Node.js, Python, Go and Java for Native APIs, Installed for You

Intro

0:00 Code you mark Run on native process runs on the machine of API Maker, with the program of its language API Maker finds on its PATH. In this video, API Maker Launchpad finds those languages, and installs the versions you choose, on your computer and on your servers.

Runtimes, the usual way

0:19 Languages for native code usually mean runtimes installed by hand, with brew, nvm or apt, a laptop and servers on different versions, downloads nobody checks, and a PATH that API Maker does not see when an app starts it. With Launchpad, what each machine has is found first, the versions come live from their publishers, every download is checked against its checksum, and one choice runs on your computer and on every API Maker server.

0:50 In this video : the native process, the languages of a new project, the Languages page, Full Docker, the languages of an environment, what a deployment does, and a language for one server.

The native process

1:03 A sandbox runs code in Docker, with the runtime of its image. Code marked run on native process runs on the machine of API Maker instead, in one runner per language, shared by every account, for the tools that machine has, like a browser. API Maker starts that runner with the program it finds first on its PATH : node, python3, php, go, cargo, dotnet, java or kotlinc. So that machine needs the language, in a version API Maker runs.

A new project

1:35 A new project asks for no language in its setup : its code runs in the sandboxes until you choose some, on its Languages page. Launchpad first looks at what this Mac has : the PATH, and where Homebrew, nvm, Volta, pyenv, rustup or SDKMAN put the languages. Each one says its version, and whether API Maker runs code on it : this Java is a runtime without javac, it can not build the code of Java.

2:02 Use them picks every one that works. Nothing is installed for them. Or a version Launchpad installs. The versions come live from nodejs.org, the newest line first, long term support marked, the one the sandboxes use recommended. This one is installed already. Java : the JDK of Eclipse Temurin. The card says what it downloads and how big it is, what it takes on the disk, and the checksum its publisher gives.

2:32 Below the cards, what the choice installs, and where : one folder in the home folder, for every project. A version is installed once, and shared by the projects that choose it. Nothing goes into the system, and no shell profile changes. Save languages. API Maker reads its PATH when it starts, so it offers a restart. Restart : a step of the start, Languages, downloads Java, checks it, and asks the program its version.

3:01 API Maker starts with their folders first on its PATH. Only API Maker and its runners see them. Where do the versions come from? From the publisher of each language, read live and kept six hours : nodejs.org, go.dev, static.rust-lang.org, Eclipse Temurin, the releases of .NET, Bun, Kotlin and the Python builds uv installs. Only the versions API Maker runs are offered. Every download must match the SHA-256 or SHA-512 its publisher gives, or it is refused.

3:38 And Go and Rust build the code with a C compiler : the card says when one is missing.

The Languages page

3:45 The dashboard of Calm Home API shows its languages : Node.js twenty four, installed by the app, and the Python of Homebrew. The Languages page : API Maker runs with them. What the app installed, the size of each version, and the projects that use it. And what this Mac has, usable or not, and why. Node.js twenty six, for the next APIs. Saved, and restarted. The start installs the new version, and API Maker runs with it.

Full Docker

4:18 And in Full Docker, where API Maker runs in a container? The Linux builds of the same languages are mounted into it, read only. PHP, and the C compiler of Go and Rust, come with its image, built again with them. The languages of this Mac do not run there : switching to Full Docker turns them into versions the app installs.

An environment

4:41 Cloud mode : the production environment of Calm Home. Its Languages tab shows the same cards, for the Ubuntu of its servers, on ARM. Every API Maker server of the environment gets these languages, the ones added later too. The Python of Ubuntu is found on app-1 : choosing it installs nothing. Go, for Linux on ARM, from go.dev. On each API Maker server, in /root/languages. Saved. Server by server, what each one has : Node.js installed, the Python of the server, and Go, for the next deployment.

5:19 Review the deployment is one click away. And the choice is remembered : a new environment starts with these languages, and its dialog names them.

What a deployment does

5:29 What does the deployment do? Each server downloads its languages itself, from their publishers, and checks them : nothing goes through your computer. Each version gets its folder under /root/languages ; PHP comes from apt, with FFI. A file, languages.env, puts their folders first on the PATH of API Maker, under systemd, PM2 or in its container. API Maker restarts with them, one server at a time when several serve, then the versions it no longer runs with are deleted.

A language for one server

6:05 The list of servers shows the languages of each. app-1, its Languages tab : what API Maker runs native code with there, here those of production, what Launchpad installed, the room it takes, and what Ubuntu has. Install a language : Java, twenty five, read from Eclipse Temurin for the processor of this server. For this server only, or for every API Maker server of production. Install : the server downloads it and checks it, and API Maker restarts with it, in seconds.

6:40 Java is on app-1.

Recap

6:42 To sum up. What each machine has, found first. Versions read live from their publishers, every download checked. One folder, and only API Maker sees them. One choice for every API Maker server, remembered for the next environment. And a server can have languages of its own. Next : sandboxes, runtimes and packages. API Maker. Build faster, spend smarter, deliver better.