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Bug: Electron Binary Missing — Postinstall Skipped by Bun

Date: 2026-05-10
Severity: Critical (blocks all dev/build)
Area: Build / Dev Environment
Root Cause: Bun skipped Electron's postinstall script during bun install

Symptoms

Running bun run dev produced:

error during start dev server and electron app:
Error: Electron uninstall
    at getElectronPath (file:///E:/project/node/nekocode/node_modules/electron-vite/dist/chunks/lib-ClgyQuZx.js:132:19)
    at startElectron (file:///E:/project/node/nekocode/node_modules/electron-vite/dist/chunks/lib-ClgyQuZx.js:205:26)

The Vite renderer dev server started successfully on http://localhost:5173/, and both the main process and preload built without errors. The failure occurred only when electron-vite attempted to launch the Electron app process.

Root Cause Analysis

What was present

  • node_modules/electron/ directory existed with package.json, index.js, install.js, checksums.json
  • Electron package version: 34.5.8

What was missing

  • node_modules/electron/path.txt — does not exist
  • node_modules/electron/dist/ — does not exist

How electron resolves its binary

The node_modules/electron/index.js file contains:

const pathFile = path.join(__dirname, 'path.txt');

function getElectronPath () {
  let executablePath;
  if (fs.existsSync(pathFile)) {
    executablePath = fs.readFileSync(pathFile, 'utf-8');
  }
  if (executablePath) {
    return path.join(__dirname, 'dist', executablePath);
  } else {
    throw new Error('Electron failed to install correctly, please delete node_modules/electron and try installing again');
  }
}

The electron npm package is a wrapper — it does not contain the Electron binary itself. The actual binary (~190 MB electron.exe on Windows) is downloaded during the postinstall lifecycle hook (install.js). Bun, in certain configurations or versions, can skip postinstall scripts, leaving the wrapper package present but the binary absent.

Why electron-rebuild did not fix it

electron-rebuild recompiles native Node addons (.node files) against Electron's Node headers. It has nothing to do with downloading the Electron binary itself. Running it reported "No native modules found" and completed without error, but the underlying binary absence remained.

Fix

Run the Electron install script directly:

node node_modules/electron/install.js

This downloads the Electron v34.5.8 binary into node_modules/electron/dist/ and creates path.txt containing electron.exe.

Verification after fix

# Should return True
Test-Path "node_modules/electron/path.txt"
Test-Path "node_modules/electron/dist"

# Should contain "electron.exe"
Get-Content "node_modules/electron/path.txt"

# Should list electron.exe + supporting files
Get-ChildItem "node_modules/electron/dist"

Prevention

After running bun install on a fresh clone or after rm -rf node_modules, always verify the Electron binary exists:

Test-Path "node_modules/electron/dist/electron.exe"

If missing, run:

node node_modules/electron/install.js

Alternatively, consider adding a postinstall check to package.json or a setup script that ensures the Electron binary is present before dev/build commands execute.

Blast Radius

  • Blocked: bun run dev (dev server + Electron launch)
  • Blocked: Any electron-vite command that needs to spawn Electron
  • Not affected: Main process build, preload build, renderer Vite dev server, tests, linting