buildby

Detect what desktop apps are built with.

简体中文 · Demo · Install · Usage · Tech Stacks

buildby inspects desktop applications on macOS, Windows, and Linux, then tells you whether each app is built with native technologies (Swift, Objective-C, Win32) or a cross-platform framework such as Electron, Flutter, Tauri, Qt, JVM, CEF, NW.js, React Native, wxWidgets, Unity, .NET, Neutralinojs, or Sciter.

It also surfaces CPU architecture (Apple Silicon arm64, Intel x86_64, universal), framework versions, and signature & notarization details.

Highlights

Fast file-system and binary header detection with zero admin privileges required.
Single-app inspection, full installed-app scan, and per-stack filters.
Native CPU architecture detection (Apple Silicon arm64, Intel x86_64, Universal binary).
Two-app side-by-side comparison (buildby compare <app1> <app2>).
Fast app browser and fuzzy search (buildby -i).
Multiple export formats: formatted terminal report, --json, --markdown, and --csv.
Signature and notarization metadata for macOS and Windows apps.
Cross-platform support for macOS, Windows, and Linux (.desktop entries & Flatpak/Snap).

Demo

App Comparison (buildby vs / buildby pk)

Screenshots

Inspect a single app	Scan all installed apps	Filter by tech stack

Quick Start & Install

Run instantly with npx (No install needed)

npx @wavever/buildby

Global Installation

# Install globally via npm
npm i -g @wavever/buildby

# Clone and link globally from source
git clone https://github.com/wavever/buildby.git
cd buildby
npm install
npm link

# Or run directly from source
node bin/buildby.js

Previously published as desktop-app-build-by. That name is now deprecated — please switch to npm i -g @wavever/buildby. The CLI command stays buildby. See CHANGELOG.md for details.

Automatic Update Prompt & Manual Update

In a terminal, buildby checks whether a newer release is published before executing your command:

Notification Box: If an update exists, a notification box is shown.
Keyboard Navigation: Use ↑ / ↓ or 1/2 to select Update now and continue or Skip for now, and press Enter (or q / Esc to skip).
Seamless Execution: When you choose update, buildby installs the release globally and immediately re-launches your original command using the new version.
Opt-out: Pass --no-update-check, set BUILDBY_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1, or configure "checkForUpdates": false in config.json.

# Manual update commands:
buildby update           # Check for a newer release and install it
buildby update --check   # Only report whether an update exists

update asks npm for the latest published version, so your own registry mirror, proxy and auth settings are respected. When the running copy is a git checkout or an npm linked build, it reports the path and stops instead of installing over it.

Because update is a subcommand, an app literally named "update" can no longer be inspected by name — use buildby --path for that.

Usage

App Browser & Search (Default)

Running buildby with no arguments in a terminal launches the app browser:

buildby                  # Launches app browser
buildby -i               # Search & select mode
buildby ui               # Alias

Keyboard Navigation: Use ↑ / ↓ arrows to navigate through installed apps, Enter to select and inspect an app in detail.
Instant Search: Type any keyword to filter apps in real time.
Scrollable Viewport: Smoothly scroll through all installed apps with pagination indicators (▲ / ▼ and [index/total]).
Quick Exit: Press q or Ctrl+C to quit anytime.

Compare two apps (`vs` / `pk`)

Compare the tech stack, binary architecture, size ratio, and code signatures of two apps side by side:

# Compare specific apps directly
buildby vs "ChatGPT" "Amphetamine"
buildby pk "WeChat" "Discord"
buildby compare "Visual Studio Code" "Sublime Text"

# Or enter multi-select comparison mode
buildby vs
# → Browse with ↑/↓, press Space to select 2 apps, press Enter to compare!

