shrink-ray-current: Node.js Compression Middleware

4.1.3 · active · verified Wed Apr 22

Shrink-ray-current is a Node.js compression middleware designed for Express/Connect applications, providing advanced content encoding capabilities beyond standard gzip. Currently stable at version 4.1.3 (last updated April 2021), it's a maintained fork of the abandoned `shrink-ray` package, ensuring its dependencies are up-to-date. Its key differentiators include built-in support for Brotli and Zopfli (the latter specifically for asynchronous compression of static assets), alongside traditional deflate and gzip. The middleware leverages ETag caching to significantly boost performance for static files, claiming to be 3x faster and using a quarter of the CPU time compared to the standard `compression` middleware in benchmarks, by utilizing higher quality compression algorithms for cached content. Releases appear to be driven by dependency updates or minor bug fixes rather than a fixed schedule.

Common errors

```
Cannot find module 'iltorb' (or 'node-zopfli-es')
```
cause The peer dependencies for Brotli and Zopfli compression were not installed after `shrink-ray-current` v4.0.0.

fix Install the missing optional dependencies: `npm install --save-optional iltorb node-zopfli-es`.
```
node-gyp rebuild failed
```
cause Native modules (iltorb, node-zopfli-es) failed to compile during installation, typically due to missing system-level build tools.

fix Ensure you have the Node.js native build toolchain installed. This usually includes Python, Make, and a C++ compiler (e.g., Visual Studio Build Tools on Windows, Xcode Command Line Tools on macOS, or `build-essential` on Debian/Ubuntu).

Warnings

breaking As of v4.0.0, `iltorb` (Brotli) and `node-zopfli-es` (Zopfli) are now peer dependencies. They are no longer installed automatically.
Fix: Manually install these packages as optional dependencies in your project: `npm install --save-optional iltorb node-zopfli-es`.
gotcha The package `shrink-ray-current` is a maintained fork of the original `shrink-ray`, which is abandoned. Ensure you install and import the correct package.
Fix: Always use `npm install shrink-ray-current` and `require('shrink-ray-current')` or `import 'shrink-ray-current'`. Do not use `shrink-ray`.
gotcha Native module dependencies (`iltorb` and `node-zopfli-es`) require a Node.js native build toolchain (e.g., node-gyp, Python, C++ compiler) to install successfully. If these fail to build, `shrink-ray-current` will fall back to using only gzip/deflate.
Fix: Install the necessary build tools as per Node.js documentation for your operating system, or ensure your deployment environment supports native module compilation. For example, on Ubuntu: `sudo apt-get install python make g++`.
gotcha Zopfli compression is specifically noted for asynchronous compression of *static assets only* (e.g., content with ETags). It is not applied to all outgoing responses by default.
Fix: Be aware of Zopfli's specific use case. If you need maximum compression for static assets, ensure ETags are enabled for those responses. For general dynamic content, Brotli/gzip will be used based on client `Accept-Encoding`.

Install

npm install shrink-ray-current npm
yarn add shrink-ray-current yarn
pnpm add shrink-ray-current pnpm

Imports

shrinkRay
wrong:
```
const shrinkRay = require('shrink-ray');
```
correct:
```
const shrinkRay = require('shrink-ray-current');
```
CommonJS import for Node.js applications. Ensure you are importing from `shrink-ray-current` and not the abandoned `shrink-ray`.
shrinkRay
wrong:
```
import { shrinkRay } from 'shrink-ray-current';
```
correct:
```
import shrinkRay from 'shrink-ray-current';
```
ESM import. The middleware function is typically exported as the default.
Options
```
import type { Options } from 'shrink-ray-current';
```
TypeScript type import for configuring the middleware options.

Quickstart

Demonstrates integrating `shrink-ray-current` as Express/Connect middleware for both dynamic and (simulated) static content, showing basic setup and enabling compression for routes.

const express = require('express');
const shrinkRay = require('shrink-ray-current');

const app = express();

// Use the middleware with default options
app.use(shrinkRay());

// Example route for dynamic content
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World! This content will be compressed.');
});

// Example route for static-like content (e.g., a large JSON file)
app.get('/data', (req, res) => {
  const largeData = Array(1000).fill({
    id: Math.random(),
    name: 'Item ' + Math.random(),
    description: 'This is a long description for a test item to ensure compression benefits are visible.',
    details: {
      field1: 'value1',
      field2: 'value2',
      field3: 'value3',
      nested: {
        a: 1,
        b: 2,
        c: 3
      }
    }
  });
  res.json(largeData);
});

// Start the server
const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Server listening on port ${port}`);
  console.log('Try accessing / and /data with accept-encoding headers (e.g., curl -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br" http://localhost:3000/data).');
});

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