vite-plugin-electron

Electron 🔗 Vite

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In short, vite-plugin-electron makes developing Electron apps as easy as normal Vite projects.

Note

This plugin supports both Vite 7 and Vite 8. Build config keys are adapted automatically, using rolldownOptions on Vite 8+ and rollupOptions on Vite < 8.

Features

• 🔥 Hot Restart _{^{(Main process)}}
• 🔄 Hot Reload _{^{(Preload scripts)}}
• ⚡️ HMR _{^{(Renderer process)}}

• 🌱 Fully compatible with Vite and Vite's ecosystem _{^{(Based on Vite)}}
• 🔮 Full-featured JavaScript API, really easy to integrate with complex projects.
• 🐣 Few APIs, easy to use

Quick Setup

1. Add the following dependency to your project

npm i -D vite-plugin-electron

2. Add vite-plugin-electron to the plugins section of vite.config.ts

import electron from 'vite-plugin-electron/simple'

export default {
  plugins: [
    electron({
      main: {
        // Shortcut of `build.lib.entry`
        entry: 'electron/main.ts',
      },
      preload: {
        // Shortcut of `build.rolldownOptions.input` (`build.rollupOptions.input` on Vite < 8)
        input: 'electron/preload.ts',
      },
      // Optional: Use Node.js API in the Renderer process
      renderer: {},
    }),
  ],
}

3. Create the electron/main.ts file and type the following code

import { app, BrowserWindow } from 'electron'

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  const win = new BrowserWindow({
    title: 'Main window',
  })

  // You can use `process.env.VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL` when the vite command is called `serve`
  if (process.env.VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL) {
    win.loadURL(process.env.VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL)
  } else {
    // Load your file
    win.loadFile('dist/index.html')
  }
})

4. Add the main entry to package.json

{
+ "main": "dist-electron/main.mjs"
}

That's it! You can now use Electron in your Vite app ✨

Flat API

In most cases, the vite-plugin-electron/simple API is recommended. If you know very well how this plugin works or you want to use vite-plugin-electron API as a secondary encapsulation of low-level API, then the flat API is more suitable for you. It is also simple but more flexible. :)

The difference compared to the simple API is that it does not identify which entry represents preload and the adaptation to preload.

import electron from 'vite-plugin-electron'

export default {
  plugins: [
    electron({
      entry: 'electron/main.ts',
    }),
  ],
}

Flat API vs Simple API

• Simple API is based on the Flat API
• Simple API includes some Preload scripts preset configs.
• Flat API provides some more general APIs, which you can use for secondary encapsulation, such as nuxt-electron.

Types

electron(options: ElectronOptions | ElectronOptions[])

export interface ElectronOptions {
  /**
   * Shortcut of `build.lib.entry`
   */
  entry?: import('vite').LibraryOptions['entry']
  vite?: import('vite').InlineConfig
  /**
   * Triggered when Vite is built every time -- `vite serve` command only.
   *
   * If this `onstart` is passed, Electron App will not start automatically.
   * However, you can start Electron App via `startup` function.
   */
  onstart?: (args: {
    /**
     * Electron App startup function.
     * It will mount the Electron App child-process to `process.electronApp`.
     *
     * You can also set environment variables to control the Electron CLI flags.
     * Supported env vars:
     * - `REMOTE_DEBUGGING_PORT`
     * - `ELECTRON_IGNORE_CERTIFICATE_ERRORS`
     * - `ELECTRON_DISABLE_WEB_SECURITY`
     * - `ELECTRON_INSPECT`
     * - `ELECTRON_INSPECT_BRK`
     *
     * `1` or `true` turns a flag on, `0` or `false` turns it off, and any other non-empty
     * value is appended as `=<value>`.
     *
     * @param argv default value `['.', '--no-sandbox']`
     * @param options options for `child_process.spawn`
     * @param customElectronPkg custom electron package name (default: 'electron')
     * @returns `true` if the Electron app is started, or `false` if the startup is prevented by `startup.prevent` or `ELECTRON_STARTUP_PREVENT` env var.
     */
    startup: (
      argv?: string[],
      options?: import('node:child_process').SpawnOptions,
      customElectronPkg?: string,
    ) => Promise<boolean>
    /** Reload Electron-Renderer */
    reload: () => void
  }) => void | Promise<void>
}

Environment API

Important

vite-plugin-electron/multi-env is only available in vite-plugin-electron@>=1.0.0. It does not exist in 0.x releases.

Using Vite's Environment API to build Electron targets instead of manually calling build(). It is the future-facing way to handle multi-target builds, and the configuration is more concise and easier to maintain: use rolldownOptions.input on Vite 8+ or rollupOptions.input on Vite < 8 to specify the entry and overridable environment config for each target.

