build Failure on macOS (Source Build): C++ compilation error in nice-napi (via node-addon-api)

[JoeNutt]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Current behavior

Issue Title

Build Failure on macOS (Nix/Source Build): C++ compilation error in nice-napi with Clang 17

Context

This issue occurs when building @nestjs/cli from source rather than using pre-compiled binaries. This is a complete blocker for users of the Nix package manager, which enforces source-level builds to ensure reproducibility and correct linking on macOS.

Currently, the only way to get the CLI working is a workaround using npx @nestjs/cli, which bypasses the local build system.

Environment

• OS: macOS (Darwin 24.5.0 / Sequoia)

• Compiler: Apple Clang 17.x (latest via Xcode 16 / Command Line Tools)

• Node Version: 20.x (LTS)

• Package Manager: Nix (reproducible through pkgs.nodePackages."@nestjs/cli")

Description

The compilation of the native module nice-napi (a dependency of @nestjs/cli) fails on modern macOS toolchains using Clang 17. The error is located within the node-addon-api headers.

The compiler rejects the initialization of unknown_array_type because casting -1 to an unsigned enumeration type is not a valid constant expression in modern C++ standards. While older compilers treated this as a warning, Clang 17 treats it as a fatal error.

Error Log

npm error In file included from ../binding.cc:1:
npm error .../node_modules/node-addon-api/napi.h:911:39: error: in-class initializer for static data member is not a constant expression
npm error   911 |     static const napi_typedarray_type unknown_array_type = static_cast<napi_typedarray_type>(-1);
npm error       |                                       ^                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
npm error .../node_modules/node-addon-api/napi.h:911:60: note: integer value -1 is outside the valid range of values [0, 15] for the enumeration type 'napi_typedarray_type'
npm error   911 |     static const napi_typedarray_type unknown_array_type = static_cast<napi_typedarray_type>(-1);
npm error       |                                                                                            ^
npm error 1 error generated.
npm error make: *** [nice_napi.target.mk:125: Release/obj.target/nice_napi/binding.o] Error 1


### Minimum reproduction code

don't have one try and install node 25 on nix and add the cli package

### Steps to reproduce

Reproducibility (Nix)

On a Mac with Nix installed, the error can be triggered via:

nix-build -E 'with import <nixpkgs> {}; nodePackages."@nestjs/cli"'

Expected behavior

should be able to use nest cli on node 25 built from source.

Package version

11.0.14

NestJS version

11.0.14

Node.js version

25

In which operating systems have you tested?

• macOS
• Windows
• Linux

Other

I understand this is a niche issue specifically affecting source-based build environments like Nix, so it may not be a high priority for the general user base. However, it is important for maintaining reproducible development environments.

I am happy to look into this further or help test potential dependency updates (specifically updating nice-napi to a version using node-addon-api v3+) if provided with some guidance on how you'd prefer to handle native dependency updates in the CLI.

Thanks for your time

Joseph

[micalevisk]

Does it works on Nodejs v24? Youre not supposed to use odd versions of nodejs in real life

[micalevisk]

of the native module nice-napi (a dependency of @nestjs/cli)

I didn't understand where this dependency is defined tho

[JoeNutt]

hI just tried to run nodejs 24 and got the same error. also it's in a few packages nest cli uses c++ clang which seems to cause the issue after looking around it all seems to point back to nice-napi

