Electron React Boilerplate
Open SourceThe long-running foundation for scalable cross-platform desktop apps — Electron with React, Webpack, TypeScript and hot reload, plus packaging via electron-builder for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Open-source.
Why we recommend Electron React Boilerplate
Electron React Boilerplate has been the default 'React desktop app' starting point for the better part of a decade, and its longevity is the feature: the two-package architecture separating main and renderer dependencies, the electron-builder packaging pipeline producing signed installers for all three OSes, and hot-reloading React development are problems it solved years ago and has kept working through every Electron major since. Thousands of shipped apps mean nearly every integration question (native modules, auto-update, tray apps, code signing) has an answered issue. When you need Chromium-plus-Node capabilities — deep filesystem access, native menus, offline-first desktop software — this is the boring, proven base.
Best use cases
Best for: teams shipping commercial desktop software with React skills, internal tools that need real filesystem/OS integration browsers can't offer, and developers who want packaging/signing/auto-update paths that are documented by a decade of precedent.
Honest limitations
Not for: resource-sensitive utilities — you ship a full Chromium per app, with the memory footprint that implies; evaluate Tauri when binary size matters. Webpack-era tooling feels heavier than Vite-based newcomers. You still must learn Electron's process model; the boilerplate arranges it but can't hide it.
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