
Now that we know what Electron is, let’s set up the environment for the project we’ll be building. The main process - powered by Node.js - is responsible for not only application lifecycle management, window management, and the renderer process but also access to native APIs, such as system menus, notifications, and tray icons. To do this, Electron implements a multi-process model composed of the main and renderer processes, similar to the Chromium browser.Įach app’s window is a renderer process, which isolates the code execution at the window level. It’s definitely also possible to use JavaScript frameworks like React and Vue to build desktop applications with Electron.Ī few notes about Electron’s architecture: Electron is a platform-agnostic framework, meaning it’s not tied to any specific platform, language, framework, or tool.Įlectron embeds Chromium and Node.js in its core, enabling web developers to write desktop applications using JavaScript and HTML. It is used to build desktop applications with the JavaScript language. We’ll also create a basic CI/CD pipeline for our Electron desktop app so that we can build it for all the main desktop platforms - Windows, Linux, and macOS.Įlectron is a cross-platform desktop application framework. In this article, we’ll build a stocks application with React and Electron. Conclusion: You’ll need to have three different codebases for the same application.īut with some knowledge of React and JavaScript, you can easily build cross-platform applications. How do you create the same application on Linux or macOS? Well, you’ll have to learn the languages of these platforms and build the same application separately for each. For example, if you want to create the application on Windows, you’ll use Visual Studio, and your desktop application will only be available for Windows users. You have to learn the language, tools, and processes of each platform you are targeting. Build a stocks application with React and Electronīuilding a desktop application usually requires a lot of work. In this article, we will create a sample app for monitoring and trading stocks using React and Electron and build it for macOS, Windows, and Linux using Codemagic.

TL DR: You can use Codemagic CI/CD to build and publish Electron desktop apps.
