explaingit

malept/electron-builder

Analysis updated 2026-08-08 · repo last pushed 2015-10-26

JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5DormantSetup · moderate

TLDR

Electron-builder takes your packaged Electron desktop app and wraps it into a professional installer file, like a .dmg on Mac or Setup.exe on Windows, with your custom icon and branding.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Creates installers
      Custom icons and branding
      DMG for Mac
      Setup exe for Windows
    How it works
      Companion to electron-packager
      JSON config file
      Single command output
    Prerequisites
      Wine for Windows builds
      NSIS installer system
      Tested on OS X
    Use cases
      Cross-platform distribution
      Ship Mac and Windows
      No separate build environment
    Audience
      Desktop app developers
      Small teams shipping apps

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Generate a Mac .dmg installer with custom icon and background image from your packaged Electron app.

USE CASE 2

Produce a Windows Setup.exe installer from a Mac machine without needing a separate Windows build environment.

USE CASE 3

Create branded installers for both Mac and Windows when distributing a cross-platform Electron desktop app.

What is it built with?

JavaScriptElectronNSISWine

How does it compare?

malept/electron-builder00kaku/gallery-slider-block0verflowme/weirdhta
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Last pushed2015-10-262021-05-192022-06-16
MaintenanceDormantDormantDormant
Setup difficultymoderateeasymoderate
Complexity3/52/52/5
Audiencedevelopergeneraldeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Building a Windows installer from Mac or Linux requires installing Wine and NSIS as external dependencies, and the project has only been tested on OS X so far.

No license information is provided in the explanation, so the terms of use are unknown.

In plain English

Electron-builder takes your Electron desktop app and turns it into a polished installer, the kind users download, double-click, and follow a setup wizard to install. Instead of handing people a raw app folder, you hand them a .dmg file on Mac or a Setup.exe on Windows, complete with your custom icon and branding. The project is marked as work-in-progress, but the core workflow is already there. It works as a companion to electron-packager, which is the tool that first bundles your app into a runnable desktop application for a given platform. Once electron-packager produces that packaged app, this tool steps in and wraps it into a proper installer. You configure it with a JSON file where you specify things like the installer title, app icon, and (on Mac) the background image and layout of the install window. Then you run a single command pointing at your packaged app, your platform target, and that config file, and it spits out the installer file. Someone building a cross-platform desktop app with Electron would use this when they are ready to distribute. For example, a small team shipping a Mac and Windows version of their product could use it to generate both installers from an OS X machine, so they do not need a separate Windows build environment just to produce a Windows installer. There are some prerequisites worth noting. Building a Windows installer from Mac or Linux requires Wine (a compatibility layer) and NSIS, the installer system that powers the Windows setup files. The README notes that the project has only been tested on OS X so far, and Windows support is still being refined. The configuration is intentionally file-based rather than command-line-flag-based, because the authors felt the options were complex enough to warrant a dedicated config file.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I have a packaged Electron app at ./myapp-mac-x64. Write the electron-builder JSON config file with the installer title 'MyApp', app icon at ./assets/icon.icns, and a Mac background image at ./assets/bg.png.
Prompt 2
Show me the electron-builder command to generate a Windows NSIS installer from my packaged Electron app on macOS, assuming Wine and NSIS are already installed.
Prompt 3
I want to use electron-builder after electron-packager has produced my app folder. Walk me through the full workflow from packaging to installer creation for both Mac and Windows targets.

Frequently asked questions

What is electron-builder?

Electron-builder takes your packaged Electron desktop app and wraps it into a professional installer file, like a .dmg on Mac or Setup.exe on Windows, with your custom icon and branding.

What language is electron-builder written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript, Electron, NSIS.

Is electron-builder actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2015-10-26).

What license does electron-builder use?

No license information is provided in the explanation, so the terms of use are unknown.

How hard is electron-builder to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is electron-builder for?

Mainly developer.

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

This repo across BitVibe Labs

Verify against the repo before relying on details.