Electron (software framework)
Electron is a free and open-source software framework developed and maintained by OpenJS Foundation. The framework is designed to create desktop applications using web technologies that are rendered using a version of the Chromium browser engine and a back end using the Node.js runtime environment. It also uses various APIs to enable functionality such as native integration with Node.js services and an inter-process communication module.
Electron was originally built for Atom and is the main GUI framework behind several other open-source projects including GitHub Desktop, Light Table, WordPress Desktop, and Eclipse Theia. It is also used in Microsoft's proprietary code editor Visual Studio Code.
Architecture
forms the basis of a managed runtime, allowing application developers to write cross-platform applications in memory-safe JavaScript or TypeScript and target Web browser technologies including HTML, CSS, and SVG for graphics.Electron-based applications include a "main" process and several "renderer" processes. The main process runs the logic for the application, and can then launch multiple renderer processes by instantiating an instance of the class, which loads a window that appears on the screen to render HTML, CSS, etc.
Both the main and renderer processes can run with Node.js integration if the field in the main process is set to.
Most of Electron's APIs are written in C++ or Objective-C and are exposed directly to the application code through JavaScript bindings.
History
In September 2021, Electron moved to an eight-week release cycle between major versions to match the release cycle of Chromium Extended Stable and to comply with a new requirement from the Microsoft Store that requires browser-based apps to be within two major versions of the latest release of the browser engine.Electron frequently releases new major versions along every other Chromium release. The latest three stable versions are supported by the Electron team.
| Release | Status | Release date | End of life date | Chromium version | Node.js version | Module version | N-API version | ICU version |
| 12 December 2017 | 20 December 2018 | 59 | 8.2 | 57 | ? | ? | ||
| 1 May 2018 | 24 April 2019 | 61 | 8.9 | 57 | ? | ? | ||
| 18 September 2018 | 29 July 2019 | 66 | 10.2 | 64 | 3 | ? | ||
| 20 December 2018 | 22 October 2019 | 69 | 10.11 | 69 | 3 | 62.2 | ||
| 24 April 2019 | 4 February 2020 | 73 | 12.0 | 70 | 4 | 63.1 | ||
| 29 July 2019 | 18 May 2020 | 76 | 12.4 | 73 | 4 | 64.2 | ||
| 22 October 2019 | 25 August 2020 | 78 | 12.8 | 75 | 4 | 64.2 | ||
| 4 February 2020 | 16 November 2020 | 80 | 12.13 | 76 | 5 | 65.1 | ||
| 18 May 2020 | 2 March 2021 | 83 | 12.14 | 80 | 5 | 65.1 | ||
| 25 August 2020 | 25 May 2021 | 85 | 12.16 | 82 | 5 | 65.1 | ||
| 16 November 2020 | 30 August 2021 | 87 | 12.18 | 85 | 5 | 65.1 | ||
| 2 March 2021 | 15 November 2021 | 89 | 14.16 | 87 | 7 | 68.1 | ||
| 25 May 2021 | 31 January 2022 | 91 | 14.16 | 89 | 7 | 68.1 | ||
| 30 August 2021 | 29 March 2022 | 92 | 14.17 | 89 | 8 | 69.1 | ||
| 21 September 2021 | 24 May 2022 | 94 | 16.5 | 98 | ? | ? | ||
| 15 November 2021 | 24 May 2022 | 96 | 16.9 | 99 | ? | ? | ||
| 1 February 2022 | 2 August 2022 | 98 | 16.13 | 101 | ? | ? | ||
| 29 March 2022 | 26 September 2022 | 100 | 16.13 | 103 | ? | ? | ||
| 24 May 2022 | 29 November 2022 | 102 | 16.14 | 106 | ? | ? | ||
| 2 August 2022 | 7 February 2023 | 104 | 16.15 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 26 September 2022 | 4 April 2023 | 106 | 16.16 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 30 November 2022 | 10 October 2023 | 108 | 16.17 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 30 November 2022 | 15 August 2023 | 110 | 18.12 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 4 April 2023 | 10 October 2023 | 112 | 18.14 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 30 May 2023 | 5 December 2023 | 114 | 18.15 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 15 August 2023 | 20 February 2024 | 116 | 18.16 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 10 October 2023 | 16 April 2024 | 118 | 18.17 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 5 December 2023 | 11 June 2024 | 120 | 18.18 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 20 February 2024 | 20 August 2024 | 122 | 20.9 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 16 April 2024 | 15 October 2024 | 124 | 20.11 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 11 June 2024 | 7 January 2025 | 126 | 20.14 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 20 August 2024 | 4 March 2025 | 128 | 20.16 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 15 October 2024 | 29 April 2025 | 130 | 20.18 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 14 January 2025 | 24 June 2025 | 132 | 20.18 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 4 March 2025 | 2 September 2025 | 134 | 22.14 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 29 April 2025 | 28 October 2025 | 136 | 22.14 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 24 June 2025 | 13 January 2026 | 138.0.7204.251 | 22.21.1 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 2 September 2025 | 10 March 2026 | 140.0.7339.249 | 22.21.1 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 28 October 2025 | 5 May 2026 | 142.0.7444.235 | 22.21.1 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 5 January 2026 | 13 January 2026 | 144.0.7547.0 | 24.11.1 | ? | ? | ? | ||
| 5 January 2026 | TBD | 145.0.7604.0 | 24.11.1 | ? | ? | ? |
Usage
Desktop applications built with Electron include Atom, balenaEtcher, Discord, Slack, and Visual Studio Code. The Brave browser was based on Electron before it was rewritten to use Chromium directly, while Microsoft Teams used Electron before 2.0.Reception
The most common criticism of Electron is that it necessitates software bloat when used for simple programs. As a result, Michael Larabel has referred to the framework as "notorious among most Linux desktop users for being resource heavy, not integrating well with most desktops, and generally being despised".Researchers have shown that Electron's large feature set can be hijacked by bad actors with write access to the source JavaScript files. This requires root access on *nix systems and is not considered to be a vulnerability by the Electron developers. Those who are concerned that Electron is not always based on the newest version of Chromium have recommended progressive web applications as an alternative.