Vite + Typescript + Electron Forge + SvelteKit + Tailwind CSS

Template project with Vite, Typescript, Electron Forge, SvelteKit, Tailwind CSS

[!Note]

This template contains numerous comments with explanations and links throughout the source code.

git clone https://github.com/codec-xyz/vtest MyAwesomeApp

cd MyAwesomeApp

npm install

npm run start

[!Note]

This template uses the currently still not released Svelte 5. If you want to use Svelte 4 git clone the svelte-4 branch...

git clone -b svelte-4 https://github.com/codec-xyz/vtest MyAwesomeApp

[!Note]

Typescript will complain in the editor when you first clone the template. When you first run npm run start a .svelte-kit folder will be generated and the errors and warnings should go away.

How the template works

Here are various details about the template's workings. However nothing beats looking thought the code.

The Electron Forge x Vite setup

Svelte is build on top of Vite. The included electronForgeVitePlugin.cts exports an Electron Forge plugin that integrates Vite into Electron Forge's build process. During dev mode npm run start and packaging npm run package vite is used to transform and bundle the code. This template has 3 separate Vite setups:

Main Electron Node process
Preload - https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/tutorial/tutorial-preload
Renderer aka SvelteKit

All the Vite configs are inside the vite folder.

This template used to use the official @electron-forge/plugin-vite however I do not recommend using it.

The `.cts` files

The forge.config.cts and its dependency electronForgeVitePlugin.cts need to end in a .cts meaning the typescript should be transpiled to CommonJS. This is the only way I found to make things work and this is a know issue #3671.

SvelteKit building and adaptor-static

SvelteKit build outputs code to render your files on a server. These will be located in .svelte-kit/output/. Adaptor-static will then run this code during the build to make the browser html/css/js files. These will be placed in .vite/renderer/main_window/ as specified in svelte.config.js.

I recommend you do not use SvelteKit's prerendering for your Electron apps. SvelteKit prerendering will slightly speed up the first load (when you open a window). However when navigating, SvelteKit will load Javascript and render pages even if they have been prerendered. Unlike web use cases Electron apps are likely to see almost none of the prerender benefits. Not using the prerendering will slightly simplify development. If you do however want prerendering here is how to do it...

export const prerender = false;
export const ssr = false;

[!Note]

For adaptor-static keep the values the same, so either both true or both false.

prerender - weather or not adapter-static will output an html file for this page
ssr - weather or no adapter-static will prerender the page aka: false = blank page (and browser js to render the page)

Values of prerender = false and ssr = false means no html file is output for the this page. It will work as an SPA (Single Page Application) where this or any other page that are not present will use the fallback page 200.html which is specified to adapter-static in svelte.config.js.

Values of prerender = true and ssr = true will prerender the page at build time and output an html file. One that is not blank. Reactivity, event handlers, and all other svelte features will still work. However this is prerendered during build time meaning no Electron feature and some other features will not be present. For example, state cannot be dependent on preferred color theme or window size. Use this to detect browser vs prerender...

import { browser } from '$app/environment';
if(browser) { ... }

SvelteKit `tsconfig.json`

You may notice SvelteKit warns that...

Your tsconfig.json should extend the configuration generated by SvelteKit:
{
  "extends": "./.svelte-kit/tsconfig.json"
}

Ignore this. Due to the forge config being picky the root needs a tsconfig.json with specific settings and the SvelteKit files need different one. The SvelteKit tsconfig.json is located under src. It seems that SvelteKit does not account for this, however everything still works correctly.

Tabs btw

Typescript

Some of the config file can't be Typescript due to reasons :(

Make sure to put lang='ts' in the svelte files to use Typescript...

<script lang="ts">
	// ...
</script>

Serving files

The Vite SvelteKit dev server serves a fallback html file for all urls that do no point to a file. This is replicated in the built version of the app by registering an app:// schema and handling resolving urls manual. This uses Electrons protocol.handle and protocol.registerSchemesAsPrivileged. The window url is set to the dev server in dev mode or app://-/ when built. The Electron protocol.handle simply takes a callback that is invoked to handle every request to the specified schema however it wants. The code is located in src/main.ts.

https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/api/protocol