electron

name	electron
description	Build, package, and deploy the Electron desktop app. Handles version bumps, packaging with electron-builder, deploy to VPS auto-updater. Triggers on "electron build", "deploy electron", "electron update", "update desktop app", "package app".

Electron Build & Deploy Skill

Full pipeline: check state → optional version bump → build → package → deploy to VPS auto-updater.

Environment Variables (hardcoded for this project)

These are ALWAYS set automatically — never ask the user:

• VPS_HOST=84.46.253.137
• SITE_URL=https://in-theflow.com
• VPS_USER=root (default in script)

Key Files

File	Purpose
electron/main.ts	Main process — window creation, IPC registration, updater
electron/preload.ts	Context bridge — exposes window.electronAPI to renderer
electron/ipc/	IPC handlers (shell, dialog, fs, store, http, window)
electron/updater.ts	Auto-updater via electron-updater
electron-builder.yml	Packaging config
dist-electron/	Compiled output (generated; has package.json with type:commonjs)

Workflow

Step 1: Check Current State

Run in parallel:

# Current source version
grep '"version"' package.json | head -1

# Current deployed version (Electron endpoint)
curl -s https://in-theflow.com/updates/electron/latest-linux.yml | head -5

# Uncommitted changes
git status --short

# Recent commits
git log --oneline -10

Display to user:

## Electron Deploy Status
- Source version: X.Y.Z
- Deployed version: X.Y.Z
- Uncommitted changes: [list or "none"]

Step 2: Version Bump Decision

Compare source version vs deployed version.

If source version == deployed version (no bump yet):

• A version bump is MANDATORY before deploying
• Use AskUserQuestion:
  • Question: "What type of version bump?" (header: "Version")
  • Options:
    • "Patch (X.Y.Z+1)" (description: "Bug fixes, small changes") — Recommended
    • "Minor (X.Y+1.0)" (description: "New features, significant changes")

Then bump only package.json (no Cargo.toml, no tauri.conf.json):

# Example for patch bump:
npm version patch --no-git-tag-version

If source version > deployed version (already bumped):

• Skip bump, inform user: "Version already bumped to X.Y.Z (deployed: A.B.C)"

Step 3: Get Release Notes

Use AskUserQuestion:

• Question: "What are the release notes for this version?" (header: "Notes")
• Options:
  • "Auto-generate from commits" (description: "Use git log since last deploy")
  • "Custom notes" (description: "I'll write the notes")

If auto-generate: Run git log --oneline for recent commits since last deploy. If custom: Ask in plain text: "Enter release notes (1-2 sentences):"

Step 4: Commit if Needed

If there are uncommitted changes (from step 1 or version bump):

git add package.json
# Plus any other staged changes the user wants included
git commit -m "chore: v{VERSION} — {brief summary}"

Step 5: Build & Package

# Step 5a: Build Vue app with Electron mode
ELECTRON_BUILD=true npm run build

# Step 5b: Compile Electron main process
npm run electron:build-main

# Step 5c: Package with electron-builder
npx electron-builder --config electron-builder.yml --linux

Important notes:

• npmRebuild=false in electron-builder.yml — skip native module rebuild
• dist-electron/package.json with {"type":"commonjs"} is generated by electron:build-main — needed because root package.json has "type":"module"
• Output: release/linux-unpacked/flowstate + AppImage in release/

Run with timeout: 600000 (10 min max — packaging can take time). Inform user: "Build pipeline started. This takes ~2-3 minutes (Vue build + Electron compile + package)."

Step 6: Deploy

VPS_HOST=84.46.253.137 SITE_URL=https://in-theflow.com ./scripts/deploy-electron-update.sh --notes "{release_notes}"

Run with run_in_background: true.

Step 7: Verify

When the background task completes, verify:

curl -s https://in-theflow.com/updates/electron/latest-linux.yml | head -5

If successful, display:

## Electron Deploy Complete
- Version: X.Y.Z
- Endpoint: https://in-theflow.com/updates/electron/latest-linux.yml
- Users will see the update on next app launch

If failed, read full output and diagnose:

• Build errors → Show relevant error and suggest fix
• SSH/upload errors → Check VPS connectivity (ssh root@84.46.253.137)
• Missing artifacts → Check release/ directory for AppImage

Step 8: Push Git

After successful deploy:

git push

Options (via args)

Arg	Effect
--skip-deploy	Build only, don't upload to VPS
--dry-run	Preview what would happen
--no-bump	Skip version bump (use current version)

Examples:

• electron build — Full pipeline (bump + build + deploy + push)
• electron build --skip-deploy — Build locally only
• electron build --dry-run — Preview

Local Install / Testing

# Run packaged app locally (production build)
./release/linux-unpacked/flowstate --no-sandbox

# Or use the installed alias
flowstate  # ~/.local/bin/flowstate wrapper with --no-sandbox --class=flow-state

Important Rules

1. Only bump package.json — No Cargo.toml, no tauri.conf.json (Electron has no Rust)
2. No signing key needed — Unlike Tauri, Electron builds don't require a signing key for Linux
3. AppImage is the self-updating format — .deb cannot self-update
4. npmRebuild: false must stay in electron-builder.yml — native module rebuild not needed
5. Never manually create latest-linux.yml — electron-builder generates it; deploy script uploads it
6. Never skip the deploy script — It has safeguards (env validation, manifest verification)
7. WM_CLASS = "flow-state" — Set by app.setName() in main.ts + --class flag in wrapper script