How to Install & Run Node/React app as an Exe file?

Step 1 : Make Sure the Node app is installed and ready to launch. 

1. Run the install command mentioned in the documentation of the node app.
   Usually it’s either NPM init or YARN install
2. Once the installation is done and all the required modules are installed, try running the app with the command mentioned in the documentation
   Usually it’s NPM start or YARN run

Step 2 : Create a exe file that executes the run command to start the application

1. Open BAT to EXE converter
2. Type the run command used to start the app
3. Click convert to convert it into an exe file, we can also add an icon for a better looking exe file.
   
4. Add this line on top to open the cmd in background

if not DEFINED IS_MINIMIZED set IS_MINIMIZED=1 && start "" /min "%~dpnx0" %* && exit

Step 3 : Create a setup file to extract the files and create a shortcut on desktop and start menu

1. Open inno setup compiler
2. Select “new script” and fill in the project details.
   
3. Let the application destination base be default or customise it if needed.
   This will be your installation directory.
4. Choose the exe file we created on step 2 as main executable file
   Also choose “add folder” and choose the root folder consisting all the required files and exe file.
   
   
5. Choose your setup name, output folder and setup icon.
   
   
   
6. Click on finish to generate the setup file
   

Step 4 : Create a installer for systems without nodeJS Pre installed.

1. Go to your setup output directory from step 3
2. Download the latest version of node installer from here
   https://nodejs.org/en/download/
3. Group them in a folder named “bin” like this
   
4. Open bat to exe converter and paste the following commands
   

cd bin/
start “YourApplicationNameHere”.exe
start node.msi

5. Convert it to an exe and place it outside the bin folder
6. Compress the bin folder and this exe as a zip.

This Zip can be shared with anyone who doesn’t have prior programming experience or nodeJS installed in their system. The installer installs both NodeJs and the app and creates shortcuts on the desktop and start menu. This shortcut will open up the application in the browser.

To learn how to setup CI/CD Pipeline for react app with Github actions: