Breaking changes will be documented here, and deprecation warnings added to JS code where possible, at least one major version before the change is made.
This document uses the following convention to categorize breaking changes:
nodeIntegration: true are sandboxed by default
Previously, renderers that specified a preload script defaulted to being unsandboxed. This meant that by default, preload scripts had access to Node.js. In Electron 20, this default has changed. Beginning in Electron 20, renderers will be sandboxed by default, unless nodeIntegration: true or sandbox: false is specified.
If your preload scripts do not depend on Node, no action is needed. If your preload scripts do depend on Node, either refactor them to remove Node usage from the renderer, or explicitly specify sandbox: false for the relevant renderers.
skipTaskbar on Linux
On X11, skipTaskbar sends a _NET_WM_STATE_SKIP_TASKBAR message to the X11 window manager. There is not a direct equivalent for Wayland, and the known workarounds have unacceptable tradeoffs (e.g. Window.is_skip_taskbar in GNOME requires unsafe mode), so Electron is unable to support this feature on Linux.
session.setDevicePermissionHandler(handler)
The handler invoked when session.setDevicePermissionHandler(handler) is used has a change to its arguments. This handler no longer is passed a frame [WebFrameMain](/docs/latest/api/web-frame-main), but instead is passed the origin, which is the origin that is checking for device permission.
This is a result of Chromium 102.0.4999.0 dropping support for IA32 Linux. This concludes the removal of support for IA32 Linux.
nativeWindowOpen
Prior to Electron 15, window.open was by default shimmed to use BrowserWindowProxy. This meant that window.open('about:blank') did not work to open synchronously scriptable child windows, among other incompatibilities. Since Electron 15, nativeWindowOpen has been enabled by default.
See the documentation for window.open in Electron for more details.
desktopCapturer.getSources in the renderer
The desktopCapturer.getSources API is now only available in the main process. This has been changed in order to improve the default security of Electron apps.
If you need this functionality, it can be replaced as follows:
// Main process
const { ipcMain, desktopCapturer } = require('electron')
ipcMain.handle(
'DESKTOP_CAPTURER_GET_SOURCES',
(event, opts) => desktopCapturer.getSources(opts)
)
// Renderer process
const { ipcRenderer } = require('electron')
const desktopCapturer = {
getSources: (opts) => ipcRenderer.invoke('DESKTOP_CAPTURER_GET_SOURCES', opts)
}
However, you should consider further restricting the information returned to the renderer; for instance, displaying a source selector to the user and only returning the selected source.
nativeWindowOpen
Prior to Electron 15, window.open was by default shimmed to use BrowserWindowProxy. This meant that window.open('about:blank') did not work to open synchronously scriptable child windows, among other incompatibilities. Since Electron 15, nativeWindowOpen has been enabled by default.
See the documentation for window.open in Electron for more details.
crashReporter implementation switched to Crashpad on Linux
The underlying implementation of the crashReporter API on Linux has changed from Breakpad to Crashpad, bringing it in line with Windows and Mac. As a result of this, child processes are now automatically monitored, and calling process.crashReporter.start in Node child processes is no longer needed (and is not advisable, as it will start a second instance of the Crashpad reporter).
There are also some subtle changes to how annotations will be reported on Linux, including that long values will no longer be split between annotations appended with __1, __2 and so on, and instead will be truncated at the (new, longer) annotation value limit.
desktopCapturer.getSources in the renderer
Usage of the desktopCapturer.getSources API in the renderer has been deprecated and will be removed. This change improves the default security of Electron apps.
See here for details on how to replace this API in your app.
nativeWindowOpen defaults to true
Prior to Electron 15, window.open was by default shimmed to use BrowserWindowProxy. This meant that window.open('about:blank') did not work to open synchronously scriptable child windows, among other incompatibilities. nativeWindowOpen is no longer experimental, and is now the default.
See the documentation for window.open in Electron for more details.
remote module
The remote module was deprecated in Electron 12, and will be removed in Electron 14. It is replaced by the @electron/remote module.
// Deprecated in Electron 12:
const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron').remote
// Replace with:
const { BrowserWindow } = require('@electron/remote')
// In the main process:
require('@electron/remote/main').initialize()
app.allowRendererProcessReuse
The app.allowRendererProcessReuse property will be removed as part of our plan to more closely align with Chromium's process model for security, performance and maintainability.
For more detailed information see #18397.
The affinity option when constructing a new BrowserWindow will be removed as part of our plan to more closely align with Chromium's process model for security, performance and maintainability.
For more detailed information see #18397.
window.open()
The optional parameter frameName will no longer set the title of the window. This now follows the specification described by the native documentation under the corresponding parameter windowName.
If you were using this parameter to set the title of a window, you can instead use win.setTitle(title).
worldSafeExecuteJavaScript
In Electron 14, worldSafeExecuteJavaScript will be removed. There is no alternative, please ensure your code works with this property enabled. It has been enabled by default since Electron 12.
You will be affected by this change if you use either webFrame.executeJavaScript or webFrame.executeJavaScriptInIsolatedWorld. You will need to ensure that values returned by either of those methods are supported by the Context Bridge API as these methods use the same value passing semantics.
Prior to Electron 14, windows opened with window.open would inherit BrowserWindow constructor options such as transparent and resizable from their parent window. Beginning with Electron 14, this behavior is removed, and windows will not inherit any BrowserWindow constructor options from their parents.
Instead, explicitly set options for the new window with setWindowOpenHandler:
webContents.setWindowOpenHandler((details) => {
return {
action: 'allow',
overrideBrowserWindowOptions: {
// ...
}
}
})
additionalFeatures
The deprecated additionalFeatures property in the new-window and did-create-window events of WebContents has been removed. Since new-window uses positional arguments, the argument is still present, but will always be the empty array []. (Though note, the new-window event itself is deprecated, and is replaced by setWindowOpenHandler.) Bare keys in window features will now present as keys with the value true in the options object.
// Removed in Electron 14
// Triggered by window.open('...', '', 'my-key')
webContents.on('did-create-window', (window, details) => {
if (details.additionalFeatures.includes('my-key')) {
// ...
}
})
// Replace with
webContents.on('did-create-window', (window, details) => {
if (details.options['my-key']) {
// ...
}
})
session.setPermissionCheckHandler(handler)
The handler methods first parameter was previously always a webContents, it can now sometimes be null. You should use the requestingOrigin, embeddingOrigin and securityOrigin properties to respond to the permission check correctly. As the webContents can be null it can no longer be relied on.
// Old code
session.setPermissionCheckHandler((webContents, permission) => {
if (webContents.getURL().startsWith('https://google.com/') && permission === 'notification') {
return true
}
return false
})
// Replace with
session.setPermissionCheckHandler((webContents, permission, requestingOrigin) => {
if (new URL(requestingOrigin).hostname === 'google.com' && permission === 'notification') {
return true
}
return false
})
shell.moveItemToTrash()
The deprecated synchronous shell.moveItemToTrash() API has been removed. Use the asynchronous shell.trashItem() instead.
// Removed in Electron 13 shell.moveItemToTrash(path) // Replace with shell.trashItem(path).then(/* ... */)
BrowserWindow extension APIs
The deprecated extension APIs have been removed:
BrowserWindow.addExtension(path)BrowserWindow.addDevToolsExtension(path)BrowserWindow.removeExtension(name)BrowserWindow.removeDevToolsExtension(name)BrowserWindow.getExtensions()BrowserWindow.getDevToolsExtensions()Use the session APIs instead:
ses.loadExtension(path)ses.removeExtension(extension_id)ses.getAllExtensions()// Removed in Electron 13 BrowserWindow.addExtension(path) BrowserWindow.addDevToolsExtension(path) // Replace with session.defaultSession.loadExtension(path)
// Removed in Electron 13 BrowserWindow.removeExtension(name) BrowserWindow.removeDevToolsExtension(name) // Replace with session.defaultSession.removeExtension(extension_id)
// Removed in Electron 13 BrowserWindow.getExtensions() BrowserWindow.getDevToolsExtensions() // Replace with session.defaultSession.getAllExtensions()
systemPreferences
The following systemPreferences methods have been deprecated:
systemPreferences.isDarkMode()systemPreferences.isInvertedColorScheme()systemPreferences.isHighContrastColorScheme()Use the following nativeTheme properties instead:
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColorsnativeTheme.shouldUseInvertedColorSchemenativeTheme.shouldUseHighContrastColors// Removed in Electron 13 systemPreferences.isDarkMode() // Replace with nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors // Removed in Electron 13 systemPreferences.isInvertedColorScheme() // Replace with nativeTheme.shouldUseInvertedColorScheme // Removed in Electron 13 systemPreferences.isHighContrastColorScheme() // Replace with nativeTheme.shouldUseHighContrastColors
new-window event
The new-window event of WebContents has been deprecated. It is replaced by webContents.setWindowOpenHandler().
