chore: v27 migration to node22 ESM package

[mmaietta]

This pull request introduces major breaking changes as part of the v27 release, migrating the entire electron-builder ecosystem to native ES modules (ESM) and requiring Node.js >=22.12.0. It removes legacy dependencies, updates package configurations, and improves developer tooling and documentation to reflect these changes. The migration is designed to be as smooth as possible, with continued support for CommonJS (require()) on supported Node versions, but projects using deprecated features will need to update.

Breaking changes and ESM migration:

• All packages now use native ES modules ("type": "module"), and Node.js >=22.12.0 is required. The electronCompile config option and the electron-compile dependency are fully removed. The four electron-forge-maker-* plugins are now ESM. A comprehensive migration guide is added in MIGRATION.md, and the README is updated with requirements and usage examples for both ESM and CJS.

• The minimum Node.js version is enforced in package.json (>=22.12.0) and documentation; CI and workflow files are updated to target Node 22.

Package and build system updates:

• The build output is moved from out to dist, and package exports are restructured to provide both public and internal entry points. A new @electron-builder/app-builder-lib-helpers package is added for workspace-internal sharing.

• Scripts are updated to use tsx instead of ts-node, add new build/watch/typecheck scripts, and handle errors more gracefully in schema generation. ESLint and Prettier ignore patterns are updated to match new output locations.

API and schema changes:

• The electronCompile configuration option is removed from the JSON schema, and the schema is updated for ESM compatibility.

• Source files are updated to use explicit ESM imports (with .js extensions), and helper scripts are migrated to use dynamic import() instead of require().

Release and versioning changes:

• Changeset configuration and pre-release metadata are updated to include new packages and mark the release as alpha.

Documentation improvements:

• The migration guide and README are updated to clearly explain the breaking changes, migration steps, and provide new usage examples for both ESM and CJS.

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: 75036c3

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 12 packages

Name	Type
electron-builder-squirrel-windows	Major
builder-util-runtime	Major
electron-builder	Major
electron-publish	Major
electron-updater	Major
app-builder-lib	Major
builder-util	Major
dmg-builder	Major
electron-forge-maker-appimage	Major
electron-forge-maker-nsis	Major
electron-forge-maker-nsis-web	Major
electron-forge-maker-snap	Major

Not sure what this means? Click here to learn what changesets are.

Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

[socket-security]

Review the following changes in direct dependencies. Learn more about Socket for GitHub.

Diff	Package	Supply Chain Security	Vulnerability	Quality	Maintenance	License
	@​tsconfig/​node22@​22.0.5
	tsx@​4.22.4
	fs-extra@​11.3.5

View full report

[socket-security]

All alerts resolved. Learn more about Socket for GitHub.

This PR previously contained dependency changes with security issues that have been resolved, removed, or ignored.

View full report

[Copilot]

Copilot wasn't able to review this pull request because it exceeds the maximum number of files (300). Try reducing the number of changed files and requesting a review from Copilot again.

[mmaietta]

For visibility on code line diff count

Directory	Insertions	Deletions
packages/	+1860	-1379
test/	+825	-1368

git diff master...HEAD --numstat | awk '
  /^[0-9]/ && $3 ~ /^packages\// { pkg_add+=$1; pkg_del+=$2 }
  /^[0-9]/ && $3 ~ /^test\//     { tst_add+=$1; tst_del+=$2 }
  END {
    print "packages/  +" pkg_add " -" pkg_del
    print "test/      +" tst_add " -" tst_del
  }
'