Electron Knowledge Patch

Electron Compatibility Patch

Use this skill when upgrading, packaging, debugging, or integrating an Electron application whose behavior may depend on recent Electron APIs and defaults. Check the application's pinned Electron version before applying version-specific guidance. If the project is newer than the frontmatter version, prefer its manifest, code, release documentation, and observed tests where they differ.

Reference index

Upgrade triage

Audit these changes before changing the Electron major version:

1. Verify the runtime tuple. A major Electron upgrade also changes Chromium, Node.js, and V8; native modules and Node flags may need adjustment.
2. Recheck packaging and installation. Electron 42 installs its binary lazily, accepts --ignore-scripts, removes ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD, and provides install-electron for an explicit fetch.
3. Recheck platform support. Electron 38 requires macOS 12 and defaults to native Wayland in a Wayland session. Electron 44 requires macOS 13 and ends publication of remaining 32-bit companion artifacts.
4. Recheck process boundaries. Renderer clipboard access was deprecated in Electron 40 and removed in Electron 44; move privileged operations to a preload or use navigator.clipboard.
5. Recheck browser-window and dialog defaults. Popup resizing, offscreen scale, Linux rounded corners, Window Controls Overlay geometry, download paths, and open/save starting directories changed.
6. Recheck protocol and sandbox behavior. Late patch releases made legacy protocol no-cors responses opaque and tightened preference inheritance for windows opened by sandboxed or embedded content.

Breaking changes and changed defaults

Renderer clipboard access

Do not import Electron's clipboard module in a renderer. Use navigator.clipboard for ordinary web access. For advanced operations, expose the smallest required surface from a preload with contextBridge.

// preload.js
const { clipboard, contextBridge } = require('electron');

contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('clipboardAPI', {
  readText: () => clipboard.readText(),
});

Electron package installation

The npm package downloads its binary on the first run of its main bin script, not from postinstall. A script-free installation can fetch explicitly:

npm install electron --save-dev --ignore-scripts
npx install-electron

Use ELECTRON_INSTALL_PLATFORM and ELECTRON_INSTALL_ARCH for a different target. Do not rely on the removed ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD variable.

Dialog and download destinations

Electron 43 defaults downloads to Downloads, falling back to Home. Open/save dialogs without defaultPath also start there instead of restoring the last OS-selected directory. Persist a chosen directory and pass it explicitly when the application needs the former behavior.

Linux windows and dialogs

Electron 43 gives frameless Linux windows rounded corners by default; set roundedCorners: false to opt out. Window Controls Overlay follows the native title-bar layout, so position content with titlebar-area-x and titlebar-area-width environment variables. The Linux showHiddenFiles dialog option, deprecated in Electron 41, is removed in Electron 43.

Portal file-dialog backends older than version 4 ignore defaultPath. Launch with --xdg-portal-required-version=4 when that option is required.

Offscreen rendering

Electron 42 makes the default offscreen device scale factor a constant 1.0. Set webPreferences.offscreen.deviceScaleFactor explicitly for other output scales. Shared-texture payload layout and supported texture formats also changed; read the graphics reference before handling native texture handles.

Popup resizing

Electron 39 makes window.open() popups resizable regardless of the feature string. Restore application-controlled behavior through setWindowOpenHandler() and overrideBrowserWindowOptions.resizable.

Wayland and macOS support

Electron 38 removes ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT; --ozone-platform defaults to auto, selecting native Wayland in Wayland sessions. Pass --ozone-platform=x11 only when Xwayland behavior is required.

Electron 38 requires macOS 12 or later. Electron 44 raises that minimum to macOS 13. macOS notifications require code signing from Electron 42 onward.

Deprecation and removal map

Security-sensitive patterns

New windows

Do not assume a child can relax its opener's restrictions. In corrected 41–43 patch releases, windows opened by sandboxed top-level frames inherit sandboxing, and <webview> plus window.open() inherit nodeIntegrationInWorker from the embedder along with other Node and sandbox preferences.

Custom protocols

Prefer protocol.handle(). Corrected patch releases make cross-origin no-cors responses from legacy registerFileProtocol() and registerHttpProtocol() opaque as well. Renderer code must not depend on reading those bodies. Use net.request({ bypassCustomProtocolHandlers: true }) when a request must deliberately skip registered handlers.

Packaged application integrity

ASAR integrity terminates the application when enabled integrity metadata is missing or mismatched. On macOS, use @electron/asar 4.1.0 or later to embed an integrity digest, then re-sign the application.

Clipboard and paste

Treat paste and clipboard access as privileged operations. Permission handling covers document.executeCommand('paste'); renderer module access is no longer a durable design.

Diagnostic quick reference

• On an unresponsive renderer, call webContents.mainFrame.collectJavaScriptCallStack() after enabling the document-policy feature and response header described in the process reference.
• Distinguish WebFrameMain.detached from isDestroyed() during teardown.
• Listen for utility-process error to capture fatal V8 diagnostics.
• Handle utility-process unhandled rejections explicitly if fail-fast behavior is required; they warn instead of crashing.
• Recognize memory-eviction as a child-process exit reason.
• Use heap profiling and renderer OOM JavaScript stacks when diagnosing memory failures.
• A utility-process process.exit() is synchronous, so buffered output may not flush before termination.

Platform integration quick reference

• On Windows, fullscreen hides the menu bar; handle query-session-end and improved session-end notifications for logoff and shutdown flows.
• On macOS, pass WebContents.focusedFrame to Menu.popup({ frame }) for Writing Tools, Autofill, and Services integration.
• On Linux, use --gtk-version=3 when a dependency cannot coexist with the GTK 4 default on GNOME.
• Do not assume fixed Linux title-bar button positions or sides.
• Use globalShortcut.setSuspended() and isSuspended() when shortcuts must be paused temporarily.
• Code-sign macOS applications that display notifications; unsigned apps emit failed.

Working method

1. Read the project manifest and identify the exact Electron line.
2. Start with the upgrade and runtime reference for a major-version change.
3. Load only the topic references relevant to the APIs the application uses.
4. Search for removed symbols, renamed options, changed event payloads, and assumptions about platform defaults.
5. Update code and packaging configuration together when a behavior spans the main process, preload, renderer, or distribution pipeline.
6. Exercise platform-specific paths on the operating systems they affect; many changes intentionally have no cross-platform analogue.
7. Prefer project behavior and tests when an application pins a later patch release or deliberately overrides a default described here.