npm error gyp info spawn args '-Goutput_dir=.'
> npm error gyp info spawn args ]
> npm error gyp info spawn make
> npm error gyp info spawn args [ 'BUILDTYPE=Release', '-C', 'build' ]
> npm error warning: libtool: archive library: Release/nothing.a the table of contents is empty (no object file members in the library define global symbols)
> npm error In file included from ../binding.cc:1:
> npm error /nix/var/nix/builds/nix-4246-606649653/source/node_modules/node-addon-api/napi.h:911:39: error: in-class initializer for static data member is not a constant expression
> npm error 911 | static const napi_typedarray_type unknown_array_type = static_cast<napi_typedarray_type>(-1);
> npm error | ^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> npm error /nix/var/nix/builds/nix-4246-606649653/source/node_modules/node-addon-api/napi.h:911:60: note: integer value -1 is outside the valid range of values [0, 15] for the enumeration type 'napi_typedarray_type'
> npm error 911 | static const napi_typedarray_type unknown_array_type = static_cast<napi_typedarray_type>(-1);
> npm error | ^
> npm error 1 error generated.
> npm error make: *** [nice_napi.target.mk:125: Release/obj.target/nice_napi/binding.o] Error 1
> npm error gyp ERR! build error
> npm error gyp ERR! stack Error: make failed with exit code: 2
> npm error gyp ERR! stack at ChildProcess. (/nix/store/4zsj5qcmdgbs33fcgzm6v2h4bv4zz7p4-nodejs-20.19.6/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/build.js:209:23)
> npm error gyp ERR! System Darwin 25.2.0
> npm error gyp ERR! command "/nix/store/4zsj5qcmdgbs33fcgzm6v2h4bv4zz7p4-nodejs-20.19.6/bin/node" "/nix/store/4zsj5qcmdgbs33fcgzm6v2h4bv4zz7p4-nodejs-20.19.6/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
> npm error gyp ERR! cwd /nix/var/nix/builds/nix-4246-606649653/source/node_modules/nice-napi
> npm error gyp ERR! node -v v20.19.6
> npm error gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v10.1.0
> npm error gyp ERR! not ok
> npm error Log files were not written due to an error writing to the directory: /nix/store/5bf1l67w1bnqln8gzmd5rny58h5758qn-nest-cli-11.0.14-npm-deps/_logs
> npm error You can rerun the command with --loglevel=verbose to see the logs in your terminal
For full logs, run:
nix log /nix/store/1apyl2v9khlbmslymvh1y29hhwmjqbyx-nest-cli-11.0.14.drv
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/rajqchyqkylq47n7m3mvhxivw123iy0a-home-manager-applications.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/09bjkb800sih822b9l1bdkh4i5rvvrj8-home-manager-applications
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/3dlncqryw6p52kl9mclvm10l1ysv47z8-home-manager-fonts.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/hqik2c8vhhfildfzad7yfmfj70qs8l9j-home-manager-fonts
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/mx86myyibfai2w9rsjwn8fn2kapmip4d-home-manager-path.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/hm0ln39qfjyfrhq1f3wi3pvm2xk3zj6h-home-manager-path
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/6vjzs7c16s01j99g5zigi5rf5cbcd5i5-man-paths.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/aq1p7ab716dcfdgibzapl1hyd1w6nnds-man-paths
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/cja2rj4cga3y446g0r7x8fgy61iyf62g-nest-cli-11.0.14-fish-completions.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/dmyvl3vmyvlvans3ysjzrn4smqy9ajxx-nest-cli-11.0.14-fish-completions
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/rvfz3vw81zix8hb4wy68xp9hw2nfn01l-home-manager-generation.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/qjab6yi33syqq4xnnfw1fh9dwd592m40-home-manager-generation
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/qy4357l72yv4mjrznw38pd7lwvpgln1v-user-environment.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/yhky62bzf0nkdny1x51a3h8mzagds9hk-user-environment
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/n650lxy6qrzzhxj3hb3mg6his6ndmxhm-activation-joe.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/yhsf8sf1m0nilfydq3336xwqwz32fgnl-activation-joe
error: Cannot build '/nix/store/13c52dajiv8ijhh0bzsz2fz9ljcr30kr-darwin-system-26.05.c31afa6.drv'.
Reason: 1 dependency failed.
Output paths:
/nix/store/llhb9rsjczmi5xc2q4pk7270b1igzkli-darwin-system-26.05.c31afa6

[JoeNutt]

i'm happy to take a look at this myself since the issue is very niche but i figured i'd let the rest of the team know

[kamilmysliwiec]

i mean PRs are more than welcome - if there's anything we could do to improve developer experience, we'd love to do so - feel free to contribute

never heard of nix though