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 iffy (or robertpatrick) with your GitHub username before doing the following steps.

1. 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.

2. For MacOS, create a file named .env in the project base directory and add entries that look like the following.

APPLEID=<Apple Developer ID>
APPLEIDPASS=<Apple Developer ID Password or authentication token>

3. Adjust package.json, electron-builder.yaml, and build/notarize.js.

   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 within package.json. If the auto-detected settings are not what you want, configure the publish property as follows:

    {
        ...
        "build": {
            "publish": [{
                "provider": "github",
                "owner": "iffy",
                "repo": "electron-updater-example"
            }],
            ...
        }
    }
   

4. Install necessary dependencies with:

    yarn
   

   or

    npm install
   

5. 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 variable

   On 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.

6. Publish for your platform with:

    electron-builder --config electron-builder.yaml -p always
   

   or

    npm run publish
   

   If you want to publish for more platforms, edit the publish script in package.json. For instance, to build for Windows and macOS. Note that signing/notarizing the MacOS app will only work when run on MacOS.

    ...
    "scripts": {
        "publish": "electron-builder --config electron-builder.yaml --mac --win -p always"
    },
    ...
   

7. Release the release on GitHub by going to https://github.com/YOUR_GIT_HUB_USERNAME/electron-updater-example/releases, editing the release and clicking "Publish release."

8. Download and install the app from https://github.com/YOUR_GIT_HUB_USERNAME/electron-updater-example/releases.

9. Update the version in package.json, commit and push to GitHub.

10. Do steps 6 and 7 again.

11. Open the installed version of the app and see that it updates itself.