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docs: clarify use of ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD #29720

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20 changes: 12 additions & 8 deletions docs/tutorial/installation.md
Expand Up @@ -135,14 +135,18 @@ a text file. A typical cache might look like this:

## Skip binary download

When installing the `electron` NPM package, it automatically downloads the electron binary.

This can sometimes be unnecessary, e.g. in a CI environment, when testing another component.

To prevent the binary from being downloaded when you install all npm dependencies you can set the environment variable `ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD`.
E.g.:

```sh
Under the hood, Electron's JavaScript API binds to a binary that contains its
implementations. Because this binary is crucial to the function of any Electron app,
it is downloaded by default in the `postinstall` step every time you install `electron`
from the npm registry.

However, if you want to install your project's dependencies but don't need to use
Electron functionality, you can set the `ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD` environment
variable to prevent the binary from being downloaded. For instance, this feature can
be useful in continuous integration environments when running unit tests that mock
out the `electron` module.

```sh npm2yarn
ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD=1 npm install
```

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