# Electron (software framework)

Electron (formerly known as Atom Shell) is a free and open-source software framework developed and maintained by OpenJS Foundation. The framework is designed to create desktop applications using web technologies (mainly HTML, CSS and JavaScript, although other technologies such as front-end frameworks and WebAssembly are possible) that are rendered using a version of the Chromium browser engine and a back end using the Node.js runtime environment. It also uses various APIs to enable functionality such as native integration with Node.js services and an inter-process communication module.
Electron was originally built for Atom and is the main GUI framework behind several other open-source projects including GitHub Desktop, Light Table, Visual Studio Code, WordPress Desktop, and Eclipse Theia.

## Architecture

Electron applications include a "main" process and several "renderer" processes. The main process runs the logic for the application (e.g., menus, shell commands, lifecycle events), and can then launch multiple renderer processes by instantiating an instance of the BrowserWindow class, which loads a window that appears on the screen by rendering HTML and CSS.
Both the main and renderer processes can run with Node.js integration if the nodeIntegration field in the main process is set to true.
Most of Electron's APIs are written in C++ or Objective-C and are exposed directly to the application code through JavaScript bindings.

## History

In September 2021, Electron moved to an eight-week release cycle between major versions to match the release cycle of Chromium Extended Stable and to comply with a new requirement from the Microsoft Store that requires browser-based apps to be within two major versions of the latest release of the browser engine.
Electron frequently releases new major versions along every other Chromium release. The latest three stable versions are supported by the Electron team.
Version history :
| Release | Status | Release date | End of life date | Chromium version | Node.js version | Module version | N-API version | ICU version |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v1.8.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 12 December 2017 | 20 December 2018 | 59 | 8.2 | 57 | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v2.0.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 1 May 2018 | 24 April 2019 | 61 | 8.9 | 57 | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v3.1.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 18 September 2018 | 29 July 2019 | 66 | 10.2 | 64 | 3 | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v4.2.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 20 December 2018 | 22 October 2019 | 69 | 10.11 | 69 | 3 | 62.2 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v5.1.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 24 April 2019 | 4 February 2020 | 73 | 12.0 | 70 | 4 | 63.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v6.1.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 29 July 2019 | 18 May 2020 | 76 | 12.4 | 73 | 4 | 64.2 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v7.3.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 22 October 2019 | 25 August 2020 | 78 | 12.8 | 75 | 4 | 64.2 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v8.3.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 4 February 2020 | 16 November 2020 | 80 | 12.13 | 76 | 5 | 65.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v9.4.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 18 May 2020 | 2 March 2021 | 83 | 12.14 | 80 | 5 | 65.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v10.4.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 25 August 2020 | 25 May 2021 | 85 | 12.16 | 82 | 5 | 65.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v11.4.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 16 November 2020 | 30 August 2021 | 87 | 12.18 | 85 | 5 | 65.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v12.0.x | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 2 March 2021 | 15 November 2021 | 89 | 14.16 | 87 | 7 | 68.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v13.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 25 May 2021 | 31 January 2022 | 91 | 14.16 | 89 | 7 | 68.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v14.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 30 August 2021 | 29 March 2022 | 92 | 14.17 | 89 | 8 | 69.1 |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v15.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 21 September 2021 | 24 May 2022 | 94 | 16.5 | 98 | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v16.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 15 November 2021 | 24 May 2022 | 96 | 16.9 | 99 | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v17.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 1 February 2022 | 2 August 2022 | 98 | 16.13 | 101 | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v18.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 29 March 2022 | 26 September 2022 | 100 | 16.13 | 103 | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v19.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 24 May 2022 | 29 November 2022 | 102 | 16.14 | 106 | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v20.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 2 August 2022 | 7 February 2023 | 104 | 16.15 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v21.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 26 September 2022 | 4 April 2023 | 106 | 16.16 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v22.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 30 November 2022 | 10 October 2023 | 108 | 16.17 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v23.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 30 November 2022 | 15 August 2023 | 110 | 18.12 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v24.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 4 April 2023 | 10 October 2023 | 112 | 18.14 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v25.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 30 May 2023 | 5 December 2023 | 114 | 18.15 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v26.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 15 August 2023 | 20 February 2024 | 116 | 18.16 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v27.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 10 October 2023 | 16 April 2024 | 118 | 18.17 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v28.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 5 December 2023 | 11 June 2024 | 120 | 18.18 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v29.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-Life | 20 February 2024 | 20 August 2024 | 122 | 20.9 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v30.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-life | 16 April 2024 | 15 October 2024 | 124 | 20.11 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, no longer maintained: v31.x.y | Old version, no longer maintained: End-of-life | 11 June 2024 | 7 January 2025 | 126 | 20.14 | ? | ? | ? |
| Old version, yet still maintained: v32.x.y | Old version, yet still maintained: Active | 20 August 2024 | 4 March 2025 | 128 | 20.16 | ? | ? | ? |
| Current stable version: v33.x.y | Current stable version: Current | 15 October 2024 | 29 April 2025 | 130 | 20.18 | ? | ? | ? |

## Usage

Desktop applications built with Electron include Atom, balenaEtcher, Eclipse Theia, Microsoft Teams before 2.0, Slack, and Visual Studio Code. The Brave browser was based on Electron before it was rewritten to use Chromium directly.

## Reception

The most common criticism of Electron is that it necessitates software bloat when used for simple programs. As a result, Michael Larabel has referred to the framework as "notorious among most Linux desktop users for being resource heavy, not integrating well with most desktops, and generally being despised." Researchers have shown that Electron's large feature set can be hijacked by bad actors with write access to the source JavaScript files. This requires root access on *nix systems and is not considered to be a vulnerability by the Electron developers. Those who are concerned that Electron is not always based on the newest version of Chromium have recommended progressive web applications as an alternative.