/electron-best-practices

Main Process Entry Point Template

This template provides a secure Electron main process entry point with sensible defaults. It includes a BrowserWindow configured with all recommended security settings, app lifecycle management for both macOS and other platforms, and a pattern for registering IPC handlers from separate modules.

/**
 * Main Process Entry Point
 *
 * Secure Electron main process with:
 * - BrowserWindow with security defaults
 * - IPC handler registration
 * - App lifecycle management
 *
 * TODO: Customize window dimensions, title, and icon
 * TODO: Register your IPC handlers
 * TODO: Add app menu if needed
 */

import { app, BrowserWindow, shell } from 'electron';
import { join } from 'path';
import { registerFileHandlers } from './ipc/file-handlers';
// TODO: Import additional IPC handler modules

let mainWindow: BrowserWindow | null = null;

function createWindow(): void {
  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 1200,                    // TODO: Set desired width
    height: 800,                    // TODO: Set desired height
    minWidth: 600,
    minHeight: 400,
    title: 'My Electron App',      // TODO: Set app title
    icon: join(__dirname, '../../resources/icon.png'),  // TODO: Set icon path
    show: false,                    // Show when ready to prevent flash
    webPreferences: {
      preload: join(__dirname, '../preload/index.js'),
      contextIsolation: true,       // SECURITY: Never disable
      sandbox: true,                // SECURITY: Never disable
      nodeIntegration: false,       // SECURITY: Never enable
      webviewTag: false,            // SECURITY: Disable unless needed
    },
  });

  // Show window when ready
  mainWindow.on('ready-to-show', () => {
    mainWindow?.show();
  });

  // Prevent navigation to external URLs
  mainWindow.webContents.setWindowOpenHandler(({ url }) => {
    if (url.startsWith('https:')) {
      shell.openExternal(url);
    }
    return { action: 'deny' };
  });

  // Load renderer
  if (process.env.ELECTRON_RENDERER_URL) {
    mainWindow.loadURL(process.env.ELECTRON_RENDERER_URL);
  } else {
    mainWindow.loadFile(join(__dirname, '../renderer/index.html'));
  }

  mainWindow.on('closed', () => {
    mainWindow = null;
  });
}

// Register IPC handlers
function registerHandlers(): void {
  registerFileHandlers();
  // TODO: Register additional handlers
}

// App lifecycle
app.whenReady().then(() => {
  registerHandlers();
  createWindow();

  app.on('activate', () => {
    if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
      createWindow();
    }
  });
});

app.on('window-all-closed', () => {
  if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
    app.quit();
  }
});

Customization Notes

• Window dimensions: Adjust width, height, minWidth, and minHeight to match your application's layout requirements.
• Title and icon: Update title with your app name and point icon to your application icon file.
• Preload path: Ensure the preload path in webPreferences resolves to your compiled preload script.
• Security settings: The four security flags (contextIsolation, sandbox, nodeIntegration, webviewTag) are set to their most secure values. Do not change these unless you fully understand the security implications.
• External URL handling: The setWindowOpenHandler callback currently allows only https: URLs to open in the system browser. Adjust the protocol check if your app needs to handle other schemes.
• IPC handler registration: Import and call your handler registration functions inside registerHandlers(). Keep handler logic in separate modules organized by domain.
• Dev server support: The template checks ELECTRON_RENDERER_URL for hot-reload during development. Set this environment variable in your dev tooling configuration.
• macOS behavior: The activate and window-all-closed handlers follow platform conventions. On macOS the app stays running when all windows are closed; on other platforms it quits.