Options

Options

In the development package.json custom build field can be specified to customize format:

"build": {
  "dmg": {
    "contents": [
      {
        "x": 410,
        "y": 220,
        "type": "link",
        "path": "/Applications"
      },
      {
        "x": 130,
        "y": 220,
        "type": "file",
        "path": "computed path to artifact, do not specify it - will be overwritten"
      }
    ]
  }
}

As you can see, you need to customize MacOS options only if you want to provide custom x, y. Don't customize paths to background and icon, — just follow conventions.

Here documented only electron-builder specific options:

Application package.json

Name	Description
name	The application name.
productName	As name, but allows you to specify a product name for your executable which contains spaces and other special characters not allowed in the name property.
description	The application description.
homepage	The url to the project homepage (NuGet Package projectUrl (optional) or Linux Package URL (required)). If not specified and your project repository is public on GitHub, it will be https://github.com/${user}/${project} by default.
license	linux-only. The license name.

Development package.json

Name	Description
build	See .build.
directories	See .directories

.build

Name	Description
appId	The application id. Used as CFBundleIdentifier for MacOS and as Application User Model ID for Windows. For windows only NSIS target supports it. Squirrel.Windows is not fixed yet. Defaults to com.electron.${name}. It is strongly recommended that an explicit ID be set.
app-category-type	macOS-only. The application category type, as shown in the Finder via View -> Arrange by Application Category when viewing the Applications directory. For example, app-category-type=public.app-category.developer-tools will set the application category to Developer Tools. Valid values are listed in Apple’s documentation.
asar	Whether to package the application’s source code into an archive, using Electron’s archive format. Defaults to true. Reasons why you may want to disable this feature are described in an application packaging tutorial in Electron’s documentation. Or you can pass object of any asar options.
productName	See AppMetadata.productName.
files	A glob patterns relative to the app directory, which specifies which files to include when copying files to create the package. Defaults to **/* (i.e. hidden files are ignored by default). Development dependencies are never copied in any case. You don’t need to ignore it explicitly. Multiple patterns are supported. You can use ${os} (expanded to mac, linux or win according to current platform) and ${arch} in the pattern. If directory matched, all contents are copied. So, you can just specify foo to copy foo directory. Remember that default pattern **/* is not added to your custom, so, you have to add it explicitly — e.g. ["**/*", "!ignoreMe${/*}"]. May be specified in the platform options (e.g. in the build.mac).
extraResources	A glob patterns relative to the project directory, when specified, copy the file or directory with matching names directly into the app’s resources directory (Contents/Resources for MacOS, resources for Linux/Windows). Glob rules the same as for files.
extraFiles	The same as extraResources but copy into the app's content directory (Contents for MacOS, root directory for Linux/Windows).
mac	See .build.mac.
dmg	See .build.dmg.
mas	See .build.mas.
win	See .build.win.
nsis	See .build.nsis.
linux	See .build.linux.
compression	The compression level, one of store, normal, maximum (default: normal). If you want to rapidly test build, store can reduce build time significantly.
afterPack	programmatic API only The function to be run after pack (but before pack into distributable format and sign). Promise must be returned.

.build.mac

MacOS specific build options.

Name	Description
target	Target package type: list of default, dmg, mas, 7z, zip, tar.xz, tar.lz, tar.gz, tar.bz2. Defaults to default (dmg and zip for Squirrel.Mac).
identity	The name of certificate to use when signing. Consider using environment variables CSC_LINK or CSC_NAME. MAS installer identity is specified in the .build.mas.
icon	The path to application icon. Defaults to build/icon.icns (consider using this convention instead of complicating your configuration).
entitlements	The path to entitlements file for signing the app. build/entitlements.mac.plist will be used if exists (it is a recommended way to set). MAS entitlements is specified in the .build.mas.
entitlementsInherit	The path to child entitlements which inherit the security settings for signing frameworks and bundles of a distribution. build/entitlements.mac.inherit.plist will be used if exists (it is a recommended way to set). Otherwise default. This option only applies when signing with entitlements provided.

.build.dmg

MacOS DMG specific options.

See all appdmg options.

