Production-Ready Electron Boilerplate

Ship Desktop Apps in Hours, Not Weeks

A production Electron + React 19 + TypeScript boilerplate with auto-update, code-signing, licensing, and AI primitives already wired up — so day one is your product, not another config.

127files 26components 78tests passing 3OS · Win · Mac · Linux
Get the template See what's inside
01 why this exists

Every Electron project burns the same three weeks

Week one

Wrestling electron-builder configs instead of building features.

Week two

Fighting macOS notarization and Windows code-signing.

Week three

Discovering your auto-update pipeline silently broke a release ago.

This is the codebase you wish you'd started with — already opinionated about the boring, error-prone stuff, so day one is your actual product.

the modern electron stack
Electron 41 React 19 TypeScript 5.9 Tailwind CSS 4 electron-vite electron-builder Radix UI Zod i18next better-sqlite3 Vitest Playwright Claude Agent SDK OpenAI SDK
02 what's inside

Every system you'd build yourself — already wired up

Pick a system to see what's done. Auto-update, code-signing, licensing, AI, and 26 UI components ship ready to use.

Distribution & Auto-Update

Auto-update pipeline
electron-updater wired for GitHub Releases or any S3 host (R2, B2, MinIO) — switch with one env var.
Windows code-signing
Authenticode signing already in the build script — point it at your cert and ship.
macOS notarization
Universal arm64 + x64 DMG, entitlements, and the notarize step ready to go.
Linux AppImage + .deb
Both formats build in one command, with a proper .desktop entry.

Licensing & Activation

License key activation
Full activation flow with OS-keychain storage and a pluggable provider for your backend.
7-day offline grace
Buyers can use the app offline for a week without losing access.
Onboarding wizard
First-run theme → telemetry consent → license activation, all already screened.

AI Primitives

Claude + OpenAI SDKs
Both shipped and demoed in the AI Demo screen — call any LLM in 3 lines.
SSE stream parser
Built-in parser for streaming LLM responses with backpressure handling.
API key UI
Pre-built screens for capturing and securely storing OpenAI / Anthropic / custom keys.

Native OS Integration

Tray icon + menu
System tray with minimize-to-tray gated by a user setting.
Global shortcuts
Cmd+K command palette, Cmd+Q, and any custom hotkey you register.
Deep linking
Custom URI scheme (electron-starter://...) for OAuth callbacks and external triggers.
Drag-and-drop files
Renderer-level drop handler with type and size validation.
Auto-launch on boot
OS-level auto-start, opt-in from settings.
Recent files menu
Native macOS / Windows recent-files menu wired to your data.

Developer Experience

Plop generators
npm run new:feature scaffolds a screen + IPC channel with the 5-place pattern wired in.
One-command rebrand
npm run rebrand patches every reference to the boilerplate name in seconds.
Hot reload dev server
electron-vite gives you sub-second reloads in the renderer and a fast main-process restart.
CLAUDE.md for AI tools
Architecture rules documented for Cursor, Claude Code, and Copilot — they never have to guess.
Husky + lint-staged
Pre-commit auto-fix so a broken commit never reaches your repo.
Vitest + Playwright
Unit tests for the main process, E2E for the renderer — 78 passing out of the box.

Security & Reliability

Renderer sandbox
contextIsolation + sandbox on by default. Renderer can't reach Node directly.
IPC payload validation
Every IPC channel validates with Zod — bad payloads bounce before they reach your code.
CSP + HTTPS_PROXY
Content Security Policy locked down, HTTP/HTTPS/NO_PROXY honored for corporate networks.
Crash recovery
App restarts cleanly after a crash with window state preserved.
Diagnostics export
One-click diagnostic export with secret / email / file-path redaction.
Electronegativity scan
Security scanner runs in CI and flags risky Electron patterns before merge.

UI Components & Theme

26 Radix-based primitives
Button, Dialog, Popover, Tabs, Combobox, Select, Slider, Switch, and 18 more — all themed and accessible.
Light / dark / system theme
Real-time theme switcher with Tailwind 4 design tokens (color, spacing, radius, motion).
Custom title bar
DPI-aware on Windows, native-looking on macOS, frameless on Linux.
i18n out of the box
i18next pre-wired with English and Spanish, system-locale detection, type-safe translation keys.
03 see it running

Real screens, not mockups

Every screen below is the boilerplate running unmodified. Tap through the tour.

Desktop App Boilerplate
Electron Starter Template home screen with sidebar and custom title bar AI demo screen showing Claude and OpenAI streaming chat Components gallery showing buttons, dialogs, popovers, and form controls License key activation screen Settings screen with theme switcher and language picker Keyboard shortcuts screen showing global hotkey bindings In-app logs viewer File system explorer screen Counter demo showing electron-store persistence About screen with auto-update status and diagnostics export

App shell with sidebar nav, custom title bar, and theme switcher AI Demo screen — Claude + OpenAI integration with streaming responses Components gallery — every Radix-based primitive, themed and ready License activation flow with offline grace period Settings — theme, language, telemetry consent, API keys Global keyboard shortcuts — command palette + custom hotkeys In-app logs viewer for buyer support and debugging File system explorer with allow-listed IPC access Settings store demo — typed key-value persistence with Zod About screen with auto-update channel and diagnostics export

04 why not just…

This template vs. the alternatives

Against rolling your own Electron + React stack, or starting from a generic open-source boilerplate.

