Install & setup

#Release status

These docs describe the staged Apexify.js 6.0.0 package artifact built from the repository. The published npm latest release is still 5.4.5.

1$ npm install apexify.js

That command currently installs 5.4.5. The documentation website is pinned and tested against an exact staged 6.0 repository commit so its API reference can be validated before publication; do not assume npm already serves 6.0.0.

#Requirements for staged 6.0.0

• Node.js 22.x, 24.x, or 26.x
• npm 10+ (the repository/release toolchain is pinned to npm 11.19.1)
• FFmpeg + ffprobe only when using video/FFmpeg features
• TypeScript is optional; declarations ship with the package artifact

The current package is Node/server-only. Do not try to bundle it directly as a browser runtime.

#ESM

1import { ApexPainter } from "apexify.js";2 3const painter = new ApexPainter({ type: "buffer" });

#CommonJS

1const { ApexPainter } = require("apexify.js");2 3const painter = new ApexPainter({ type: "buffer" });

The package root is the normal runtime entrypoint. apexify.js/types is type-only; internal dist/* / source paths are unsupported.

#TypeScript

1import { ApexPainter } from "apexify.js";2import type { CanvasConfig, SceneRenderInput } from "apexify.js";3import type { VideoPipelineLayer } from "apexify.js/types";4 5const painter = new ApexPainter({ type: "buffer" });6const canvas: CanvasConfig = { width: 320, height: 180, colorBg: "#111827" };7const scene: SceneRenderInput = { width: 320, height: 180, layers: [] };8let layer!: VideoPipelineLayer;9 10void painter;11void canvas;12void scene;13void layer;

Use Node 22-compatible or newer Node type definitions for staged 6.0 development.

#FFmpeg and ffprobe

Only video/FFmpeg functionality requires system FFmpeg/ffprobe. Image, text, chart, scene, GIF, and procedural-audio APIs do not require FFmpeg merely because the package is installed.

Install examples:

1$ # macOS2brew install ffmpeg3 4# Ubuntu/Debian5sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

On Windows, install a trusted FFmpeg build and put its bin directory on PATH.

Custom executable locations can be configured programmatically or with:

1APEXIFY_FFMPEG_PATH2APEXIFY_FFPROBE_PATH

#Sanity check

1import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";2import { ApexPainter } from "apexify.js";3 4const painter = new ApexPainter({ type: "buffer" });5const canvas = await painter.createCanvas({6  width: 320,7  height: 180,8  colorBg: "#0f172a",9});10 11const png = await painter.createText(12  {13    text: "Apexify.js",14    x: 160,15    y: 90,16    font: { size: 32, family: "Arial" },17    fill: { color: "#ffffff" },18    placement: { textAlign: "center", textBaseline: "middle" },19  },20  canvas,21);22 23await writeFile("hello.png", png);

createCanvas() returns CanvasResults. Drawing/rendering methods return PNG Buffers; choose buffer, url, dataURL, blob, base64, or arraybuffer in the painter constructor and call toOutput(buffer) when you want explicit output conversion.

#Next

• API reference
• Runtime validation & resource governance
• Security deployment
• Migration to Apexify.js 6