The boilerplate code to get started creating Cross-platform Desktop Apps with Electron and Next as front-end technology.

    

      

✒️ Overview

The aim of this project is to provide Web Developers using next.js the power to create cross-platform desktop apps using electron.

🧐 What packages does the project use?

electron enables you to create desktop applications with pure JavaScript by providing a runtime with rich native (operating system) APIs. You could see it as a variant of the Node.js runtime that is focused on desktop applications instead of web servers.

electron-builder is used as a complete solution to package and build a ready for distribution (supports Numerous target formats) Electron app with "auto update" support out of the box.

electron-serve is used for Static file serving for Electron apps.

next.js gives you the best developer experience with all the features you need for production: hybrid static & server rendering, TypeScript support, smart bundling, route pre-fetching, and more. No config needed.

concurrently is used to run multiple commands concurrently.

wait-on is used as it can wait for sockets, and http(s) resources to become available.

🚀 Getting Started

Note: If you wish to use npm over yarn then modify package.json by replacing yarn with npm in electron-dev and preelectron-pack scripts. But I strongly recommend using yarn as it is a better choice when compared to npm.

🤓 Use this boilerplate

# Clone the Project

# Use degit scaffolding tool
$ npx degit soulehshaikh99/create-next-electron-app create-next-electron-app
# or GitHub CLI Users
$ gh repo clone https://github.com/soulehshaikh99/create-next-electron-app.git
# or Normal Git Users
$ git clone https://github.com/soulehshaikh99/create-next-electron-app.git

# Switch location to the cloned directory
$ cd create-next-electron-app

# Install dependencies
$ yarn # or npm install

# Run your app
$ yarn electron-dev # or npm run electron-dev

# Package Your App
$ yarn electron-pack # or npm run electron-pack

💫 Create this boilerplate from scratch (Manual Setup)

1) Use create-next-app scaffolding tool to get started with its default template.

$ yarn create next-app create-next-electron-app
# npx create-next-app create-next-electron-app

2) Switch to project directory

$ cd create-next-electron-app

3) Move all dependencies to devDependencies using IDE / Text Editor

# It should look something like this
"dependencies": {},
"devDependencies": {
  "next": "9.5.2",
  "react": "16.13.1",
  "react-dom": "16.13.1",
}

4) Install Development Dependencies

$ yarn add --dev electron electron-builder wait-on concurrently
# npm i -D electron electron-builder wait-on concurrently

5) Install Production Dependency

$ yarn add electron-serve # or npm i electron-serve

6) Your dependencies should look something like this

"dependencies": {
  "electron-serve": "^1.0.0"
},
"devDependencies": {
  "concurrently": "^5.3.0",
  "electron": "^10.0.0",
  "electron-builder": "^22.8.0",
  "next": "9.5.2",
  "react": "16.13.1",
  "react-dom": "16.13.1",
  "wait-on": "^5.2.0"
}

7) Download the app icon

favicon.png and place it in the public directory.

8) Create main.js file (serves as entry point for Electron App's Main Process)

# Windows Users
$ fsutil file createnew main.js 0
# notepad main.js

# Linux and macOS Users
$ touch main.js

10) Paste the below code in main.js file

// Modules to control application life and create native browser window
const { app, BrowserWindow, dialog } = require("electron");
const path = require("path");
const serve = require("electron-serve");
const loadURL = serve({ directory: "build" });

// Keep a global reference of the window object, if you don't, the window will
// be closed automatically when the JavaScript object is garbage collected.
let mainWindow;

function isDev() {
  return !app.isPackaged;
}

function createWindow() {
  // Create the browser window.
  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    webPreferences: {
      nodeIntegration: true,
    },
    // Use this in development mode.
    icon: isDev()
      ? path.join(process.cwd(), "public/favicon.png")
      : path.join(__dirname, "build/favicon.png"),
    // Use this in production mode.
    // icon: path.join(__dirname, 'build/favicon.png'),
    show: false,
  });

  // This block of code is intended for development purpose only.
  // Delete this entire block of code when you are ready to package the application.
  if (isDev()) {
    mainWindow.loadURL("http://localhost:3000/");
  } else {
    loadURL(mainWindow);
  }

  // Uncomment the following line of code when app is ready to be packaged.
  // loadURL(mainWindow);

  // Open the DevTools and also disable Electron Security Warning.
  // process.env['ELECTRON_DISABLE_SECURITY_WARNINGS'] = true;
  // mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();

  // Emitted when the window is closed.
  mainWindow.on("closed", function () {
    // Dereference the window object, usually you would store windows
    // in an array if your app supports multi windows, this is the time
    // when you should delete the corresponding element.
    mainWindow = null;
  });

  // Emitted when the window is ready to be shown
  // This helps in showing the window gracefully.
  mainWindow.once("ready-to-show", () => {
    mainWindow.show();
  });
}

// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Some APIs can only be used after this event occurs.
app.on("ready", createWindow);

// Quit when all windows are closed.
app.on("window-all-closed", function () {
  // On macOS it is common for applications and their menu bar
  // to stay active until the user quits explicitly with Cmd + Q
  if (process.platform !== "darwin") app.quit();
});

app.on("activate", function () {
  // On macOS it's common to re-create a window in the app when the
  // dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
  if (mainWindow === null) createWindow();
});
// In this file you can include the rest of your app's specific main process
// code. You can also put them in separate files and require them here.

11) Update the script section of package.json

# Add this scripts
"build": "next build && next export -o build", # don't forget to update build script, or the app won't work properly
"telemetry:status": "next telemetry status",
"telemetry:enable": "next telemetry enable",
"telemetry:disable": "next telemetry disable",
"electron": "wait-on http://localhost:3000 && electron .",
"electron-dev": "concurrently \"yarn dev\" \"yarn electron\"",
"preelectron-pack": "yarn build",
"electron-pack": "electron-builder"

# You should end up with something similar
"scripts": {
  "dev": "next dev",
  "build": "next build && next export -o build",
  "start": "next start",
  "telemetry:status": "next telemetry status",
  "telemetry:enable": "next telemetry enable",
  "telemetry:disable": "next telemetry disable",
  "electron": "wait-on http://localhost:3000 && electron .",
  "electron-dev": "concurrently \"yarn dev\" \"yarn electron\"",
  "preelectron-pack": "yarn build",
  "electron-pack": "electron-builder"
}

12) Add the following configuration in package.json

Note: build configuration is used by electron-builder, modify it if you wish to add more packaging and native distribution options for different OS Platforms.

"main": "main.js",  # Application Entry Point, please verify entry point is set to main.js
"build": {
  "icon": "public/favicon.png",
  "productName": "Next and Electron App",
  "files": [
    "build/**/*",
    "main.js"
  ],
  "win": {},  # Windows Specific Configuration
  "linux": {},  # Linux Specific Configuration
  "mac": {}  # MacOs Specific Configuration
}

14) Test drive your app

# Run your app
$ yarn electron-dev # or npm run electron-dev

# Package Your App
$ yarn electron-pack # or npm run electron-pack

💯 Result

😍 Made with ❤️ from Souleh

📋 License:

Licensed under the MIT License.