Electron Sample

June 22, 2026 · View on GitHub

This sample demonstrates usage of the @microsoft/winappcli npm package with an Electron app.

Prerequisites

  • Windows 11 or Windows 10 (version 1809+)
  • Node.js - winget install OpenJS.NodeJS --source winget
  • .NET SDK v10 - winget install Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.10 --source winget
  • Visual Studio with the Native Desktop Workload - winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.Community --source winget --override "--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop --includeRecommended --passive --wait"
  • Python - winget install Python.PythonInstallManager --source winget

🚀 Quick Start: How to build and run the sample

Here's how you can build, package, deploy, and run the sample (more detail in below sections):

# Enter pwsh and cd to this sample
pwsh
cd <reporoot>\samples\electron

# Install/restore the project dependencies
npm install

# Build the C++ and C# addons
npm run build-all

# Run the sample
npm start

Overview

The sample is a default Electron Forge generated application with the following modifications:

  1. Initialized a winapp project by running npx winapp init. This generates:

    • A .winapp folder containing headers and libs for the Windows SDK and Windows App SDK
    • An appxmanifest.xml with required assets
    • Installs the Windows App SDK runtime
    • A winapp.yaml file to track NuGet versions and project configuration

    The .winapp folder is added to .gitignore to ensure it is not committed to git. Running npx winapp restore will restore it (this is added as a postinstall script in package.json).

  2. Generated JS bindings by opting in during npx winapp init. The generated bindings let you call Windows App SDK APIs directly from JavaScript, with no native addon build step. The .winapp/bindings/ folder contains a typed .js + .d.ts pair per WinRT class alongside an index.js that re-exports them all. Re-run npx winapp node generate-bindings to regenerate them after editing winapp.jsBindings.

  3. Generated a native addon using npx winapp node generate-addon to call APIs from the Windows SDK and Windows App SDK. The addon folder contains the generated addon alongside the build-addon script added to package.json. The addon contains a function to raise a Windows notification, and the JavaScript code has been modified to call this function.

  4. Generated a C# addon using npx winapp node create-addon --template cs. This generates a simple c# addon using the node-api-dotnet project. When you build the C# addon, this will use NAOT to produce a .node file that is trimmed and doesn't require the .net runtime to be installed on the target machine.

  5. Modified forge.config.js to ignore winapp.yaml and unmanaged .winapp contents while keeping .winapp/bindings in the final package. The app also copies the appxmanifest.xml and Assets folder to the final package.

Prerequisites

  • Windows 11
  • Node.js - winget install OpenJS.NodeJS --source winget
  • .NET SDK v10 - Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.10
  • Visual Studio with the Native Desktop Workload - winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.Community --source winget --override "--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop --includeRecommended --passive --wait"

Before running the sample, ensure the npm package has been built:

  1. Navigate to the root of this repo
  2. Run .\scripts\build-cli.ps1 to build all projects

Then run npm install to install all dependencies. The sample has a postinstall script that sets up the project with the CLI:

"postinstall": "winapp restore && winapp cert generate --if-exists skip && winapp node add-electron-debug-identity"

This script runs three winapp commands:

  • winapp restore - Restores all NuGet packages and makes the Windows SDKs available to the app
  • winapp cert generate - Generates a dev certificate for signing the MSIX. The command uses the appxmanifest.xml in the root for the publisher name to ensure the package can be signed
  • winapp node add-electron-debug-identity - Adds debug identity to the Electron process so you can debug APIs that require identity

Testing Debug Identity

The winapp node add-electron-debug-identity command registers the electron.exe in node_modules with a temporary debug identity generated from the appxmanifest.xml. When you run npm install, this command runs automatically via the postinstall script.

If you modify the appxmanifest.xml, or if the postinstall script did not run, re-register the debug identity with:

npx winapp node add-electron-debug-identity

When starting the app with npm start, the app will have identity and you can test Windows APIs that require identity.

Note: There is a Windows bug that breaks Electron apps running with sparse packaging (which enables debug identity). The bug has been fixed but has not yet rolled out to most Windows machines. As a workaround, sandboxing is disabled when running with debug identity (the npm start script in this sample passes --no-sandbox).

MSIX Packaging

The sample contains an example of packaging and signing an MSIX with winapp. The package-msix script in package.json demonstrates how to package and sign the app:

"package-msix": "npm run build-addon && npm run package & winapp package ./out/sample-electron-app-win32-arm64/ --output-folder ./out --cert ./devcert.pfx"

Note: The output folder path is currently hardcoded. You may need to modify this script based on your architecture and output configuration.