Name	Description
icon	The path to DMG icon, which will be shown when mounted. Defaults to build/icon.icns.
background	The path to background (default: build/background.png if exists). The resolution of this file determines the resolution of the installer window. If background is not specified, use window.size, see specification.

.build.mas

MAS (Mac Application Store) specific options (in addition to build.mac).

Name	Description
entitlements	The path to entitlements file for signing the app. build/entitlements.mas.plist will be used if exists (it is a recommended way to set). Otherwise default.
entitlementsInherit	The path to child entitlements which inherit the security settings for signing frameworks and bundles of a distribution. build/entitlements.mas.inherit.plist will be used if exists (it is a recommended way to set). Otherwise default.

.build.win

Windows specific build options.

Name	Description
target	Target package type: list of squirrel, nsis, 7z, zip, tar.xz, tar.lz, tar.gz, tar.bz2. Defaults to squirrel.
iconUrl	Squirrel.Windows-only. A URL to an ICO file to use as the application icon (displayed in Control Panel > Programs and Features). Defaults to the Electron icon. Please note — local icon file url is not accepted, must be https/http. If you don’t plan to build windows installer, you can omit it. If your project repository is public on GitHub, it will be https://github.com/${u}/${p}/blob/master/build/icon.ico?raw=true by default.
loadingGif	Squirrel.Windows-only. The path to a .gif file to display during install. build/install-spinner.gif will be used if exists (it is a recommended way to set) (otherwise default).
msi	Squirrel.Windows-only. Whether to create an MSI installer. Defaults to false (MSI is not created).
remoteReleases	Squirrel.Windows-only. A URL to your existing updates. If given, these will be downloaded to create delta updates.
remoteToken	Squirrel.Windows-only. Authentication token for remote updates
signingHashAlgorithms	Array of signing algorithms used. Defaults to ['sha1', 'sha256']
icon	The path to application icon. Defaults to build/icon.ico (consider using this convention instead of complicating your configuration).

.build.nsis

NSIS target support in progress — not polished and not fully tested and checked.

See NSIS target notes.

Name	Description
perMachine	Mark "all users" (per-machine) as default. Not recommended. Defaults to false.
allowElevation	Allow requesting for elevation. If false, user will have to restart installer with elevated permissions. Defaults to true.
oneClick	One-click installation. Defaults to true.
installerHeader	boring installer only. MUI_HEADERIMAGE, relative to the project directory. Defaults to build/installerHeader.bmp
installerHeaderIcon	one-click installer only. The path to header icon (above the progress bar), relative to the project directory. Defaults to build/installerHeaderIcon.ico or application icon.

.build.linux

Linux specific build options.

Name	Description
description	As description from application package.json, but allows you to specify different for Linux.
synopsis	deb-only. The short description.
maintainer	The maintainer. Defaults to author.
vendor	The vendor. Defaults to author.
compression	deb-only. The compression type, one of gz, bzip2, xz. Defaults to xz.
depends	Package dependencies. Defaults to ["libappindicator1", "libnotify-bin"].
target	Target package type: list of deb, rpm, freebsd, pacman, p5p, apk, 7z, zip, tar.xz, tar.lz, tar.gz, tar.bz2. Defaults to deb. The most effective xz compression format used by default. Only deb is tested. Feel free to file issues for rpm and other package formats.

.directories

Name	Description
buildResources	The path to build resources, defaults to build.
output	The output directory, defaults to dist.
app	The application directory (containing the application package.json), defaults to app, www or working directory.

Multiple Glob Patterns

[
  // match all files
  "**/*",

  // except for js files in the foo/ directory
  "!foo/*.js",

  // unless it's foo/bar.js
  "foo/bar.js",
]

Excluding directories

Remember that !doNotCopyMe/**/* would match the files in the doNotCopyMe directory, but not the directory itself, so the empty directory would be created. Solution — use macro ${/*}, e.g. !doNotCopyMe${/*}.

Build Version Management

CFBundleVersion (MacOS) and FileVersion (Windows) will be set automatically to version.build_number on CI server (Travis, AppVeyor and CircleCI supported).