Electron Desktop Application Framework

An open-source framework governed by the OpenJS Foundation that embeds Chromium and Node.js to enable building cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, currently at version 42.5.0 running Node 24.17.0 and Chromium 148.0.7778.271. Applications built with the framework run natively on macOS, Windows, and Linux across all supported CPU architectures from a single codebase, with major versions released in lockstep with Chromium ensuring immediate availability of security patches and web platform features. Thousands of organizations use the framework including 1Password, Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT by OpenAI, Discord, Dropbox, Figma, GitHub Desktop, Loom, MongoDB Compass, Notion, Obsidian, Postman, Signal, Slack, Trello, Twitch, and Visual Studio Code. Built-in capabilities include native graphical user interface elements through application window customization, operating system menus, dialogs, and system notifications; automatic software updates for macOS and Windows through the autoUpdater module powered by Squirrel; platform-specific installer generation for Apple Disk Image on macOS, Windows MSI on Windows, and RPM on Linux; distribution to Mac App Store, Microsoft Store, and Snap Store; and crash reporting that collects both JavaScript and native crash data with integration to third-party services or self-hosted Crashpad servers. Electron Forge provides a batteries-included build toolkit with first-class JavaScript bundling and an extensible module ecosystem, while Electron Fiddle offers a sandbox environment for API experimentation and sharing snippets as GitHub Gists.