Files
electron/docs/development
Robo 4565cf72fa build: update v8_embedder_string from net patch effects (#54618)
* fix: derive V8 cache compatibility from net patch effects

Replace the custom V8 cache salt and Wasm embedded blob guard
from #54234 with embedder string version hashing.

Generate -electron.<16-hex fingerprint> during GN configuration from
the net committed changes between Chromium's pinned V8 revision and
patched HEAD. This requires no release time bookkeeping and preserves
cache identities across packaging only changes to the patch series.

* build: fix metadata generation and restoration

* build: address review follow-ups

- Keep code cache hash checks free of process global mutation
- Limit the helper to DCHECK enabled builds
- Make the fingerprint algorithm self contained and include it
in the source cache key
- Allow an explicit packager identity
- Skip Wasm tests without generated assets
- Correct the documentation structure

* build: simplify V8 fingerprint regeneration tracking

Track Git HEAD and the exported V8 patch series instead of symbolic
branch refs, packed-refs, or Git directories. Detached checkout updates
and patch exports trigger regeneration, while equivalent re-exports
preserve the committed source fingerprint.

Reject reftable storage explicitly and provide actionable diagnostics
when the checkout does not contain Chromium's pinned V8 revision.

* fix: gn check for release builds

* chore: convert to vitest imports

* chore: cleanup testing binding dependency

* chore: update patches

* chore: remove redundant dep declaration
2026-10-15 08:39:57 -05:00
..
2023-08-10 11:55:52 +02:00
2020-11-02 18:58:14 +09:00

Developing Electron

These guides are intended for people working on the Electron project itself. For guides on Electron app development, see /docs/README.md.

Table of Contents

Getting Started

In order to contribute to Electron, the first thing you'll want to do is get the code.

Electron's build-tools automate much of the setup for compiling Electron from source with different configurations and build targets.

If you would prefer to build Electron manually, see the build instructions.

Once you've checked out and built the code, you may want to take a look around the source tree to get a better idea of what each directory is responsible for. The source code directory structure gives a good overview of the purpose of each directory.

Opening Issues on Electron

For any issue, there are generally three ways an individual can contribute:

  1. By opening the issue for discussion
  2. By helping to triage the issue
    • You can do this either by providing assistive details (a reproducible test case that demonstrates a bug) or by providing suggestions to address the issue.
  3. By helping to resolve the issue
    • This can be done by demonstrating that the issue is not a bug or is fixed; but more often, by opening a pull request that changes the source in electron/electron in a concrete and reviewable manner.

See issues for more information.

Making a Pull Request to Electron

Most pull requests opened against the electron/electron repository include changes to either the C/C++ code in the shell/ folder, the TypeScript code in the lib/ folder, the documentation in docs/, or tests in the spec/ folder.

See pull requests for more information.

If you want to add a new API module to Electron, you'll want to look in creating API.

Governance

Electron has a fully-fledged governance system that oversees activity in Electron and whose working groups are responsible for areas like APIs, releases, and upgrades to Electron's dependencies including Chromium and Node.js. Depending on how frequently and to what end you want to contribute, you may want to consider joining a working group.

Details about each group and their responsibilities can be found in the governance repo.

Patches in Electron

Electron is built on two major upstream projects: Chromium and Node.js. Each of these projects has several of their own dependencies, too. We try our best to use these dependencies exactly as they are but sometimes we can't achieve our goals without patching those upstream dependencies to fit our use cases.

As such, we maintain a collection of patches as part of our source tree. The process for adding or altering one of these patches to Electron's source tree via a pull request can be found in patches.

Debugging

There are many different approaches to debugging issues and bugs in Electron, many of which are platform specific.

For an overview of information related to debugging Electron itself (and not an app built with Electron), see debugging.