Getting Started: JS / Electron

Applies to

Windows

MacOS

Linux

Get started with our NPM package for JS & Electron.

If you are using pure nodejs and bundling your app using pkg or similar you can ignore Electron-specific steps.

Add Velopack to your package.json:
```
npm install velopack
```

Add the following code to your entry point (eg. index.js) as early as possible (before any electron startup code etc.):

const { VelopackApp } = require('velopack');

// Velopack builder needs to be the first thing to run in the main process.
// In some cases, it might quit/restart the process to perform tasks.
VelopackApp.build().run();

// ... your other app startup code here

Add auto-updates somewhere to your app:

const { UpdateManager } = require('velopack');

async function updateApp()
{
    const um = new UpdateManager();
    um.setUrlOrPath("https://the.place/you-host/updates");

    const updateInfo = await um.checkForUpdatesAsync();
    if (!updateInfo) {
        return; // no update available
    }

    await um.downloadUpdatesAsync(updateInfo.targetFullRelease, p => {
        console.log(`progress: ${p}%`);
    });

    um.applyUpdatesAndRestart(updateInfo.targetFullRelease);
}

If you are using electron/forge, you will need to add an asar unpack rule:

module.exports = {
    packagerConfig: {
        asar: {
        // velopack contains native binaries which must remain unpacked
            unpack: '**/node_modules/velopack/**',
        },
    },
}

Compile your app to a binary (eg. .exe on Windows). Example using electron forge:
```
npx electron-forge package
```
Install the vpk command line tool:
```
dotnet tool update -g vpk
```
tip
You must have the .NET Core SDK 6 installed to use and update vpk

Package your Velopack release / installers:

vpk pack -u MyAppUniqueId -v 1.0.0 -p /myBuildDir -e myexename.exe

✅ You're Done! Your app now has auto-updates and an installer. You can upload your release to your website, or use the vpk upload command to publish it to the destination of your choice.