TypeError: Cannot read property 'app' of undefined

[webdevpchoi]

Trying to get concurrently + electron + create-react-app working nicely together. However, upon launching Electron, I am getting an error that states TypeError: Cannot read property 'app' of undefined from node_modules\electron-is-dev\index.js.

It's pointing to the const app = electron.app || electron.remote.app;.

Here's my package.json:

{
  "name": "ootl",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "main": "src/start.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "electron-is-dev": "^1.1.0",
    "react": "^16.11.0",
    "react-dom": "^16.11.0",
    "react-scripts": "3.2.0"
  },
  "homepage": "./",
  "build": {
    "appId": "ootl",
    "directories": {
      "buildResources": "assets"
    }
  },
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "nodemon --watch . --exec \"electron . --debug\"",
    "start": "concurrently \"react-scripts start\" \"nodemon --watch . --exec\" \"electron . --debug\"",
    "build": "react-scripts build",
    "test": "react-scripts test",
    "eject": "react-scripts eject"
  },
  "eslintConfig": {
    "extends": "react-app"
  },
  "browserslist": {
    "production": [
      ">0.2%",
      "not dead",
      "not op_mini all"
    ],
    "development": [
      "last 1 chrome version",
      "last 1 firefox version",
      "last 1 safari version"
    ]
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "electron": "^7.1.2",
    "electron-builder": "^22.1.0",
    "nodemon": "^1.19.4"
  }
}

I'm using the start script to run the project.
Here's my start.js files for Electron:

const electron = require("electron");
const app = electron.app;
const path = require("path");
const BrowserWindow = electron.BrowserWindow;
const isDev = require("electron-is-dev");

let mainWindow;

function createWindow() {
  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    webPreferences: {
      nodeIntegration: true
    }
  });

  mainWindow.loadURL(
    isDev
      ? "http://localhost:3000"
      : `file://${path.join(__dirname, "../build/index.html")}`
  );

  mainWindow.on("closed", () => {
    mainWindow = null;
  });
}

app.on("ready", createWindow);

app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
  if (process.platform !== "darwin") {
    app.quit();
  }
});

app.on("activate", () => {
  if (mainWindow === null) {
    createWindow();
  }
});

I have Electron installed locally, and not globally, if it makes a difference. Would love to know why const app = electron.app || electron.remote.app; doesn't resolve.

[sindresorhus]

TypeError: Cannot read property 'app' of undefined

The only case this could happen is if electron is not available or is incorrectly mocked or shimmed. Or if BrowserWindow#webPreferences.enableRemoteModule is set to false, which looks like it's not the case.

Could you add console.log('App:', electron.app); console.log('Remote', electron.remote); to your start.js and share the output?

[talothman]

Find a solution for this? I'm getting the same issue.

[pbmzero]

I believe electron.remote has been deprecated but it is referenced by the node_modules\electron-is-dev\index.js Please see the following reference.. I recently had to remove electron-is-dev from my project when attempting to test out the latest Electron 10 nightly build. I'm not sure if there is an alternative, but it seems to be a major dependency for this project that has broke.

Edit: Corrected Link

[masteroleary]

This may be unrelated but I found this thread because I had the same error when trying to run a new quasar electron project out of the box. I found that I needed to change "quasar dev -m electron" to "sudo quasar dev -m electron" and run as administrator. It then worked immediately.

[jinshaopu]

enableRemoteModule=true

[nobeans]

I've gotten same issue. But I fixed it thanks for the comment of @masteroleary. My issue occured by ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE. If it set like ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=true, the error would occur. sudo runs a command in differnt environment variables from general user shell. I compared them, then I've found the different: ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE. (However I don't remember why the environment variable set...)