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State of Electron frameworks [May 2021]

reZach edited this page May 2, 2021 · 17 revisions

There are a lot of templates, guides and boilerplates on how to make Electron apps, but many are out of date due to the rapid frequency of updates to the core Electron library (which is a very good thing!). I wanted to create an objective comparison to these templates in order to guide users for picking the template that makes sense for them.

For each boilerplate/template, public metrics such as the number of stars, commits, open/closed issues, repository create date and Electron version will be listed to you a good overview of the health and status of the template. The top contenders will be given further review later in this post. All of the specific Electron versions will be marked with a ✅ or ❌ based on the currently supported versions of the framework [as of this writing].

Electron templates/boilerplates - May 2021

Name Author Supported Electron version URL License Stars Commits Issues (open/closed) Create date About
secure-electron-template reZach 12.0.5 Github MIT 687 184 7/49 2020-01-02 The best way to build Electron apps with security in mind
electron-boilerplate sindresorhus 7.1.1 Github MIT 655 94 2/13 2015-04-23 Boilerplate to kickstart creating an app with Electron
generator-electron sindresorhus 7.1.1 Github MIT 1.5k 58 5/12 2015-04-23 Scaffold out an Electron app boilerplate
electron-boilerplate szwacz 12.0.2 Github MIT 3k 441 0/210 2015-04-25 Boilerplate application for Electron runtime
electron-react-boilerplate electron-react-boilerplate 11.0.1 Github MIT 17.5k 986 104/1300 2015-05-18 A Foundation for Scalable Cross-Platform Apps
lein_template_descjop karad 1.6.6 Github MIT 393 98 6/7 2015-04-17 A Leiningen template(Clojure/ClojureScript Project) for Web based desktop application with Electron (atom-shell)
electron-quick-start electron 12.0.5 Github CC0-1.0 8.5k 290 11/210 2015-10-16 Clone to try a simple Electron app
bozon railsware 12.0.2 Github MIT 693 523 6/53 2016-04-26 Command line tool for building, testing and publishing modern Electron applications
electron-vue SimulatedGREG 2.0.4 Github MIT 13.9k 844 237/656 2016-05-12 An Electron & Vue.js quick start boilerplate with vue-cli scaffolding, common Vue plugins, electron-packager/electron-builder, unit/e2e testing, vue-devtools, and webpack
electron-next-skeleton leo 1.7.10 Github MIT 169 129 3/3 2017-07-16 An example Electron app built with Next.js
electron-sandbox-boilerplate kewde 1.7.15 Github MIT 71 83 9/4 2017-09-13 A simple example for a (more reasonably) secure electron application, by enabling the sandbox and forcing communication over IPC
angular-electron maximegris 12.0.2 Github MIT 4.6k 449 12/477 2017-04-02 Ultra-fast bootstrapping with Angular and Electron (Typescript + SASS + Hot Reload)
photon connors Unknown Github MIT 9.6k 261 66/37 2015-09-28 The fastest way to build beautiful Electron apps using simple HTML and CSS
basic-electron-react-boilerplate pbarbiero 7.1.2 Github MIT 230 28 9/9 2017-02-22 Minimal and modern react+electron+webpack boilerplate
enhanced-electron-react-boilerplate pbarbiero 7.1.2 Github MIT 61 30 7/2 2017-02-22 Modern and somewhat opinionated react+electron+webpack boilerplate
reactron WilianZilv 8.2.3 Github MIT 76 11 1/0 2020-04-21 A tiny Electron + React boilerplate
electron-gatsby-boilerplate zonayedpca 9.4.0 Github MIT 28 53 0/1 2020-04-10 Simple Minimal Electron Gatsby Boilerplate. Create new BrowserWindow easily and speed up your development experience. Also included Automatic Linting, Redux, TravisCI Configuration and GitHub Release
electron-react-redux-boilerplate jschr 8.2.2 Github MIT 511 114 2/50 2020-04-10 A minimal boilerplate to get started with Electron, React and Redux
electron-react-redux-advanced-boilerplate ganeshrvel 4.0.1 Github MIT 10 67 0/0 2018-09-20 Advanced and highly scalable boilerplate built using Electron v4, React v16, Redux v4, Webpack v4, Babel v7 {HMR, Loadables, Dynamic Reducer Injection, Selectors, Code splitting}

Current templates/boilerplates

Based on our initial review, we can see that only a few templates have current versions of Electron, let's focus on these projects as they are the most up-to-date.

For each of these templates, we will compare features each template provides, as well as what front-end js framework that is used.

Note - (library) is used if a library is used for this feature. (example) is used if the code is a raw implementation of that feature.

Name Hello world E2E tests Bundler Create distributable JS framework Page routing Local data store Custom context menu i18n support License key validation
secure-electron-template Webpack ✅ (library) React ✅ (library) ✅ (library) ✅ (library) ✅ (library) ✅ (library)
electron-boilerplate (szwacz) ✅ (library) Webpack ✅ (library) JS ✅ (example)
electron-react-boilerplate ✅ (library) Webpack ✅ (library) React (w/ Typescript)
electron-quick-start JS
bozon ✅ (library) Webpack ✅ (library) JS
angular-electron ✅ (library) Webpack ✅ (library) Angular ✅ (library) ✅ (library)

After this review, the up-to-date templates are placed into three camps: kitchen-sinks, hello worlds and bare minimum.

Kitchen sinks

These templates have more features than other templates. These templates may include features you may desire for your application.

Hello worlds

These templates have just enough to get you started, but may not have all the components set up for a production-ready app.

Bare minimum

This template is likely best if you want to create your app with the least amount of pre-written code.

Security review

It has been the trend to move towards more secure way of building Electron applications. We will do a security review based on the checklist from the Electron team on the most up-to-date templates.

Note; out of all of the below security suggestions, disabling nodeIntegration and enabling contextIsolation are expected to require the most refactoring in a given Electron application if you'd like to secure your Electron application.

Name Load secure content Disable nodeIntegration Enable contextIsolation Use setPermissionRequestHandler webSecurity enabled CSP defined allowRunningInsecureContent is false Experimental features disabled enableBlinkFeatures disabled Do not use allowpopups Verify <webview> options Disable navigation Disable creation of new windows Do not use openExternal Current version of Electron
secure-electron-template
electron-boilerplate
electron-react-boilerplate
electron-quick-start
bozon
angular-electron

Final verdict

Due to the fact that a number of repositories do not disable nodeIntegration or enable contextIsolation, which leave large gaps in security when loading or using remote content, I cannot recommend they be used for production-ready templates without updating these settings. Updating these settings may require substantial work if these features are heavily used within an Electron application.

Production-ready templates

These templates are ready and recommended to use when building an app you may use on your local machine or distribute/sell to others.

electron-quick-start

  • JS
  • Bare minimum template
  • Copyright rights are waived (CC0-1.0 license)
  • Requires changes for bundling/distribution
  • Recommend security enhancements

bozon

  • JS
  • Can distribute right away
  • Recommend security enhancements

secure-electron-template

  • React
  • Can distribute right away
  • Has additional features you may want
  • Secure by default

Local-resource only templates

These templates should only be used on your local machine and should not render or use remote resources due to security settings that are not set to the recommended secure practices set out by the Electron team. If security settings are updated, these templates can be valid to use for production apps.

electron-boilerplate

  • JS
  • Can distribute right away
  • Recommend security enhancements

electron-react-boilerplate

  • React w/ Typescript
  • Can distribute right away
  • Recommend security enhancements

angular-electron

  • Angular
  • Can distribute right away
  • Has additional features you may want
  • Recommend security enhancements

State of Electron frameworks

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