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Distribution ​

Limitations of ASAR Archives ​

The Electron app's source code are usually bundled into an ASAR archive, which is a simple extensive archive format designed for Electron apps.

But the ASAR Archive has limitations:

  • Some Node APIs require extra unpacking into a temporary file and pass the path of the temporary file to the APIs to make them work. This adds a little overhead for those APIs. Such as child_process.execFile, fs.open, process.dlopen, etc.
  • There are some Node APIs that do not support executing binaries in ASAR archives, such as child_process.exec, child_process.spawn.

As stated above, it is best practice not to pack these assets into ASAR archives.

There are those binaries that should not be packed:

  • Some native node modules like sqlite, fluent-ffmpeg, etc.
  • Referenced binaries like *.node, *.app, *.exe, etc.

For example, in electron-builder you can configure like this:

yaml
asarUnpack:
  - node_modules/sqlite3
  - out/main/chunks/*.node
  - resources/**
asarUnpack:
  - node_modules/sqlite3
  - out/main/chunks/*.node
  - resources/**

Learn more about ASAR Archives.

NOTE

It is recommended to put these assets in the public directory, which makes it easier to configure exclusions without packing them into the asar archive.

Distributing Apps With Electron Builder ​

electron-builder is a complete solution for packaging distributable Electron applications for macOS, Windows and Linux.

  1. You can create a configuration file electron-builder.yml for electron-builder with the content below.
yaml
appId: com.electron.app
productName: vue-ts
directories:
  buildResources: build
files:
  - '!**/.vscode/*'
  - '!src/*'
  - '!electron.vite.config.{js,ts,mjs,cjs}'
  - '!{.eslintignore,.eslintrc.cjs,.prettierignore,.prettierrc.yaml,dev-app-update.yml,CHANGELOG.md,README.md}'
  - '!{.env,.env.*,.npmrc,pnpm-lock.yaml}'
  - '!{tsconfig.json,tsconfig.node.json,tsconfig.web.json}'
asarUnpack:
  - resources/**
afterSign: build/notarize.js
win:
  executableName: vue-ts
nsis:
  artifactName: ${name}-${version}-setup.${ext}
  shortcutName: ${productName}
  uninstallDisplayName: ${productName}
  createDesktopShortcut: always
mac:
  entitlementsInherit: build/entitlements.mac.plist
  extendInfo:
    - NSCameraUsageDescription: Application requests access to the device's camera.
    - NSMicrophoneUsageDescription: Application requests access to the device's microphone.
    - NSDocumentsFolderUsageDescription: Application requests access to the user's Documents folder.
    - NSDownloadsFolderUsageDescription: Application requests access to the user's Downloads folder.
dmg:
  artifactName: ${name}-${version}.${ext}
linux:
  target:
    - AppImage
    - snap
    - deb
  maintainer: electronjs.org
  category: Utility
appImage:
  artifactName: ${name}-${version}.${ext}
npmRebuild: false
publish:
  provider: generic
  url: https://example.com/auto-updates
appId: com.electron.app
productName: vue-ts
directories:
  buildResources: build
files:
  - '!**/.vscode/*'
  - '!src/*'
  - '!electron.vite.config.{js,ts,mjs,cjs}'
  - '!{.eslintignore,.eslintrc.cjs,.prettierignore,.prettierrc.yaml,dev-app-update.yml,CHANGELOG.md,README.md}'
  - '!{.env,.env.*,.npmrc,pnpm-lock.yaml}'
  - '!{tsconfig.json,tsconfig.node.json,tsconfig.web.json}'
asarUnpack:
  - resources/**
afterSign: build/notarize.js
win:
  executableName: vue-ts
nsis:
  artifactName: ${name}-${version}-setup.${ext}
  shortcutName: ${productName}
  uninstallDisplayName: ${productName}
  createDesktopShortcut: always
mac:
  entitlementsInherit: build/entitlements.mac.plist
  extendInfo:
    - NSCameraUsageDescription: Application requests access to the device's camera.
    - NSMicrophoneUsageDescription: Application requests access to the device's microphone.
    - NSDocumentsFolderUsageDescription: Application requests access to the user's Documents folder.
    - NSDownloadsFolderUsageDescription: Application requests access to the user's Downloads folder.
dmg:
  artifactName: ${name}-${version}.${ext}
linux:
  target:
    - AppImage
    - snap
    - deb
  maintainer: electronjs.org
  category: Utility
appImage:
  artifactName: ${name}-${version}.${ext}
npmRebuild: false
publish:
  provider: generic
  url: https://example.com/auto-updates
  1. Add the scripts key to the package.json:
json
"scripts": {
  "build:win": "npm run build && electron-builder --win --config",
  "build:mac": "npm run build && electron-builder --mac --config",
  "build:linux": "npm run build && electron-builder --linux --config"
}
"scripts": {
  "build:win": "npm run build && electron-builder --win --config",
  "build:mac": "npm run build && electron-builder --mac --config",
  "build:linux": "npm run build && electron-builder --linux --config"
}

Distributing Apps With Electron Forge ​

Electron Forge is a tool for packaging and publishing Electron applications.