Inspect a single app

buildby wechat
buildby discord
buildby "visual studio code"
buildby "clash verge"

Output example:

  ╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
  │ 📦 Discord (v0.0.335)                                      macOS · arm64 │
  │ 📂 /Applications/Discord.app                                             │
  ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │  CROSS-PLATFORM   ⚡ Electron                                            │
  │ Cross-platform desktop apps with web technologies (HTML/CSS/JS)          │
  │ 🌐 https://www.electronjs.org                                            │
  ├───────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ 📋 Key Specifications             │ 🔒 Security & Trust                  │
  │   • Arch: Apple Silicon (arm64)   │   • Signature: ✓ Signed              │
  │   • Size: 375.4 MB                │   • Developer: Discord, Inc. (53Q6…  │
  │   • Version: 0.0.335              │   • Notarization: ✓ Apple Notarized  │
  │   • ID: com.hnc.Discord           │   • Hardened RT: ✓ Enabled           │
  ├───────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ 🔍 Detection Evidence                                                    │
  │   • Electron Framework.framework                                         │
  │   • app.asar                                                             │
  ╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

The Security & Trust section is only collected for single-app inspection (buildby <name> and --path). --all and --<stack> skip it so batch scans stay fast.

Scan all installed apps

buildby --all
buildby -a

Scans all apps in /Applications (macOS) or Program Files (Windows) and groups them by tech stack with a distribution chart.

--scan is still supported as a legacy alias for --all.

Batch scans use a local analysis cache. If an app's version and main executable fingerprint have not changed, BuildBy reuses the previous result so repeated scans are nearly instant.

buildby --all --no-cache   # Force a fresh analysis

Export Formats

Markdown Table (`--markdown` / `--md`)

Export results as a GitHub Flavored Markdown table, complete with tech stack metadata and an overall distribution summary:

buildby --all --md > installed-apps.md
buildby discord --md

CSV Table (`--csv`)

Export results to an RFC 4180 compliant CSV spreadsheet ready for Excel, Numbers, or data analysis:

buildby --all --csv > installed-apps.csv

JSON Output (`--json`)

Add --json to any inspection mode to get machine-readable output on stdout (update is an action command and has no JSON form). Progress and errors stay on stderr, so stdout is always safe to pipe.

buildby discord --json
buildby --all --json | jq '.summary.stacks'
buildby --electron --json | jq -r '.apps[].name'

Every mode returns the same envelope, so consumers never branch on shape:

{
  "schema": 1,
  "buildbyVersion": "1.5.0",
  "platform": "darwin",
  "query": { "mode": "app", "value": "calibre" },
  "apps": [
    {
      "name": "calibre",
      "stack": "python",
      "stackName": "Python (PyQt)",
      "variant": "PyQt",
      "category": "cross-platform",
      "confidence": "high",
      "evidence": ["Python.framework", "PyQt UI toolkit"],
      "bundleId": "net.kovidgoyal.calibre",
      "version": "7.22.0",
      "sizeBytes": 1052946432
    }
  ],
  "summary": null
}

Notes for consumers:

stack is the stable identifier — key on it, not on stackName. stackName is a display label and variant carries the sub-technology (PyQt, Rust · AppKit).
evidence is human-oriented and not a stable API. Do not parse it.
Sizes are raw bytes; no localized text appears in JSON output.
summary is populated for --all only; it is null elsewhere.
Signature and notarization are collected for single-app modes only, matching the report behaviour, so they are null under --all.
schema is versioned — check it before trusting field semantics.

Exit codes (applied under --json only, so existing usage is unaffected):

Code	Meaning
`0`	At least one app matched
`1`	No apps matched (payload still valid, `apps: []`)
`2`	Error — unsupported platform, missing path, analysis failure

On error, stdout carries a parseable error object instead of apps:

{ "schema": 1, "error": { "code": "path_not_found", "message": "Path not found: /nope" } }

Configuration

BuildBy creates a default JSON config file on first run, then reads it on later runs:

macOS/Linux/other: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/buildby/config.json or ~/.config/buildby/config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\buildby\config.json

On macOS, existing configs from ~/.buildby/config.json are copied to the new XDG path automatically when the new file does not exist.