Flat API:

import electron from 'vite-plugin-electron/multi-env'

export default {
  plugins: [
    electron([
      {
        input: 'electron/main.ts',
      },
      {
        input: 'electron/preload.ts',
      },
    ]),
  ],
}

Simple API:

import { electronSimple } from 'vite-plugin-electron/multi-env'

export default {
  plugins: [
    electronSimple({
      main: {
        input: 'electron/main.ts',
        options: {
          define: {
            __ELECTRON_TARGET__: JSON.stringify('main'),
          },
        },
      },
      preload: {
        input: 'electron/preload.ts',
        options: {
          define: {
            __ELECTRON_TARGET__: JSON.stringify('preload'),
          },
        },
      },
      // You can also add custom targets, and they will be built in the same way as the main process, but with different environment variables.
      custom: {
        input: 'electron/custom.ts',
        options: {
          define: {
            __ELECTRON_TARGET__: JSON.stringify('custom'),
          },
        },
      },
    }),
  ],
}

electronSimple() accepts an object grouped by environment name. The main and preload keys reuse the same default presets as vite-plugin-electron/simple, while custom keys are built like main-process targets with their own environment options.

Types

export interface MultiEnvElectronOptions {
  /**
   * Optional name for the Electron environment `electron_${name}`.
   *
   * By default, the plugin will generate environment names like `electron_0`,
   * `electron_1`, etc. based on the order of the options provided.
   */
  name?: string
  /**
   * Shortcut of `options.build.rolldownOptions.input` (`options.build.rollupOptions.input` on Vite < 8)
   */
  input?: import('vite').BuildEnvironmentOptions['rolldownOptions']['input']
  /**
   * Shortcut of `options.build.rolldownOptions.plugins` (`options.build.rollupOptions.plugins` on Vite < 8)
   */
  plugins?: import('vite').BuildEnvironmentOptions['rolldownOptions']['plugins']
  /**
   * Per-environment Vite options.
   */
  options?: import('vite').EnvironmentOptions
  onstart?: ElectronOptions['onstart']
}

Hot Reload Preload Scripts

Since v0.29.0, when preload scripts are rebuilt, they will send an electron-vite&type=hot-reload event to the main process. If your App doesn't need a renderer process, this will give you hot-reload.

// electron/main.ts

process.on('message', (msg) => {
  if (msg === 'electron-vite&type=hot-reload') {
    for (const win of BrowserWindow.getAllWindows()) {
      // Hot reload preload scripts
      win.webContents.reload()
    }
  }
})

Recommend Structure

Let's use the official template-vanilla-ts created based on create vite as an example

+ ├─┬ electron
+ │ └── main.ts
  ├─┬ src
  │ ├── main.ts
  │ ├── style.css
  │ └── vite-env.d.ts
  ├── .gitignore
  ├── favicon.svg
  ├── index.html
  ├── package.json
  ├── tsconfig.json
+ └── vite.config.ts

Built format

This is just the default behavior, and you can modify them at any time through custom config in the vite.config.js

{ "type": "module" }
┏————————————————————┳——————————┳———————————┓
│       built        │  format  │   suffix  │
┠————————————————————╂——————————╂———————————┨
│ main process       │   esm    │    .js    │
┠————————————————————╂——————————╂———————————┨
│ preload scripts    │   cjs    │   .mjs    │ diff
┠————————————————————╂——————————╂———————————┨
│ renderer process   │    -     │    .js    │
┗————————————————————┸——————————┸———————————┛

{ "type": "commonjs" } - default
┏————————————————————┳——————————┳———————————┓
│       built        │  format  │   suffix  │
┠————————————————————╂——————————╂———————————┨
│ main process       │   cjs    │    .js    │
┠————————————————————╂——————————╂———————————┨
│ preload scripts    │   cjs    │    .js    │ diff
┠————————————————————╂——————————╂———————————┨
│ renderer process   │    -     │    .js    │
┗————————————————————┸——————————┸———————————┛

Examples

There are many cases here 👉 electron-vite-samples

Playground

The local demo suite lives in playground/ and includes flat, simple, multi-env, and worker modes that import the plugin source directly from this repo.

JavaScript API

vite-plugin-electron's JavaScript APIs are fully typed, and it's recommended to use TypeScript or enable JS type checking in VS Code to leverage the intellisense and validation.

• ElectronOptions - type
• resolveViteConfig - function, Resolve the default Vite's InlineConfig for build Electron-Main
• withExternalBuiltins - function
• build - function
• startup - function

Example

import { build, startup } from 'vite-plugin-electron'

const isDev = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development'
const isProd = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'

build({
  entry: 'electron/main.ts',
  vite: {
    mode: process.env.NODE_ENV,
    build: {
      minify: isProd,
      watch: isDev ? {} : null,
    },
    plugins: [
      {
        name: 'plugin-start-electron',
        closeBundle() {
          if (isDev) {
            // Startup Electron App
            startup()
          }
        },
      },
    ],
  },
})

Custom Electron Package Resolution

startup(argv, options, customElectronPkg) supports custom Electron forks. The package is resolved from app roots (process.cwd(), options.cwd, and INIT_CWD) before falling back to standard module resolution.

