Using @capgo/electron-updater

@capgo/electron-updater gives Electron apps the same Capgo live-update model as @capgo/capacitor-updater. You initialize it in the main process, expose the renderer bridge through preload, and call notifyAppReady() on every launch so rollback protection knows the bundle is healthy.

Installation

bun add @capgo/electron-updater

Main process setup

import { app, BrowserWindow } from 'electron';
import path from 'node:path';
import { ElectronUpdater, setupEventForwarding, setupIPCHandlers } from '@capgo/electron-updater';

const updater = new ElectronUpdater({
  appId: 'com.example.desktop',
  autoUpdate: true,
});

app.whenReady().then(async () => {
  const window = new BrowserWindow({
    webPreferences: {
      preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js'),
      contextIsolation: true,
    },
  });

  const builtinPath = path.join(__dirname, 'www/index.html');
  await updater.initialize(window, builtinPath);
  setupIPCHandlers(updater);
  setupEventForwarding(updater, window);

  await window.loadFile(updater.getCurrentBundlePath());
});

Preload bridge

import { exposeUpdaterAPI } from '@capgo/electron-updater/preload';

exposeUpdaterAPI();

Renderer usage

import { requireUpdater } from '@capgo/electron-updater/renderer';

const updater = requireUpdater();

await updater.notifyAppReady();

const latest = await updater.getLatest();

if (latest.url && !latest.error) {
  const bundle = await updater.download({
    url: latest.url,
    version: latest.version,
    checksum: latest.checksum,
  });

  await updater.next({ id: bundle.id });
}

Listen for update events

updater.addListener('download', ({ percent }) => {
  console.log('Download progress', percent);
});

updater.addListener('updateFailed', ({ bundle }) => {
  console.error('Update failed', bundle.version);
});

Deploy a new bundle

bun run build
bunx @capgo/cli@latest bundle upload --channel=production

Practical advice

• Always call notifyAppReady() early in the renderer so rollback protection works as intended.
• Keep the built-in path stable and let the updater decide whether to load the shipped bundle or a downloaded one.
• Reuse the same Capgo channel and rollout model you already use on mobile when your Electron app shares a backend release pipeline.