortDescription: "A tiny app",
  },
} satisfies TyndConfig;

Other fields (author, description, homepage, version) default to reading from package.json.

Formats

macOS .app + .dmg

• .app — TS builder (bundle/app.ts). Copies the binary into Contents/MacOS/, emits Info.plist, renders ICNS from the source icon.
• .dmg — shells out to hdiutil (ships with macOS).

Linux .deb

Pure-TS builder (handwritten ar + tar-stream). No dpkg-deb required.

Produces:

• control with name, version, description, maintainer, dependencies (libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0, …).
• postinst / prerm scripts that update desktop mime caches.
• The .desktop file under usr/share/applications/.
• Hicolor icon tree under usr/share/icons/hicolor/<size>x<size>/apps/.

Linux .rpm

Uses system rpmbuild. Required — install with sudo apt install rpm or sudo dnf install rpm-build on the build machine. Tynd fails fast with a clear message if not found.

Linux .AppImage

Auto-downloads appimagetool to .tynd/cache/tools/appimagetool/<version>/. Produces a portable single-file AppImage that runs on any modern distro.

Windows NSIS .exe setup

Auto-downloads NSIS 3.09 portable zip to .tynd/cache/tools/nsis/<version>/. Generates MyApp.nsi from a template that honors:

• bundle.nsis.installMode — currentUser (default) or perMachine.
• bundle.nsis.languages — list of NSIS language files (default: English).
• bundle.nsis.license — path to a license .txt shown during install.

Windows MSI

Auto-downloads WiX Toolset v3.11.2. Builds an MSI via candle.exe + light.exe from a generated .wxs.

Auto-downloaded tools

Orchestrated by bundle/tools.ts::ensureTool. Extraction uses adm-zip for zips, tar-stream + node:zlib for tar.gz, raw stream for single-file AppImage.

Icon handling

Single source of truth: one file in public/ (SVG preferred).

Auto-detection order:

1. public/{favicon,icon,logo}.svg
2. public/{favicon,icon,logo}.{ico,png}
3. assets/icon.{svg,png,ico}
4. icon.{svg,png,ico}

Override with icon in tynd.config.ts.

Per-format rendering

• PNG source — degrades to single-size (native resolution). SVG recommended for pixel-perfect rendering.
• ICO source — passes through directly to .exe / NSIS / MSI; skipped (with warning) for macOS/Linux.
• Non-square SVG — wrapped in a square viewBox before rasterising. Windows PE + macOS ICNS reject / distort non-square inputs.

Icons are not cached — rendering is fast and each build produces fresh, per-DPI artwork.

Config reference — bundle block

bundle: {
  identifier:        "com.example.myapp",     // required
  categories:        ["Utility"],
  shortDescription:  "…",
  longDescription:   "…",
  copyright:         "© 2026 Example Inc.",
  homepage:          "https://example.com",
 
  nsis: {
    installMode:   "currentUser" | "perMachine",
    languages:     ["English", "French"],
    license:       "./LICENSE.txt",
    headerImage:   "./installer-header.bmp",
    welcomeImage:  "./installer-welcome.bmp",
  },
  deb: {
    depends:    ["libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0"],
    recommends: [],
    suggests:   [],
  },
  rpm: {
    requires:   ["webkit2gtk4.1"],
  },
  appimage: {
    continuous: false,
  },
  sign: { /* see Code Signing */ },
}

CI — build on all three platforms

# .github/workflows/release.yml
jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        include:
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            target: linux-x64
            bundles: deb,rpm,appimage
          - os: macos-latest
            target: macos-arm64
            bundles: app,dmg
          - os: windows-latest
            target: windows-x64
            bundles: nsis,msi
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v2
      - name: Install Linux deps
        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
        run: |
          sudo apt-get install -y rpm \
            libgtk-3-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
            libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-dev libsoup-3.0-dev \
            libxdo-dev
      - run: bun install
      - run: bunx tynd build --bundle ${{ matrix.bundles }}
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: bundles-${{ matrix.target }}
          path: release/

Known issues

• .deb dependency miss — if your app uses fs.watch (inotify), terminal (util-linux), or similar, add those to bundle.deb.depends.
• AppImage + old glibc — AppImages link against the glibc version used at build time. Build on the oldest supported system (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) to maximise compatibility.
• NSIS Unicode — the generated .nsi is UTF-8. Include the Unicode true directive if you rely on non-ASCII in metadata (Tynd does this by default).

Next

• Code Signing
• Auto-Updates
• tynd.config.ts