An Electron CLI integrated with Vite

electron-vite

An Electron CLI integrated with Vite

The link - https://github.com/alex8088/electron-vite

Features

• ⚡️Use the same way as Vite
• 🔨Both main process and renderer process source code are built using Vite
• 📃The main process and the renderer process Vite configuration are combined into one file
• 📦Preset optimal build configuration
• 🚀HMR for renderer processes

Usage

Install

npm i electron-vite -D

Development & Build

In a project where electron-vite is installed, you can use electron-vite binary directly with npx electron-vite or add the npm scripts to your package.json file like this:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "electron-vite preview", // start electron app to preview production build
    "dev": "electron-vite dev", // start dev server and electron app
    "prebuild": "electron-vite build" // build for production
  }
}

In order to use the renderer process HMR, you need to use the environment variables to determine whether the window browser loads a local html file or a remote URL.

function createWindow() {
  // Create the browser window
  const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    webPreferences: {
      preload: path.join(__dirname, '../preload/index.js')
    }
  })

  // Load the remote URL for development or the local html file for production
  if (!app.isPackaged && process.env['ELECTRON_RENDERER_URL']) {
    mainWindow.loadURL(process.env['ELECTRON_RENDERER_URL'])
  } else {
    mainWindow.loadFile(path.join(__dirname, '../renderer/index.html'))
  }
}

Note: For development, the renderer process index.html file needs to reference your script code via <script type="module">.

Recommended project directory

├──src
|  ├──main
|  |  ├──index.js
|  |  └──...
|  ├──preload
|  |  ├──index.js
|  |  └──...
|  └──renderer
|     ├──src
|     ├──index.html
|     └──...
├──electron.vite.config.js
└──package.json

Get started

Clone the electron-vite-boilerplate or use the create-electron tool to scaffold your project.

Configure

Config file

When running electron-vite from the command line, electron-vite will automatically try to resolve a config file named electron.vite.config.js inside project root. The most basic config file looks like this:

// electron.vite.config.js
export default {
  main: {
    // vite config options
  },
  preload: {
    // vite config options
  },
  renderer: {
    // vite config options
  }
}

You can also explicitly specify a config file to use with the --config CLI option (resolved relative to cwd):

electron-vite --config my-config.js

Tips: electron-vite also supports ts or mjs config file.

Config intellisense

Since electron-vite ships with TypeScript typings, you can leverage your IDE's intellisense with jsdoc type hints:

/**
 * @type {import('electron-vite').UserConfig}
 */
const config = {
  // ...
}

export default config

Alternatively, you can use the defineConfig and defineViteConfig helper which should provide intellisense without the need for jsdoc annotations:

import { defineConfig, defineViteConfig } from 'electron-vite'

export default defineConfig({
  main: {
    // ...
  },
  preload: {
    // ...
  },
  renderer: defineViteConfig(({ command, mode }) => {
    // conditional config use defineViteConfig
    // ...
  })
})

Tips: The defineViteConfig exports from Vite.

Config reference

See vitejs.dev

Config presets

Build options for main:

• outDir: out\main(relative to project root)
• target: node*, automatically match node target of Electron. For example, the node target of Electron 17 is node16.13
• lib.entry: src\main\{index|main}.{js|ts|mjs|cjs}(relative to project root), empty string if not found
• lib.formats: cjs
• rollupOptions.external: electron and all builtin modules

Build options for preload:

• outDir: out\preload(relative to project root)
• target: the same as main
• lib.entry: src\preload\{index|preload}.{js|ts|mjs|cjs}(relative to project root), empty string if not found
• lib.formats: cjs
• rollupOptions.external: the same as main

Build options for renderer:

• root: src\renderer(relative to project root)
• outDir: out\renderer(relative to project root)
• target: chrome*, automatically match chrome target of Electron. For example, the chrome target of Electron 17 is chrome98
• lib.entry: src\renderer\index.html(relative to project root), empty string if not found
• polyfillModulePreload: false, there is no need to polyfill Module Preload for the Electron renderer
• rollupOptions.external: the same as main

Define option for main and preload

In web development, Vite will transform 'process.env.' to '({}).'. This is reasonable and correct. But in nodejs development, we sometimes need to use process.env, so electron-vite will automatically add config define field to redefine global variable replacements like this:

export default {
  main: {
    define: {
      'process.env': 'process.env'
    }
  }
}

Note: If you want to use these configurations in an existing project, please see the Vite plugin vite-plugin-electron-config

Config FAQs

How do I configure when the Electron app has multiple windows?

When your electron app has multiple windows, it means there are multiple html files or preload files. You can modify your config file like this:

export default {
  main: {},
  preload: {
    build: {
      rollupOptions: {
        input: {
          browser: resolve(__dirname, 'src/preload/browser.ts'),
          webview: resolve(__dirname, 'src/preload/webview.ts')
        }
      }
    }
  },
  renderer: {
    build: {
      rollupOptions: {
        input: {
          browser: resolve(__dirname, 'src/renderer/browser.html'),
          webview: resolve(__dirname, 'src/renderer/webview.html')
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

CLI options

For the full list of CLI options, you can run npx electron-vite -h in your project. The flags listed below are only available via the command line interface:

• --ignoreConfigWarning: boolean, allow you ignore warning when config missing
• --outDir: string, output directory (default: out)

API

build

Type Signature:

async function build(inlineConfig: InlineConfig = {}): Promise<void>

Example Usage:

const path = require('path')
const { build } = require('electron-vite')

;(async () => {
  await build({
    build: {
      outDir: 'out'
      rollupOptions: {
        // ...
      }
    }
  })
})()

createServer

Type Signature:

async function createServer(inlineConfig: InlineConfig = {}): Promise<void>

Example Usage:

const { createServer } = require('electron-vite')

;(async () => {
  await createServer({
    server: {
      port: 1337
    }
  })
})()

preview

Type Signature:

async function preview(inlineConfig: InlineConfig = {}): Promise<void>

Example Usage:

const { preview } = require('electron-vite')

;(async () => {
  await preview({})
})()

InlineConfig

The InlineConfig interface extends Vite UserConfig with additional properties:

• ignoreConfigWarning: set to false to ignore warning when config missing

And omit base property because it is not necessary to set the base public path in Electron.

resolveConfig

Type Signature:

async function resolveConfig(
  inlineConfig: InlineConfig,
  command: 'build' | 'serve',
  defaultMode = 'development'
): Promise<ResolvedConfig>

The link - https://github.com/alex8088/electron-vite