electron-main-renderer-ipc

name	electron-main-renderer-ipc
description	Wire safe IPC between Electron's main and renderer processes via a preload contextBridge — ipcMain.handle/ipcRenderer.invoke, typed channels, and event streams. USE WHEN exposing main-process capability to the UI, designing an IPC API, or migrating off nodeIntegration/@electron/remote.
cluster	electron
version	1.0.0
origin	skill-clusters (original)

Electron Main ↔ Renderer IPC

The renderer is untrusted (see electron-core), so it reaches the main process only through a preload contextBridge that exposes a small, typed API — never raw Node or ipcRenderer.

The pattern

Preload (preload.js) — the only place page and Node-ish power meet:

const { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } = require('electron');
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('api', {
  readConfig: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('config:read'),         // request/response
  saveConfig: (cfg) => ipcRenderer.invoke('config:save', cfg),
  onProgress: (cb) => ipcRenderer.on('job:progress', (_e, p) => cb(p)), // stream
});

Main — validate every argument; you are the trust boundary:

ipcMain.handle('config:save', (_e, cfg) => {
  if (!isValidConfig(cfg)) throw new Error('invalid config'); // never trust the renderer
  return writeConfig(cfg);
});

Renderer — calls the typed surface only: await window.api.saveConfig(cfg).

Rules

• invoke/handle for request→response (returns a Promise); on/send for fire-and-forget streams (main→renderer or renderer→main).
• Expose named methods, not channels — don't hand the page ipcRenderer.send/invoke directly (it could hit any channel).
• Validate & authorize every payload in main; the channel name is not a capability check.
• Namespace channels (config:read, job:progress); keep a typed .d.ts for the bridge.
• Do not use @electron/remote (formerly remote) — it punches through the boundary; it's removed from core for this reason.
• Senders: prefer ipcMain.handle over manual event.reply; for renderer→renderer, route through main.

Guardrails

Minimal typed bridge; validate in main; no raw ipcRenderer/Node on window; no @electron/remote. Pairs with electron-security (the surrounding hardening) and electron-core (the process model).