Automatic Zip Creation

c8y-nitro turns a normal build into a Cumulocity-ready artifact pipeline.

Instead of treating packaging as a separate script you have to remember, the module runs it as part of the Nitro lifecycle when the app closes outside dev mode.

Process

1. Dockerfile Generation — Creates an optimized Dockerfile using Node.js 24-slim
2. Docker Image Build — Builds and saves the Docker image to image.tar
3. Manifest Generation — Creates cumulocity.json from your package.json and configuration
4. Zip Package — Combines image.tar and cumulocity.json into a deployable zip file

Note: Docker must be installed and available in your PATH.

The generated zip file (default: <package-name>-<version>.zip in the root directory) is ready to upload directly to Cumulocity.

Compression Behavior

By default, the generated artifact ZIP uses DEFLATE compression at level 6.

This is a practical speed/size compromise: faster than higher levels while still reducing metadata and text payload size in many cases. The image.tar payload often contains already-compressed Docker layers, so total ZIP size may not shrink substantially.

You can tune the level via c8y.zip.compressionLevel (1 to 9) when packaging tradeoffs differ for your service.

Customizing Output

Use the zip options when you want to change the artifact name, output directory, or packaging-time manifest overrides.