  1. You can create a configuration file forge.config.cjs for Electron Forge with the content below.
js
module.exports = {
  packagerConfig: {
    ignore: [
      /^\/src/,
      /(.eslintrc.json)|(.gitignore)|(electron.vite.config.ts)|(forge.config.cjs)|(tsconfig.*)/,
    ],
  },
  rebuildConfig: {},
  makers: [
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-squirrel',
      config: {},
    },
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-zip',
      platforms: ['darwin'],
    },
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-deb',
      config: {},
    },
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-rpm',
      config: {},
    },
  ],
};
module.exports = {
  packagerConfig: {
    ignore: [
      /^\/src/,
      /(.eslintrc.json)|(.gitignore)|(electron.vite.config.ts)|(forge.config.cjs)|(tsconfig.*)/,
    ],
  },
  rebuildConfig: {},
  makers: [
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-squirrel',
      config: {},
    },
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-zip',
      platforms: ['darwin'],
    },
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-deb',
      config: {},
    },
    {
      name: '@electron-forge/maker-rpm',
      config: {},
    },
  ],
};
  1. Add the scripts and dependencies to the package.json:
json
"main": "./dist/main/index.js",
"scripts": {
  "start": "electron-vite preview --outDir=dist",
  "dev": "electron-vite dev --outDir=dist",
  "package": "electron-vite build --outDir=dist && electron-forge package",
  "make ": "electron-vite build --outDir=dist && electron-forge make"
},
"devDependencies": {
  "@electron-forge/cli": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-deb": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-rpm": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-squirrel": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-zip": "^6.2.1",
}
"main": "./dist/main/index.js",
"scripts": {
  "start": "electron-vite preview --outDir=dist",
  "dev": "electron-vite dev --outDir=dist",
  "package": "electron-vite build --outDir=dist && electron-forge package",
  "make ": "electron-vite build --outDir=dist && electron-forge make"
},
"devDependencies": {
  "@electron-forge/cli": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-deb": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-rpm": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-squirrel": "^6.2.1",
  "@electron-forge/maker-zip": "^6.2.1",
}

Warning

Electron Forge's default output directory is out and forbids to override, which conflicts with electron-vite. So we can set outDir to dist.

Github Action CI/CD ​

You can create a workflow file .github/workflows/release.yml in the root of your project with the content below. The workflow will help you build and package Electron app in Windows, MacOS and Linux.

yaml
name: Build/release Electron app

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - v*.*.*

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}

    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]

    steps:
      - name: Check out Git repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: npm install

      - name: build-linux
        if: matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest'
        run: npm run build:linux

      - name: build-mac
        if: matrix.os == 'macos-latest'
        run: npm run build:mac

      - name: build-win
        if: matrix.os == 'windows-latest'
        run: npm run build:win

      - name: release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
        with:
          draft: true
          files: |
            dist/*.exe
            dist/*.zip
            dist/*.dmg
            dist/*.AppImage
            dist/*.snap
            dist/*.deb
            dist/*.rpm
            dist/*.tar.gz
            dist/*.yml
            dist/*.blockmap
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ACCESS_TOKEN }}
name: Build/release Electron app

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - v*.*.*

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}

    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]

    steps:
      - name: Check out Git repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: npm install

      - name: build-linux
        if: matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest'
        run: npm run build:linux

      - name: build-mac
        if: matrix.os == 'macos-latest'
        run: npm run build:mac

      - name: build-win
        if: matrix.os == 'windows-latest'
        run: npm run build:win

      - name: release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
        with:
          draft: true
          files: |
            dist/*.exe
            dist/*.zip
            dist/*.dmg
            dist/*.AppImage
            dist/*.snap
            dist/*.deb
            dist/*.rpm
            dist/*.tar.gz
            dist/*.yml
            dist/*.blockmap
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ACCESS_TOKEN }}

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