electron/README.md

The Electron framework lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It is based on Node.js and Chromium and is used by the Atom editor and many other apps.

Follow @ElectronJS on Twitter for important announcements.

This project adheres to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold this code. Please report unacceptable behavior to electron@github.com.

Installation

To install prebuilt Electron binaries, use npm. The preferred method is to install Electron as a development dependency in your app:

npm install electron --save-dev --save-exact

The --save-exact flag is recommended as Electron does not follow semantic versioning. For info on how to manage Electron versions in your apps, see Electron versioning.

For more installation options and troubleshooting tips, see installation.

Quick Start

Clone and run the electron/electron-quick-start repository to see a minimal Electron app in action:

git clone https://github.com/electron/electron-quick-start
cd electron-quick-start
npm install
npm start

Resources for Learning Electron

• electron.atom.io/docs - all of Electron's documentation
• electron/electron-quick-start - a very basic starter Electron app
• electron.atom.io/community/#boilerplates - sample starter apps created by the community
• electron/simple-samples - small applications with ideas for taking them further
• electron/electron-api-demos - an Electron app that teaches you how to use Electron
• hokein/electron-sample-apps - small demo apps for the various Electron APIs

Programmatic usage

Most people use Electron from the command line, but if you require electron inside your Node app (not your Electron app) it will return the file path to the binary. Use this to spawn Electron from Node scripts:

const electron = require('electron')
const proc = require('child_process')

// will print something similar to /Users/maf/.../Electron
console.log(electron)

// spawn Electron
const child = proc.spawn(electron)

Mirrors

• China

Documentation Translations

• Brazilian Portuguese
• Korean
• Japanese
• Spanish
• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
• Turkish
• Thai
• Ukrainian
• Russian
• French
• Indonesian

Community

You can ask questions and interact with the community in the following locations:

• electron category on the Atom forums
• #atom-shell channel on Freenode
• Atom channel on Slack
• electron-ru (Russian)
• electron-br (Brazilian Portuguese)
• electron-kr (Korean)
• electron-jp (Japanese)
• electron-tr (Turkish)
• electron-id (Indonesia)

Check out awesome-electron for a community maintained list of useful example apps, tools and resources.

License

MIT

When using the Electron or other GitHub logos, be sure to follow the GitHub logo guidelines.