Boilerplates and CLIs

That level of modularity and extendability ensures that all developers working with Electron, both big and small in team-size, are never restricted in what they can or cannot do at any time during their development lifecycle. However, for many developers, one of the community-driven boilerplates or command line tools might make it dramatically easier to compile, package, and release an app.

A boilerplate is only a starting point - a canvas, so to speak - from which you build your application. They usually come in the form of a repository you can clone and customize to your heart’s content.

A command line tool on the other hand continues to support you throughout the development and release. They are more helpful and supportive but enforce guidelines on how your code should be structured and built. Especially for beginners, using a command line tool is likely to be helpful.

Forge comes with a ready-to-use template using Webpack as a bundler. It includes an example typescript configuration and provides two configuration files to enable easy customization. It uses the same core modules used by the greater Electron community (like ) – changes made by Electron maintainers (like Slack) benefit Forge’s users, too.

You can find more information and documentation on electronforge.io.

A “complete solution to package and build a ready-for-distribution Electron app” that focuses on an integrated experience. adds one single dependency focused on simplicity and manages all further requirements internally.

You can find more information and documentation in the repository.

If you don’t want any tools but only a solid boilerplate to build from, CT Lin’s might be worth a look. It’s quite popular in the community and uses electron-builder internally.

The “Awesome Electron” list contains more tools and boilerplates to choose from. If you find the length of the list intimidating, don’t forget that adding tools as you go along is a valid approach, too.