electron-app-mainlayer

Production-ready Electron desktop app with Mainlayer payment gating. Supports license key activation, premium feature unlocking, and 7-day offline grace period for seamless user experience.

Quick Start

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/your-org/electron-app-mainlayer.git
cd electron-app-mainlayer && npm install

# Set environment variables
export MAINLAYER_API_KEY=your_secret_key
export MAINLAYER_PREMIUM_RESOURCE_ID=your_resource_id

# Run dev
npm run build && npm run dev

Environment Variables

Create a .env.local file (not committed):

MAINLAYER_API_KEY=sk_live_...
MAINLAYER_PREMIUM_RESOURCE_ID=feature_premium

Variable	Description	Example
MAINLAYER_API_KEY	Secret API key from Mainlayer dashboard	sk_live_abc123...
MAINLAYER_PREMIUM_RESOURCE_ID	Resource ID for premium tier	feature_premium

Architecture

The app follows process isolation best practices:

• Main process (src/main.ts): Electron entry. All Mainlayer API calls via IPC.
• Preload (src/preload.ts): Typed contextBridge bridge. Renderer calls window.mainlayer.*.
• Renderer (src/renderer/App.tsx): React UI, zero Node.js/Electron API access.
• License manager (src/mainlayer.ts): License verification, local caching, offline fallback.

Features

• Online verification with fallback to cached license
• 7-day offline grace period for intermittent connectivity
• 24h cache refresh with background updates
• Paywall component with beautiful UI
• IPC-based security — no API keys exposed to renderer
• TypeScript throughout with full type safety
• Vitest test suite with mocked dependencies

Usage

Checking License Status

const status = await window.mainlayer.verify(userId);
console.log(status.authorized); // true | false
console.log(status.plan);       // 'free' | 'pro' | 'enterprise'
console.log(status.offline);    // true if in offline grace period

Activating a License

const result = await window.mainlayer.activate(userId, licenseKey);
if (result.success) {
  console.log(result.message);
  // Re-verify to get updated plan
  const updated = await window.mainlayer.verify(userId);
}

License Lifecycle

1. Startup: Main process verifies license on app launch
2. Cache miss: Falls back to 7-day grace period
3. Activation: User enters license key via paywall
4. Refresh: Background refresh every 24h
5. Offline: Works offline for up to 7 days

Building & Distribution

# Development
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Package (requires code signing for distribution)
npm run dist

# Quick package (no signing)
npm run pack

Testing

# Run tests
npm test

# Watch mode
npm test:watch

# Lint
npm run lint

Deployment Checklist

• Set MAINLAYER_API_KEY in production environment
• Update MAINLAYER_PREMIUM_RESOURCE_ID to your actual resource
• Enable code signing for macOS/Windows distributions
• Test offline grace period (disconnect network, verify after 7 days)
• Verify IPC security (no API key leakage to renderer)
• Set proper app name/icon in electron-builder config

Project Structure

src/
├── main.ts                    # Electron main (IPC handlers)
├── preload.ts                 # Typed contextBridge API
├── mainlayer.ts               # License manager logic
└── renderer/
    ├── App.tsx                # Root component
    ├── components/
    │   └── Paywall.tsx        # Payment/activation UI
    └── index.html

API Reference

window.mainlayer.verify(userId)

Check if user has license. Returns cached result or offline grace period status.

Returns: Promise<LicenseStatus>

interface LicenseStatus {
  authorized: boolean;
  plan: string;
  offline: boolean;
  gracePeriodActive: boolean;
  gracePeriodRemainingMs?: number;
}

window.mainlayer.activate(userId, licenseKey)

Activate a license key for the user.

Returns: Promise<{ success: boolean; message: string }>

window.mainlayer.clear()

Sign out / clear the stored license.

Returns: Promise<{ success: boolean }>

window.mainlayer.openPricing()

Open Mainlayer pricing page in default browser.

Support

• Docs: https://docs.mainlayer.fr
• Issues: Report bugs on GitHub
• Contact: support@mainlayer.fr