Skip to main content

npm install electron

· 3 min read
zeke
zeke

As of Electron version 1.3.1, you can npm install electron --save-dev to install the latest precompiled version of Electron in your app.

npm install electron

The prebuilt Electron binary​

If you've ever worked on an Electron app before, you've likely come across the electron-prebuilt npm package. This package is an indispensable part of nearly every Electron project. When installed, it detects your operating system and downloads a prebuilt binary that is compiled to work on your system's architecture.

The new name​

The Electron installation process was often a stumbling block for new developers. Many brave people tried to get started developing an Electron by app by running npm install electron instead of npm install electron-prebuilt, only to discover (often after much confusion) that it was not the electron they were looking for.

This was because there was an existing electron project on npm, created before GitHub's Electron project existed. To help make Electron development easier and more intuitive for new developers, we reached out to the owner of the existing electron npm package to ask if he'd be willing to let us use the name. Luckily he was a fan of our project, and agreed to help us repurpose the name.

Prebuilt lives on​

As of version 1.3.1, we have begun publishing electron and electron-prebuilt packages to npm in tandem. The two packages are identical. We chose to continue publishing the package under both names for a while so as not to inconvenience the thousands of developers who are currently using electron-prebuilt in their projects. We recommend updating your package.json files to use the new electron dependency, but we will continue releasing new versions of electron-prebuilt until the end of 2016.

The electron-userland/electron-prebuilt repository will remain the canonical home of the electron npm package.

Many thanks​

We owe a special thanks to @mafintosh, @maxogden, and many other contributors for creating and maintaining electron-prebuilt, and for their tireless service to the JavaScript, Node.js, and Electron communities.

And thanks to @logicalparadox for allowing us to take over the electron package on npm.

Updating your projects​

We've worked with the community to update popular packages that are affected by this change. Packages like electron-packager, electron-rebuild, and electron-builder have already been updated to work with the new name while continuing to support the old name.

If you encounter any problems installing this new package, please let us know by opening an issue on the electron-userland/electron-prebuilt repository.

For any other issues with Electron, please use the electron/electron repository.