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SimpleChatJS Clean Build Pipeline

The Problem

Electron builds require electron and electron-builder as dependencies, but these pollute your development environment and can interfere with your regular npm start and start.bat scripts.

The Solution

This build pipeline keeps your development environment completely clean by:

  1. Installing your main app dependencies (Express, SQLite, etc.)
  2. Temporarily switching to a build-specific package.json
  3. Building the Electron app with isolated build dependencies
  4. Restoring your clean development environment automatically

Files

  • package.json - Your clean development dependencies (no Electron)
  • package-build.json - Build configuration with Electron dependencies
  • build-electron.bat - Windows build script
  • build-electron.sh - Linux/Mac build script
  • build-electron.ps1 - Original PowerShell script (backup)

Usage

Windows

build-electron.bat

Linux/Mac

./build-electron.sh

Note: The script will build a native app for your platform (Linux AppImage/dir or Mac .app)

Manual Process

# Install main dependencies
npm install

# Temporarily switch to build config
copy package-build.json package.json

# Install build deps and build
npm install electron electron-builder --save-dev
npm run build

# Restore clean environment
git checkout package.json
npm install

How It Works

  1. Installs your main app dependencies normally
  2. Backs up your original package.json
  3. Copies package-build.json over package.json (contains Electron config)
  4. Installs Electron build dependencies
  5. Builds the Electron app
  6. Restores your original package.json
  7. Reinstalls clean dependencies

Benefits

✅ Clean Dev Environment: Your main package.json never gets Electron dependencies ✅ Works in Fresh Clones: No setup required, works immediately ✅ Reliable Dev Scripts: npm start and start.bat always work ✅ Simple: No complex directory structures or path issues ✅ Automatic Cleanup: Restores your environment automatically

Output

Built app will be in: dist-electron/win-unpacked/SimpleChatJS.exe

Troubleshooting

If something goes wrong:

  1. The script will automatically restore your package.json from backup
  2. Delete node_modules and run npm install to reset
  3. Your development environment should be clean again