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The electron-publish module provides the publishing infrastructure used by electron-builder to upload artifacts to various hosting providers.

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Installation

npm install electron-publish --save-dev

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PublishOptions Interface

Options for controlling when to publish artifacts. 
interface PublishOptions {
  publish?: PublishPolicy | null
}
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publish
PublishPolicy | null
When to publish artifacts.
  • "onTag" - Publish only if building a tagged commit
  • "onTagOrDraft" - Publish on tag or if GitHub release is a draft
  • "always" - Always publish
  • "never" - Never publish

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PublishContext Interface

Context provided to publishers. 
interface PublishContext {
  readonly cancellationToken: CancellationToken
  readonly progress: MultiProgress | null
}
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cancellationToken
CancellationToken
Token for cancelling upload operations.
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progress
MultiProgress | null
Progress bar manager for displaying upload progress.

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UploadTask Interface

Represents a file to be uploaded. 
interface UploadTask {
  file: string
  fileContent?: Buffer | null
  arch: Arch | null
  safeArtifactName?: string | null
  timeout?: number | null
}
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file
string
required
Path to the file to upload.
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fileContent
Buffer | null
Optional file content buffer (instead of reading from file path).
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arch
Arch | null
Architecture of the artifact (or null if not architecture-specific).
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safeArtifactName
string | null
Safe artifact name for display/logging.
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timeout
number | null
Upload timeout in milliseconds.

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Publisher Classes

Base class and platform-specific publishers for uploading artifacts.

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Publisher (Abstract)

Abstract base class for all publishers. 
abstract class Publisher {
  protected constructor(context: PublishContext)
  
  abstract get providerName(): PublishProvider
  abstract upload(task: UploadTask): Promise<any>
  abstract toString(): string
}
Source: packages/electron-publish/src/publisher.ts:13

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GitHubPublisher

Publishes to GitHub Releases. 
const { GitHubPublisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "github",
  "owner": "my-org",
  "repo": "my-repo",
  "token": "ghp_xxxxx"
}

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S3Publisher

Publishes to Amazon S3. 
const { S3Publisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "s3",
  "bucket": "my-bucket",
  "region": "us-east-1"
}

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SpacesPublisher

Publishes to DigitalOcean Spaces. 
const { SpacesPublisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "spaces",
  "name": "my-space",
  "region": "nyc3"
}

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GitlabPublisher

Publishes to GitLab Releases. 
const { GitlabPublisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "gitlab",
  "owner": "my-group",
  "repo": "my-project"
}

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BitbucketPublisher

Publishes to Bitbucket Downloads. 
const { BitbucketPublisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "bitbucket",
  "owner": "my-workspace",
  "slug": "my-repo"
}

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KeygenPublisher

Publishes to Keygen. 
const { KeygenPublisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "keygen",
  "account": "my-account",
  "product": "my-product"
}

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SnapStorePublisher

Publishes to Snap Store. 
const { SnapStorePublisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "snapStore",
  "channels": ["stable"]
}

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HttpPublisher

Publishes to a generic HTTP endpoint. 
const { HttpPublisher } = require("electron-publish")
Configuration: 
{
  "provider": "generic",
  "url": "https://my-server.com/releases"
}

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Utility Functions

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getCiTag()

Gets the Git tag from CI environment variables. 
function getCiTag(): string | null
Returns: Tag name from CI environment, or null if not in a tagged build. Supported CI systems:
  • Travis CI (TRAVIS_TAG)
  • AppVeyor (APPVEYOR_REPO_TAG_NAME)
  • CircleCI (CIRCLE_TAG)
  • GitLab CI (CI_COMMIT_TAG)
  • GitHub Actions (GITHUB_REF_NAME when GITHUB_REF_TYPE is “tag”)
  • Bitrise (BITRISE_GIT_TAG)
  • Bitbucket (BITBUCKET_TAG)
Example: 
const { getCiTag } = require("electron-publish")

const tag = getCiTag()
if (tag) {
  console.log(`Building tagged release: ${tag}`)
}

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Example: Custom Publisher

import { Publisher, PublishContext, UploadTask } from "electron-publish"
import { PublishProvider } from "builder-util-runtime"

class CustomPublisher extends Publisher {
  constructor(context: PublishContext, private config: any) {
    super(context)
  }
  
  get providerName(): PublishProvider {
    return "custom" as PublishProvider
  }
  
  async upload(task: UploadTask): Promise<void> {
    const progressBar = this.createProgressBar(
      task.safeArtifactName || task.file,
      (await stat(task.file)).size
    )
    
    // Upload logic here
    console.log(`Uploading ${task.file}...`)
    
    // Update progress
    if (progressBar) {
      progressBar.tick(100)
    }
  }
  
  toString(): string {
    return "Custom Publisher"
  }
}

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Configuration in electron-builder

Publish configuration is specified in your build configuration: 
{
  "build": {
    "appId": "com.example.app",
    "publish": [
      {
        "provider": "github",
        "owner": "my-org",
        "repo": "my-repo"
      },
      {
        "provider": "s3",
        "bucket": "my-bucket",
        "region": "us-east-1"
      }
    ]
  }
}
Or from command line: 
electron-builder --publish always
electron-builder --publish onTag

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Environment Variables

Publishers use environment variables for authentication:
  • GitHub: GH_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN
  • GitLab: GITLAB_TOKEN
  • Bitbucket: BITBUCKET_TOKEN
  • S3: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
  • Spaces: DO_TOKEN
  • Keygen: KEYGEN_TOKEN
  • Snap Store: SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS

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Import Examples

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CommonJS

const { GitHubPublisher, getCiTag } = require("electron-publish")

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ES Modules / TypeScript

import { GitHubPublisher, getCiTag, PublishOptions } from "electron-publish"
import type { UploadTask, PublishContext } from "electron-publish"

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See Also

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