Electron Forge Has a Free API: Build, Package, and Publish Desktop Apps Programmatically

#javascript #tutorial #electron #webdev

What is Electron Forge?

Electron Forge is the official toolchain for building Electron applications. It handles everything: scaffolding, building, packaging, code signing, and publishing — with a single unified API.

No more juggling electron-builder, electron-packager, and electron-notarize separately.

Quick Start

npm init electron-app@latest my-app
cd my-app
npm start

You have a working desktop app with hot reload in under 30 seconds.

The Forge API

Programmatic Build

const { api } = require("@electron-forge/core");

// Package your app
await api.package({
  dir: "./my-app",
  platform: "darwin",
  arch: "arm64",
});

// Create distributable (DMG, EXE, DEB)
await api.make({
  dir: "./my-app",
  platform: "darwin",
  arch: "arm64",
  targets: ["@electron-forge/maker-dmg"],
});

Forge Configuration

// forge.config.js
module.exports = {
  packagerConfig: {
    name: "My App",
    icon: "./assets/icon",
    appBundleId: "com.mycompany.myapp",
    osxSign: {},
    osxNotarize: {
      appleId: process.env.APPLE_ID,
      appleIdPassword: process.env.APPLE_PASSWORD,
      teamId: process.env.APPLE_TEAM_ID,
    },
  },
  makers: [
    { name: "@electron-forge/maker-squirrel", config: {} },
    { name: "@electron-forge/maker-dmg", config: {} },
    { name: "@electron-forge/maker-deb", config: {} },
    { name: "@electron-forge/maker-rpm", config: {} },
  ],
  publishers: [
    {
      name: "@electron-forge/publisher-github",
      config: {
        repository: { owner: "myorg", name: "my-app" },
        prerelease: false,
      },
    },
  ],
  plugins: [
    {
      name: "@electron-forge/plugin-vite",
      config: {
        build: [{ entry: "src/main.js", config: "vite.main.config.mjs" }],
        renderer: [{ name: "main_window", config: "vite.renderer.config.mjs" }],
      },
    },
  ],
};

Auto-Update

// main.js
const { updateElectronApp } = require("update-electron-app");

updateElectronApp({
  repo: "myorg/my-app",
  updateInterval: "1 hour",
});

Publish to GitHub Releases → users get auto-updates.

Vite Plugin (Fast Builds)

Electron Forge supports Vite out of the box:

npm init electron-app@latest my-app -- --template=vite-typescript

Hot Module Replacement in your renderer process — instant feedback.

CI/CD Build Pipeline

# .github/workflows/build.yml
name: Build & Release
on:
  push:
    tags: ["v*"]

jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [macos-latest, ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run make
      - run: npm run publish
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}