@packages/electron

Installs, packages, and manages the Electron binary that powers Cypress. During development it uses symlinks so the local Electron shell matches the final compiled binary 1:1. Provides the cypress-electron CLI entrypoint used by the Cypress build pipeline.

Key Commands

# Build TypeScript sources to dist/
yarn workspace @packages/electron build

# Download and install the Electron binary
yarn workspace @packages/electron build-binary

# Run a specific test file
yarn workspace @packages/electron test -- test/paths.spec.ts

# Run tests matching a glob pattern
yarn workspace @packages/electron test -- "test/**/*.spec.ts"

# Start Electron with the local app (development)
yarn workspace @packages/electron start

Architecture

src/
  electron.ts          Electron process bootstrap (BrowserWindow setup, IPC handlers)
  index.ts             Public API entry: exposes open(), install(), and paths()
  install.ts           Downloads and installs the Electron binary via @electron/packager
  open.ts              Opens Electron with the Cypress app loaded
  paths.ts             Resolves paths to the Electron binary and resources
  print-node-version.ts  Utility to print Node.js version bundled in Electron
app/
  index.js             Minimal Electron `main` process entry injected into the packaged app
bin/
  cypress-electron     CLI script: delegates to install or open based on arguments

Gotchas / Notes

• After yarn install, this package requires an explicit yarn build before it is usable — the postinstall script prints a reminder but does not build automatically.
• The build:esm target exists but is not part of the default build target for daily use; it is available for testing ESM compatibility.
• @electron/fuses is used to set Electron security fuses (e.g., disabling Node.js integration in renderers) during binary packaging.

Integration Points

• Depends on @packages/icons for the application icon assets used when packaging the binary.
• Depends on @packages/stderr-filtering to suppress noisy Electron stderr output during tests.
• Consumed by the Cypress binary build pipeline and by @packages/server which spawns the Electron process.