archiver

Create ZIP and TAR archives from files, directories, and streams. Streaming architecture for large archives.

Setup

# Install archiver for creating archives.
npm install archiver
npm install -D @types/archiver

Creating a ZIP Archive

// src/archive/zip.ts — Bundle multiple files into a ZIP archive.
import archiver from "archiver";
import fs from "fs";

export async function createZip(files: string[], outputPath: string): Promise<void> {
  const output = fs.createWriteStream(outputPath);
  const archive = archiver("zip", { zlib: { level: 9 } });

  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    output.on("close", () => {
      console.log(`Archive created: ${archive.pointer()} bytes`);
      resolve();
    });

    archive.on("error", reject);
    archive.pipe(output);

    for (const file of files) {
      archive.file(file, { name: file.split("/").pop()! });
    }

    archive.finalize();
  });
}

Archiving Directories

// src/archive/directory.ts — Recursively add an entire directory to a ZIP.
import archiver from "archiver";
import fs from "fs";

export async function zipDirectory(sourceDir: string, outputPath: string): Promise<void> {
  const output = fs.createWriteStream(outputPath);
  const archive = archiver("zip", { zlib: { level: 6 } });

  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    output.on("close", resolve);
    archive.on("error", reject);
    archive.pipe(output);

    // Add entire directory, preserving structure
    archive.directory(sourceDir, false);

    // Or nest under a folder name inside the archive
    // archive.directory(sourceDir, "my-project");

    archive.finalize();
  });
}

Adding Buffers and Streams

// src/archive/buffers.ts — Add in-memory content (buffers, strings) to archives
// without writing temporary files.
import archiver from "archiver";
import fs from "fs";

export async function createArchiveFromData(
  entries: { name: string; content: string | Buffer }[],
  outputPath: string
): Promise<void> {
  const output = fs.createWriteStream(outputPath);
  const archive = archiver("zip", { zlib: { level: 6 } });

  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    output.on("close", resolve);
    archive.on("error", reject);
    archive.pipe(output);

    for (const entry of entries) {
      archive.append(entry.content, { name: entry.name });
    }

    archive.finalize();
  });
}

// Example: bundle generated reports
// await createArchiveFromData([
//   { name: "report.csv", content: csvString },
//   { name: "report.json", content: JSON.stringify(data) },
//   { name: "README.txt", content: "Generated reports bundle" },
// ], "reports.zip");

TAR Archives

// src/archive/tar.ts — Create gzipped TAR archives for deployment or backup.
import archiver from "archiver";
import fs from "fs";

export async function createTarGz(sourceDir: string, outputPath: string): Promise<void> {
  const output = fs.createWriteStream(outputPath);
  const archive = archiver("tar", { gzip: true, gzipOptions: { level: 9 } });

  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    output.on("close", resolve);
    archive.on("error", reject);
    archive.pipe(output);

    archive.directory(sourceDir, false);
    archive.finalize();
  });
}

Progress Tracking

// src/archive/progress.ts — Track archive creation progress for large bundles.
import archiver from "archiver";
import fs from "fs";

export async function createZipWithProgress(
  sourceDir: string,
  outputPath: string,
  onProgress: (percent: number) => void
): Promise<void> {
  const output = fs.createWriteStream(outputPath);
  const archive = archiver("zip", { zlib: { level: 6 } });

  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    output.on("close", resolve);
    archive.on("error", reject);

    archive.on("progress", (progress) => {
      const percent = (progress.entries.processed / progress.entries.total) * 100;
      onProgress(Math.round(percent));
    });

    archive.pipe(output);
    archive.directory(sourceDir, false);
    archive.finalize();
  });
}

Streaming to HTTP Response

// src/archive/api.ts — Stream a ZIP archive directly to an Express response
// without writing to disk.
import archiver from "archiver";
import type { Response } from "express";

export function streamZipResponse(
  res: Response,
  files: { name: string; content: string | Buffer }[]
) {
  res.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/zip");
  res.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=export.zip");

  const archive = archiver("zip", { zlib: { level: 6 } });
  archive.pipe(res);

  for (const file of files) {
    archive.append(file.content, { name: file.name });
  }

  archive.finalize();
}