Feature This template Build from scratch Generic boilerplate
Auto-update pipeline
Windows code-signing setup
macOS notarization
License activation system
AI SDK integration (Claude + OpenAI)
26 themed UI components
i18n with 2 locales
Telemetry (opt-in, GDPR EU-default-off)
SQLite + repositories + migrations
CLAUDE.md for AI coding tools
Plop generators (IPC + features)
Security audit + Electronegativity scan
Time to first shippable build ~2 hours ~3 weeks ~1 week
05 who it's for

You'll get the most out of it if…

Indie devs shipping their first desktop app

You've shipped web apps and want a desktop product without learning every Electron edge case first.

AI tool builders going native

You're wiring up Claude or OpenAI and need native UX — files, GPU, notifications, tray — the web can't do.

SaaS teams expanding to desktop

Your web app needs a desktop companion (Figma / Notion / Linear style) without building the chassis from scratch.

AI-coder teams (Claude / Cursor / Copilot)

CLAUDE.md documents every architecture rule. Plop generators keep the 5-place IPC pattern consistent. Your AI agent never has to guess.

pricing

Buy it solo — or bundled and save

Just this boilerplate, or a bundle that unlocks the courses and every other boilerplate too.

Desktop App Boilerplate

Production Electron + React 19 + TypeScript boilerplate with auto-update, code-signing, license activation, and AI primitives already wired up.

  • Desktop App Boilerplate $49
  • Lifetime access to all updates
$49 one-time
Get Desktop App Boilerplate
14-day money-back guarantee
★ Best value
Build With AI 1.0

The course + all 4 boilerplates.

  • Build With AI 1.0Course $149
  • Desktop App Boilerplate $49
  • MCP API BoilerplateComing $79
  • Mobile App BoilerplateComing $59
  • Django Web App BoilerplateComing $49
  • Private Discord community $99
  • Lifetime access to all updates
Total value $484
$149 one-time
You save $335 (69%)
Get Build With AI 1.0
14-day money-back guarantee
Bundle
Solo Builder Complete

Both courses + all 4 boilerplates.

  • Build With AI 1.0Course $149
  • Self Hosting 2.0Course $69
  • Desktop App Boilerplate $49
  • MCP API BoilerplateComing $79
  • Mobile App BoilerplateComing $59
  • Django Web App BoilerplateComing $49
  • Private Discord community $99
  • Lifetime access to all updates
Total value $553
$199 one-time
You save $354 (64%)
Get Solo Builder Complete
14-day money-back guarantee
🔒 Secure checkout · Stripe & PayPal ⚡ Instant GitHub access
questions

Frequently asked questions

What exactly do I get when I buy Electron Starter Template?

You get an invitation to a private GitHub repository containing the full source code (127 files, 78 passing tests, 26 UI components, complete docs). You can clone it, rebrand it in one command (npm run rebrand), and ship a desktop app under your own name. You also get lifetime updates — just git pull when new versions land.

Tauri vs Electron — why did you build this on Electron?

Tauri is smaller and faster, but Electron is the right answer when you need (a) deep Node.js ecosystem access (better-sqlite3, electron-store, electron-updater all work instantly), (b) a familiar React + TypeScript developer experience without learning Rust for the main process, and (c) battle-tested distribution on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Electron Starter Template uses Electron 41 with sandbox + contextIsolation on by default, so the historical "Electron is insecure" criticism doesn't apply.

How is this different from electron-react-boilerplate?

electron-react-boilerplate gives you the shell. Electron Starter Template gives you the shell PLUS auto-update, code-signing scripts, license activation, AI SDKs, SQLite with migrations, i18n, telemetry, OAuth, 26 themed UI components, and an opinionated CLAUDE.md for AI coding tools. It's also on the modern stack — Electron 41, React 19, TypeScript 5.9, Tailwind 4, electron-vite — so you start in 2026, not 2021.

Can I use it to build commercial apps?

Yes. The license is a single-app commercial license — you can ship one commercial desktop app per purchase, charge whatever you want for it, and keep 100% of revenue. If you ship a second product, buy a second license.

Do I need to know React to use this?

You need basic React. The renderer is a standard React 19 + TypeScript app — if you've built any React app before, you'll feel at home in 10 minutes. You do NOT need Electron experience — the boilerplate handles all the Electron-specific patterns (main / preload / renderer split, IPC, contextBridge) so you can think in React.

How are updates delivered to my customers?

electron-updater is already wired for two backends: GitHub Releases (free, one env var) or any S3-compatible host like Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, or MinIO (one YAML file). Run npm run publish, and the updater pushes a delta to every running customer install within hours.

What do I need for code-signing?

For Windows: an Authenticode certificate from a CA like SSL.com or DigiCert (~$200/year). For macOS: an Apple Developer account ($99/year). The boilerplate has the signing and notarization scripts ready — you just point them at your certs.

Will I get future updates?

Yes. You keep GitHub access for the lifetime of the product. New features, security patches, dependency bumps — everything ships via git. Run git pull to get the latest.

Is there a refund policy?

Yes. If the boilerplate doesn't work for you, email me within 14 days for a full refund. No-questions-asked.

Can I use this with Claude Code, Cursor, or Copilot?

Yes — and it's designed for that. CLAUDE.md documents every architecture rule and pattern, the Plop generators enforce a consistent 5-place IPC pattern, and every file has one concern with max ~600 lines. AI coding tools never have to guess where to add code.

Stop fighting Electron. Start shipping.

$49 once. Lifetime updates. One commercial app.

Get Desktop App Boilerplate →