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React-TypeScript-Electron sample with Create React App and Electron Builder

Source, yhirose

This project was bootstrapped with Create React App with --template typescriptoption.

On the top of it, the following features have been added with relatively small changes:

  • TypeScript supports for Electron main process source code
  • Hot-reload support for Electron app
  • Electron Builder support

Available Scripts in addition to the existing ones

npm run electron:dev

Runs the Electron app in the development mode.

The Electron app will reload if you make edits in the electron directory.
You will also see any lint errors in the console.

npm run electron:build

Builds the Electron app package for production to the dist folder.

Your Electron app is ready to be distributed!

Project directory structure

my-app/
├── package.json
│
## render process
├── tsconfig.json
├── public/
├── src/
│
## main process
├── electron/
│   ├── main.ts
│   └── tsconfig.json
│
## build output
├── build/
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── static/
│   │   ├── css/
│   │   └── js/
│   │
│   └── electron/
│      └── main.js
│
## distribution packages
└── dist/
    ├── mac/
    │   └── my-app.app
    └── my-app-0.1.0.dmg

Do it yourself from scratch

Generate a React project and install npm dependencies

npx create-react-app my-app --template typescript
cd my-app
yarn add @types/electron-devtools-installer electron-devtools-installer electron-is-dev electron-reload
yarn add -D concurrently electron electron-builder wait-on cross-env

Make Electron main process source file

electron/tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "es5",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "strict": true,
    "outDir": "../build", // Output transpiled files to build/electron/
    "rootDir": "../",
    "noEmitOnError": true,
    "typeRoots": [
      "node_modules/@types"
    ]
  }
}

electron/main.ts

import { app, BrowserWindow } from 'electron';
import * as path from 'path';
import * as isDev from 'electron-is-dev';
import installExtension, { REACT_DEVELOPER_TOOLS } from "electron-devtools-installer";

let win: BrowserWindow | null = null;

function createWindow() {
  win = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    webPreferences: {
      nodeIntegration: true
    }
  })

  if (isDev) {
    win.loadURL('http://localhost:3000/index.html');
  } else {
    // 'build/index.html'
    win.loadURL(`file://${__dirname}/../index.html`);
  }

  win.on('closed', () => win = null);

  // Hot Reloading
  if (isDev) {
    // 'node_modules/.bin/electronPath'
    require('electron-reload')(__dirname, {
      electron: path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'node_modules', '.bin', 'electron'),
      forceHardReset: true,
      hardResetMethod: 'exit'
    });
  }

  // DevTools
  installExtension(REACT_DEVELOPER_TOOLS)
    .then((name) => console.log(`Added Extension:  ${name}`))
    .catch((err) => console.log('An error occurred: ', err));

  if (isDev) {
    win.webContents.openDevTools();
  }
}

app.on('ready', createWindow);

app.on('window-all-closed', () => {
  if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
    app.quit();
  }
});

app.on('activate', () => {
  if (win === null) {
    createWindow();
  }
});

Adjust package.json

Add properties for Electron

  "homepage": ".", # see https://create-react-app.dev/docs/deployment#serving-the-same-build-from-different-paths
  "main": "build/electron/main.js",

Add properties for Electron Builder

  "author": "Your Name",
  "description": "React-TypeScript-Electron sample with Create React App and Electron Builder",
  ...
  "build": {
    "extends": null, # see https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/issues/2030#issuecomment-386720420
    "files": [
      "build/**/*"
    ],
    "directories": {
      "buildResources": "assets" # change the resource directory from 'build' to 'assets'
    }
  },

Add scripts

  "scripts": {
    "postinstall": "electron-builder install-app-deps",
    "electron:dev": "concurrently \"cross-env BROWSER=none yarn start\" \"wait-on http://127.0.0.1:3000 && tsc -p electron -w\" \"wait-on http://127.0.0.1:3000 && tsc -p electron && electron .\"",
    "electron:build": "yarn build && tsc -p electron && electron-builder",

Many thanks to the following articles!

Getting Started with Create React App

This project was bootstrapped with Create React App.

Available Scripts

In the project directory, you can run:

npm start

Runs the app in the development mode.
Open http://localhost:3000 to view it in the browser.

The page will reload if you make edits.
You will also see any lint errors in the console.

npm test

Launches the test runner in the interactive watch mode.
See the section about running tests for more information.

npm run build

Builds the app for production to the build folder.
It correctly bundles React in production mode and optimizes the build for the best performance.

The build is minified and the filenames include the hashes.
Your app is ready to be deployed!

See the section about deployment for more information.

npm run eject

Note: this is a one-way operation. Once you eject, you can’t go back!

If you aren’t satisfied with the build tool and configuration choices, you can eject at any time. This command will remove the single build dependency from your project.

Instead, it will copy all the configuration files and the transitive dependencies (webpack, Babel, ESLint, etc) right into your project so you have full control over them. All of the commands except eject will still work, but they will point to the copied scripts so you can tweak them. At this point you’re on your own.

You don’t have to ever use eject. The curated feature set is suitable for small and middle deployments, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to use this feature. However we understand that this tool wouldn’t be useful if you couldn’t customize it when you are ready for it.

Learn More

You can learn more in the Create React App documentation.

To learn React, check out the React documentation.

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An electron create-react-app template to start all your desktop react apps from

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