Eigen Desktop

An Electron wrapper for the web applications in this monorepo. Powered by electron-vite for development and electron-builder for production packaging.

Quick Start

# From the monorepo root

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Development (starts both the web dev server and Electron)
pnpm dev:desktop

# Build for production
pnpm build:desktop

# Package for distribution
pnpm package:desktop

How It Works

Environment	Behavior
Development	Electron loads the Vite dev server (`http://localhost:5173`). Hot reload works normally.
Production	Electron registers a custom `app://` protocol that serves the static build output of the target web app. SPA client-side routing is fully supported via an `index.html` fallback.

Project Structure

apps/desktop/
├── docs/                    # Documentation
│   ├── CONFIGURATION.md     # Target app, routing, HashRouter fallback
│   ├── AUTO_UPDATER.md      # Release process, CI/CD, code signing
│   └── IPC_ARCHITECTURE.md  # Security model, adding new features
├── scripts/
│   └── copy-web-dist.ts     # Prebuild: copies web app build → web-dist/
├── src/
│   ├── main/
│   │   └── index.ts         # Main process: protocol, CORS, IPC, updater
│   ├── preload/
│   │   └── index.ts         # Secure contextBridge API
│   └── renderer/
│       └── index.html       # Renderer shell (CSP reference)
├── .env                     # Target app configuration
├── electron-builder.yml     # Packaging & auto-update config
├── electron-vite.config.ts  # Build config (main, preload, renderer)
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── tsconfig.main.json
├── tsconfig.preload.json
└── tsconfig.renderer.json

Scripts

Script	Description
`pnpm dev`	Start electron-vite dev server
`pnpm build`	Compile TypeScript → `out/`
`pnpm prebuild`	Copy target web app's `dist/` → `web-dist/`
`pnpm package`	Build + package for current platform
`pnpm package:win`	Package for Windows (NSIS)
`pnpm package:mac`	Package for macOS (DMG + ZIP)
`pnpm package:linux`	Package for Linux (AppImage)

Configuration

The target web app is configured via .env:

DESKTOP_TARGET_APP=web
DESKTOP_DEV_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:5173

See docs/CONFIGURATION.md for details on switching target apps and routing fallbacks.

Features

Custom `app://` Protocol

Serves the web app's static build with SPA routing support. Includes path traversal protection and CSP header injection.

Hardware Printing

The React app can list printers and trigger print jobs via window.electronAPI.getPrinters() and window.electronAPI.print().

Auto-Update

Background update checks via GitHub Releases with download progress forwarding to the React UI. See docs/AUTO_UPDATER.md.

CORS Bypass

API requests from the app:// origin are transparently handled by stripping non-standard Origin headers and injecting CORS response headers.

Security

contextIsolation: true — preload runs in an isolated context
nodeIntegration: false — no Node.js APIs in the renderer
sandbox: true — Chromium sandbox enabled
webSecurity: true — same-origin policy enforced
Path traversal protection in the custom protocol handler
CSP headers injected on all HTML responses

See docs/IPC_ARCHITECTURE.md for the full security model and how to safely extend the app.

Documentation

Document	Contents
CONFIGURATION.md	Target app switching, `app://` protocol internals, HashRouter fallback procedure
AUTO_UPDATER.md	Release workflow, CI/CD variables, S3/generic provider switching, code signing
IPC_ARCHITECTURE.md	Security model, Three-Step Bridge pattern, existing IPC channels, extension guide

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