If the package cannot be resolved, startup() throws an error describing how to install or pass the package explicitly.

Startup Env Vars

Important

Environment variables are only available in vite-plugin-electron@>=1.0.0. They do not exist in 0.x releases.

startup() uses these env vars. 1 or true turns a flag on, 0 or false turns it off, and any other non-empty value is appended as =<value>.

• REMOTE_DEBUGGING_PORT appends --remote-debugging-port=<value>
• ELECTRON_IGNORE_CERTIFICATE_ERRORS appends --ignore-certificate-errors
• ELECTRON_DISABLE_WEB_SECURITY appends --disable-web-security
• ELECTRON_INSPECT appends --inspect=<value>
• ELECTRON_INSPECT_BRK appends --inspect-brk=<value>

Startup Controls

Important

Startup controls are only available in vite-plugin-electron@>=1.0.0. They do not exist in 0.x releases.

Use startup.prevent = true, ELECTRON_STARTUP_PREVENT=1, or ELECTRON_STARTUP_PREVENT=true to disable automatic electron app startup. This lets you decide when to call startup.prevent = false; startup() manually (for example, after waiting for another local service).

Await the return value of startup() to know if the startup was triggered or prevented by the controls.

Builtin Plugins

notBundle Plugin

Use notBundle() in development to externalize dependencies in Electron entries.

This keeps startup fast by skipping dependency bundling while running vite serve. For production builds, let bundling run as usual.

Important

Behavior change in v1.0.0: notBundle() now configures build.rolldownOptions.external (or build.rollupOptions.external on Vite < 8) from your package.json once at config time, instead of verifying each import is CommonJS-loadable on every resolveId. Every package listed in dependencies/devDependencies/peerDependencies/optionalDependencies is externalized unconditionally — if a package is missing at runtime, the failure now surfaces at runtime rather than being silently bundled. Use the filter option to narrow or override the externalized set.

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import electron from 'vite-plugin-electron'
import { notBundle } from 'vite-plugin-electron/plugin'

export default defineConfig(({ command }) => ({
  plugins: [
    electron({
      entry: 'electron/main.ts',
      vite: {
        plugins: [command === 'serve' && notBundle()],
      },
    }),
  ],
}))

Under the Hood

Use build.rolldownOptions.external on Vite 8+ or build.rollupOptions.external on Vite < 8 to externalize dependencies from package.json

API

notBundle(options?: NotBundleOptions)

export interface NotBundleOptions {
  /**
   * Override `build.rolldownOptions.external` (`build.rollupOptions.external` on Vite < 8).
   *
   * If omitted, dependencies from package.json
   * (dependencies/devDependencies/peerDependencies/optionalDependencies)
   * are externalized automatically.
   */
  filter?: import('vite').RolldownOptions['external']
}

esmShim Plugin

Important

esmShim plugin is only available in vite-plugin-electron@>=1.0.0. It does not exist in 0.x releases.

Use esmShim() to inject __dirname and __filename shims for ESM Electron entries that rely on these CJS globals.

Only files that actually reference __dirname or __filename are transformed, so there is no overhead for files that don't need it.

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import electron from 'vite-plugin-electron'
import { esmShim } from 'vite-plugin-electron/plugin'

export default defineConfig(({ command }) => ({
  plugins: [
    electron({
      entry: 'electron/main.ts',
      vite: {
        plugins: [esmShim()],
      },
    }),
  ],
}))

Under the Hood

For each matching file, the following shim is prepended:

import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
import { dirname } from 'node:path'
const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)
const __dirname = dirname(__filename)

API

esmShim() — no options, just add it to plugins.

How to work

It just executes the electron . command in the Vite build completion hook and then starts or restarts the Electron App.

Be aware

• 🚨 By default, the files in electron folder will be built into the dist-electron

C/C++ Native

We have two ways to use C/C++ native modules

First way

In general, Vite may not correctly build Node.js packages, especially C/C++ native modules, but Vite can load them as external packages

So, put your Node.js package in dependencies. Unless you know how to properly build them with Vite

export default {
  plugins: [
    electron({
      entry: 'electron/main.ts',
      vite: {
        build: {
          rolldownOptions: {
            // Here are some C/C++ modules them can't be built properly
            external: ['serialport', 'sqlite3'],
          },
        },
      },
    }),
  ],
}

Second way

Use 👉 vite-plugin-native

import native from 'vite-plugin-native'

export default {
  plugins: [
    electron({
      entry: 'electron/main.ts',
      vite: {
        plugins: [native(/* options */)],
      },
    }),
  ],
}