You can also point to a custom config file with BUILDBY_CONFIG=/path/to/config.json; BuildBy will create that file with defaults if it does not exist.

{
  "cache": true,
  "excludeApps": [
    "Xcode",
    "com.apple.Safari",
    "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app"
  ]
}

cache: false disables the analysis cache by default. excludeApps removes matching apps from --all and per-stack scans; entries can be app names, Bundle IDs, or full paths. Single-app inspection still works for excluded apps.

Language

BuildBy follows your terminal or system language by default. To show English output without changing system language:

LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 buildby -a

You can also create an alias:

alias buildby-en='LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 buildby'

Filter by tech stack

buildby -e     # All Electron apps (--electron)
buildby -f     # All Flutter apps (--flutter)
buildby -t     # All Tauri apps (--tauri)
buildby -q     # All Qt apps (--qt)
buildby -j     # All JVM apps (--jvm)
buildby -c     # All CEF apps (--cef)
buildby -d     # All .NET / MAUI / WPF apps (--dotnet)
buildby -b     # All Chromium apps (--chromium)
buildby -W     # All NW.js apps (--nwjs)
buildby -r     # All React Native apps (--reactnative)
buildby -w     # All wxWidgets apps (--wxwidgets)
buildby -u     # All Unity apps (--unity)
buildby -n     # All native apps (--native)

Inspect a custom path

buildby --path /Applications/SomeApp.app
buildby --path "C:\Program Files\SomeApp"

Detected Tech Stacks

Stack	Description	Detection Method
⚡ Electron	Node.js + Chromium	`Electron Framework.framework`, `app.asar`, framework version extraction
🐦 Flutter	Google's UI toolkit	`FlutterMacOS.framework`, `flutter_windows.dll`, framework version
🌐 CEF	Chromium Embedded Framework	`Chromium Embedded Framework.framework`, `libcef.dll`
🌐 Chromium	Built directly on Chromium	`.pak` packs + V8 snapshot (Qt WebEngine excluded)
🟩 NW.js	Node.js + Chromium (node-webkit)	`nwjs Framework.framework`, `app.nw`
⚛️ React Native	Facebook's React for desktop	`React.framework`, `hermes.dll`
🦀 Tauri	Rust + system WebView	Tauri crate markers in binary, v1/v2 variant, `WebView2Loader.dll`
⚡ Neutralinojs	Lightweight HTML/JS desktop app	`neutralino.js`, `neutralino.config.json`, binary signatures
🐹 Wails	Go + system WebView	`github.com/wailsapp/wails` in binary
🔷 Qt	C++ cross-platform	`Qt*.framework` (incl. nested), `Qt5Core.dll` / `Qt6Core.dll`, Qt version
🟫 GTK	GNOME widget toolkit	`libgtk-3/4.dylib`, `libgtk-3-0.dll`
🧩 wxWidgets	C++ wrapper over native widgets	`libwx.dylib`, `wxmswXXu_.dll`
🧩 Sciter	Embeddable HTML/CSS engine	`sciter.dll`, `libsciter.dylib`, binary signatures
🎵 JUCE	C++ audio apps and plug-in hosts	`JUCE v` / `juce::` markers in binary
🐍 Python	py2app / PyInstaller / CPython	`__boot__.py`, `base_library.zip`, `Python.framework`
☕ JVM	Java/Kotlin/Scala	`jbr/`, `libjvm.dylib`, `.jar` in `lib/` `app/` `Java/`
🟣 Compose Multiplatform	Kotlin UI via Skia	`libskiko-macos-.dylib`, `skiko-awt-runtime-.jar`
🔵 .NET	Microsoft .NET / MAUI / WPF	`MonoBundle/`, `coreclr.dll`, `.dll` files
🦅 Avalonia	Cross-platform .NET UI	`Avalonia.dll`, `libAvalonia`
🎮 Unity	Unity game engine	`UnityPlayer.dll`, `Data/` layout
🎯 Unreal Engine	Epic UE4 / UE5	`Content/Paks/*.pak`, `Contents/UE5/`
🤖 Godot	Godot game engine	`*.pck` archive + engine marker in binary
🖥️ Native	Platform-native technologies	Fallback; reports Swift / Objective-C / Rust / Go

