&gt; npm seems to handle this just fine for both JS and native (c++) node modules via gyp<p>Could you describe this in a bit more detail?  Does gyp (in the context of npm) build the binaries at install time, or is it a repository of a bunch of pre-built artifacts?<p>In my experience of installing npm packages, it doesn&#x27;t seem like it&#x27;s building native extensions at install time, but it&#x27;s hard to say for sure.