deno compile, standalone executablesdeno compile [OPTIONS] [SCRIPT_ARG]...Compiles the given script into a self contained executable.
deno compile --allow-read --allow-net jsr:@std/http/file-server
deno compile --output file_server jsr:@std/http/file-server
Any flags specified which affect runtime behavior will be applied to the resulting binary.
This allows distribution of a Deno application to systems that do not have Deno installed. Under the hood, it bundles a slimmed down version of the Deno runtime along with your JavaScript or TypeScript code.
Cross-compiling to different target architectures is supported using the --target flag. On the first invocation of deno compile, Deno will download the relevant binary and cache it in $DENO_DIR.
--check Set type-checking behavior. This subcommand type-checks local modules by default, so adding --check is redundant If the value of "all" is supplied, remote modules will be included. Alternatively, the 'deno check' subcommand can be used.
--no-check Skip type-checking. If the value of "remote" is supplied, diagnostic errors from remote modules will be ignored.
--cached-only Require that remote dependencies are already cached.
--frozen Error out if lockfile is out of date.
--import-map Load import map file from local file or remote URL.
--lock Check the specified lock file. (If value is not provided, defaults to "./deno.lock").
--no-lock Disable auto discovery of the lock file.
--no-npm Do not resolve npm modules.
--no-remote Do not resolve remote modules.
--node-modules-dir Sets the node modules management mode for npm packages.
--reload Short flag: -r
Reload source code cache (recompile TypeScript) no value Reload everything jsr:@std/http/file-server,jsr:@std/assert/assert-equals Reloads specific modules npm: Reload all npm modules npm:chalk Reload specific npm module.
--vendor Toggles local vendor folder usage for remote modules and a node_modules folder for npm packages.
--allow-scripts Allow running npm lifecycle scripts for the given packages Note: Scripts will only be executed when using a node_modules directory (--node-modules-dir).
--cert Load certificate authority from PEM encoded file.
--conditions Use this argument to specify custom conditions for npm package exports. You can also use DENO_CONDITIONS env var. .
--config Short flag: -c
Configure different aspects of deno including TypeScript, linting, and code formatting. Typically the configuration file will be called deno.json or deno.jsonc and automatically detected; in that case this flag is not necessary.
--env-file Load environment variables from local file Only the first environment variable with a given key is used. Existing process environment variables are not overwritten, so if variables with the same names already exist in the environment, their values will be preserved. Where multiple declarations for the same environment variable exist in your .env file, the first one encountered is applied. This is determined by the order of the files you pass as arguments.
--ext Set content type of the supplied file.
--location Value of globalThis.location used by some web APIs.
--no-code-cache Disable V8 code cache feature.
--no-config Disable automatic loading of the configuration file.
--preload A list of files that will be executed before the main module.
--seed Set the random number generator seed.
--v8-flags To see a list of all available flags use --v8-flags=--help Flags can also be set via the DENO_V8_FLAGS environment variable. Any flags set with this flag are appended after the DENO_V8_FLAGS environment variable.
--exclude Excludes a file/directory in the compiled executable. Use this flag to exclude a specific file or directory within the included files. For example, to exclude a certain folder in the bundled node_modules directory.
--icon Set the icon of the executable on Windows (.ico).
--include Includes an additional module or file/directory in the compiled executable. Use this flag if a dynamically imported module or a web worker main module fails to load in the executable or to embed a file or directory in the executable. This flag can be passed multiple times, to include multiple additional modules.
--no-terminal Hide terminal on Windows.
--output Short flag: -o
Output file (defaults to $PWD/
--target Target OS architecture.
As with deno install, the runtime flags used to execute the script must be specified at compilation time. This includes permission flags.
deno compile --allow-read --allow-net jsr:@std/http/file-server
Script arguments can be partially embedded.
deno compile --allow-read --allow-net jsr:@std/http/file-server -p 8080
./file_server --help
You can cross-compile binaries for other platforms by using the --target flag.
# Cross compile for Apple Silicon
deno compile --target aarch64-apple-darwin main.ts
# Cross compile for Windows with an icon
deno compile --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc --icon ./icon.ico main.ts
Deno supports cross compiling to all targets regardless of the host platform.
| OS | Architecture | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | x86_64 | x86_64-pc-windows-msvc |
| macOS | x86_64 | x86_64-apple-darwin |
| macOS | ARM64 | aarch64-apple-darwin |
| Linux | x86_64 | x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu |
| Linux | ARM64 | aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu |
It is possible to add an icon to the executable by using the --icon flag when targeting Windows. The icon must be in the .ico format.
deno compile --icon icon.ico main.ts
# Cross compilation with icon
deno compile --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc --icon ./icon.ico main.ts
By default, statically analyzable dynamic imports (imports that have the string literal within the import("...") call expression) will be included in the output.
// calculator.ts and its dependencies will be included in the binary
const calculator = await import("./calculator.ts");
But non-statically analyzable dynamic imports won't:
const specifier = condition ? "./calc.ts" : "./better_calc.ts";
const calculator = await import(specifier);
To include non-statically analyzable dynamic imports, specify an --include <path> flag.
deno compile --include calc.ts --include better_calc.ts main.ts
Starting in Deno 2.1, you can include files or directories in the executable by specifying them via the --include <path> flag.
deno compile --include names.csv --include data main.ts
Then read the file relative to the directory path of the current module via import.meta.dirname:
// main.ts
const names = Deno.readTextFileSync(import.meta.dirname + "/names.csv");
const dataFiles = Deno.readDirSync(import.meta.dirname + "/data");
// use names and dataFiles here
Note this currently only works for files on the file system and not remote files.
Similarly to non-statically analyzable dynamic imports, code for workers is not included in the compiled executable by default. There are two ways to include workers:
--include <path> flag to include the worker code.deno compile --include worker.ts main.ts
// main.ts
import "./worker.ts";
deno compile main.ts
By default, on macOS, the compiled executable will be signed using an ad-hoc signature which is the equivalent of running codesign -s -:
$ deno compile -o main main.ts
$ codesign --verify -vv ./main
./main: valid on disk
./main: satisfies its Designated Requirement
You can specify a signing identity when code signing the executable just like you would do with any other macOS executable:
codesign -s "Developer ID Application: Your Name" ./main
Refer to the official documentation for more information on codesigning and notarization on macOS.
On Windows, the compiled executable can be signed using the SignTool.exe utility.
$ deno compile -o main.exe main.ts
$ signtool sign /fd SHA256 main.exe
© 2018–2025 the Deno authors
Licensed under the MIT License.
https://docs.deno.com/runtime/reference/cli/compile