Platform Support

Platform	App Discovery	Detection
macOS	`/Applications`, `~/Applications`	Framework bundles, in-process Mach-O parser, `Info.plist`
Windows	`Program Files`, `Program Files (x86)`, `AppData/Local/Programs`	PE header inspection, DLL signatures, directory structure
Linux	`/usr/share/applications`, `~/.local/share/applications`, Flatpak, Snap	`.desktop` entries, ELF headers, shared library markers

How It Works

Detection is fast, secure, and purely file-system and binary header based — zero admin privileges required.

Framework directory & DLL scan — check Contents/Frameworks/ (macOS), root directories (Windows/Linux), or linked libraries for known frameworks (Electron, Flutter, CEF, Qt, GTK, etc.).
Binary header inspection — pure JavaScript streaming parser inspects Mach-O load commands (LC_LOAD_DYLIB), Universal/Fat binaries, PE architectures, and ELF headers with zero subprocess overhead.
Resource file patterns — look for app.asar, flutter_assets, neutralino.js, app.nw, etc.
Runtime & Framework versions — extracts runtime versions from Electron (package.json / version files), Flutter framework strings, and Qt dylibs.
JVM & Game Engine detection — detect bundled JRE/JBR runtimes, .jar files, Unity Data, Unreal Engine pak files, and Godot pck archives.
Metadata extraction — parse macOS Info.plist, Windows version resources, and Linux .desktop entries for display name, version, and bundle ID.
Signature & notarization — invoke codesign -dv + spctl --assess on macOS, or PowerShell Get-AuthenticodeSignature on Windows, to surface developer, Team ID, publisher, and Apple notarization or Authenticode trust status.
Smart caching — hashes binary fingerprints and versions so repeated batch scans run near-instantaneously.
Native fallback — apps with no cross-platform framework signatures are classified as Native (Swift / Objective-C / Rust / Go / C++ / Win32).

Detection runs in priority order so the most distinctive signatures are checked first.

Requirements

Node.js >= 18
macOS, Windows, or Linux
macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (for codesign and spctl signature inspection)
Windows: PowerShell on PATH (for Authenticode signature reading)
Linux: Standard FreeDesktop / XDG desktop environment

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github		.github
assets		assets
bin		bin
screenshot		screenshot
src		src
test		test
website		website
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
README.zh-CN.md		README.zh-CN.md
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json

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buildby

Highlights

Demo

Screenshots

Quick Start & Install

Run instantly with npx (No install needed)

Global Installation

Automatic Update Prompt & Manual Update

Usage

App Browser & Search (Default)

Compare two apps (`vs` / `pk`)

Inspect a single app

Scan all installed apps

Export Formats

Markdown Table (`--markdown` / `--md`)

CSV Table (`--csv`)

JSON Output (`--json`)

Configuration

Language

Filter by tech stack

Inspect a custom path

Detected Tech Stacks

Platform Support

How It Works

Requirements

License

About

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Packages

Contributors

Languages

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Folders and files

Repository files navigation

buildby

Highlights

Demo

Screenshots

Quick Start & Install

Run instantly with npx (No install needed)

Global Installation

Automatic Update Prompt & Manual Update

Usage

App Browser & Search (Default)

Compare two apps (vs / pk)

Inspect a single app

Scan all installed apps

Export Formats

Markdown Table (--markdown / --md)

CSV Table (--csv)

JSON Output (--json)

Configuration

Language

Filter by tech stack

Inspect a custom path

Detected Tech Stacks

Platform Support

How It Works

Requirements

License

About

Topics

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

Compare two apps (`vs` / `pk`)

Markdown Table (`--markdown` / `--md`)

CSV Table (`--csv`)

JSON Output (`--json`)