This repo contains the bare minimum code to have an auto-updating Electron app using electron-updater
with releases stored on GitHub.
If you can't use GitHub, you can use other providers:
- Complete electron-updater HTTP example
- Complete electron-updater from gitlab.com private repo example
NOTE: If you want to run through this whole process, you will need to fork this repo on GitHub and replace all instances of JLueke
with your GitHub username before doing the following steps.
-
For macOS, you will need a code-signing certificate.
Install Xcode (from the App Store), then follow these instructions to make sure you have a "Mac Developer" certificate. If you'd like to export the certificate (for automated building, for instance) you can. You would then follow these instructions.
-
Adjust
package.json
if needed.By default,
electron-updater
will try to detect the GitHub settings (such as the repo name and owner) from reading the.git/config
or from reading other attributes withinpackage.json
. If the auto-detected settings are not what you want, configure thepublish
property as follows:{ ... "build": { "publish": [{ "provider": "github", "owner": "JLueke", "repo": "electron-updater-example" }], ... } }
-
Install necessary dependencies with:
yarn
or
npm install
-
Generate a GitHub access token by going to https://github.com/settings/tokens/new. The access token should have the
repo
scope/permission. Once you have the token, assign it to an environment variableOn macOS/linux:
export GH_TOKEN="<YOUR_TOKEN_HERE>"
On Windows, run in powershell:
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("GH_TOKEN","<YOUR_TOKEN_HERE>","User")
Make sure to restart IDE/Terminal to inherit latest env variable.
-
Publish for your platform with:
build -p always
or
npm run publish
If you want to publish for more platforms, edit the
publish
script inpackage.json
. For instance, to build for Windows and macOS:... "scripts": { "publish": "build --mac --win -p always" }, ...
-
Release the release on GitHub by going to https://github.com/JLueke/electron-updater-example/releases, editing the release and clicking "Publish release."
-
Download and install the app from https://github.com/JLueke/electron-updater-example/releases.
-
Update the version in
package.json
, commit and push to GitHub. -
Do steps 5 and 6 again.
-
Open the installed version of the app and see that it updates itself.