Electron 🔗 Vite

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

Migrating from 0.x? See Migrate to v1 for full migration guide.

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.js"
}

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

How to work

It just executes the electron . command in the Vite closeBundle() hook and then starts or restarts the Electron App.

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

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

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',
        // Externalize npm dependencies during dev (like Vite does for the browser).
        // During production builds this is ignored — all deps are bundled.
        notBundle: true,
        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.

Factory Usage

If you need to resolve Electron targets dynamically, use electronPluginFactory(). The factory receives the resolved project root and packageJson, and it can return a single option, an array of options, or a Promise that resolves to either shape.

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

export default {
  plugins: [
    electronPluginFactory(async ({ root, packageJson }) => {
      const isESM = packageJson?.type === 'module'

      return [
        {
          name: 'main',
          input: 'electron/main.ts',
          options: {
            define: {
              __APP_ROOT__: JSON.stringify(root),
            },
          },
        },
        {
          name: 'preload',
          input: 'electron/preload.ts',
          options: {
            build: {
              minify: !isESM,
            },
          },
        },
      ]
    }),
  ],
}

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
  /**
   * When `true`, externalize npm dependencies during development so they are
   * not bundled, much like Vite does for the browser.
   *
   * Pass a custom `external` value to override the default package.json-derived set.
   *
   * During production builds this option is ignored — all dependencies are bundled.
   *
   * @default false
   */
  notBundle?: boolean | import('vite').BuildEnvironmentOptions['rolldownOptions']['external']
  onstart?: ElectronOptions['onstart']
}

export interface ElectronFactoryContext {
  root: string
  packageJson?: PackageJson | null
}

export type MultiEnvElectronOptionsFactory = (
  context: ElectronFactoryContext,
) =>
  | MultiEnvElectronOptions
  | MultiEnvElectronOptions[]
  | Promise<MultiEnvElectronOptions | MultiEnvElectronOptions[]>

Hot Reload Preload Scripts

Since v0.29.0, when preload scripts are rebuilt, they 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

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

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() to externalize dependencies in Electron entries.

This keeps startup fast by skipping dependency bundling while running vite serve. In production builds, it still externalizes dependencies, but it uses a narrower default set.

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

electronSimple({
  main: {
    input: 'electron/main.ts',
    notBundle: true, // ← built-in shortcut
  },
})

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

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    electron({
      entry: 'electron/main.ts',
      vite: {
        plugins: [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).
   *
   * When omitted, development externalizes dependencies, devDependencies,
   * peerDependencies, and optionalDependencies from package.json.
   * Production only externalizes dependencies.
   *
   * When provided, this replaces the default package.json-derived external set.
   *
   * Use `import { getIsViteDev } from 'vite-plugin-electron/plugin'` to detect if it's during dev.
   */
  filter?: RolldownOrRollupOptions['external']
}

API: extractExternalDeps

Default behavior of extracting external dependencies from package.json.

• During development, dependencies, devDependencies, peerDependencies, and optionalDependencies are externalized.
• During production, only dependencies are externalized.

/**
 * @param pkg package.json content
 */
export function extractExternalDeps(pkg: Record<string, any>): RolldownOrRollupOptions['external']

esmShim Plugin

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({
  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.

dependencies vs devDependencies

electron-builder packages dependencies into the final app, and Vite/Rolldown may also bundle dependencies into the renderer output. To avoid shipping the same code twice, native modules should stay in dependencies by default because electron-builder needs to collect their binary files. Other buildable modules should stay in devDependencies; otherwise, they can be bundled by Vite and packaged again by electron-builder.

If you manually handle the binary files and runtime dependency layout for native modules, you can also move those native modules to devDependencies to further reduce the packaged app size.