// Deprecated in Electron 13
webContents.on('new-window', (event) => {
event.preventDefault()
})
// Replace with
webContents.setWindowOpenHandler((details) => {
return { action: 'deny' }
})
Chromium has removed support for Flash, and so we must follow suit. See Chromium's Flash Roadmap for more details.
worldSafeExecuteJavaScript defaults to true
In Electron 12, worldSafeExecuteJavaScript will be enabled by default. To restore the previous behavior, worldSafeExecuteJavaScript: false must be specified in WebPreferences. Please note that setting this option to false is insecure.
This option will be removed in Electron 14 so please migrate your code to support the default value.
contextIsolation defaults to true
In Electron 12, contextIsolation will be enabled by default. To restore the previous behavior, contextIsolation: false must be specified in WebPreferences.
We recommend having contextIsolation enabled for the security of your application.
Another implication is that require() cannot be used in the renderer process unless nodeIntegration is true and contextIsolation is false.
For more details see: https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/23506
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory()
The crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory method has been removed. Usage should be replaced by app.getPath('crashDumps').
// Removed in Electron 12
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory()
// Replace with
app.getPath('crashDumps')
crashReporter methods in the renderer process
The following crashReporter methods are no longer available in the renderer process:
crashReporter.startcrashReporter.getLastCrashReportcrashReporter.getUploadedReportscrashReporter.getUploadToServercrashReporter.setUploadToServercrashReporter.getCrashesDirectoryThey should be called only from the main process.
See #23265 for more details.
crashReporter.start({ compress: true })
The default value of the compress option to crashReporter.start has changed from false to true. This means that crash dumps will be uploaded to the crash ingestion server with the Content-Encoding: gzip header, and the body will be compressed.
If your crash ingestion server does not support compressed payloads, you can turn off compression by specifying { compress: false } in the crash reporter options.
remote module
The remote module is deprecated in Electron 12, and will be removed in Electron 14. It is replaced by the @electron/remote module.
// Deprecated in Electron 12:
const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron').remote
// Replace with:
const { BrowserWindow } = require('@electron/remote')
// In the main process:
require('@electron/remote/main').initialize()
shell.moveItemToTrash()
The synchronous shell.moveItemToTrash() has been replaced by the new, asynchronous shell.trashItem().
// Deprecated in Electron 12 shell.moveItemToTrash(path) // Replace with shell.trashItem(path).then(/* ... */)
BrowserView.{destroy, fromId, fromWebContents, getAllViews} and id property of BrowserView
The experimental APIs BrowserView.{destroy, fromId, fromWebContents, getAllViews} have now been removed. Additionally, the id property of BrowserView has also been removed.
For more detailed information, see #23578.
companyName argument to crashReporter.start()
The companyName argument to crashReporter.start(), which was previously required, is now optional, and further, is deprecated. To get the same behavior in a non-deprecated way, you can pass a companyName value in globalExtra.
// Deprecated in Electron 10
crashReporter.start({ companyName: 'Umbrella Corporation' })
// Replace with
crashReporter.start({ globalExtra: { _companyName: 'Umbrella Corporation' } })
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory()
The crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory method has been deprecated. Usage should be replaced by app.getPath('crashDumps').
// Deprecated in Electron 10
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory()
// Replace with
app.getPath('crashDumps')
crashReporter methods in the renderer process
Calling the following crashReporter methods from the renderer process is deprecated:
crashReporter.startcrashReporter.getLastCrashReportcrashReporter.getUploadedReportscrashReporter.getUploadToServercrashReporter.setUploadToServercrashReporter.getCrashesDirectoryThe only non-deprecated methods remaining in the crashReporter module in the renderer are addExtraParameter, removeExtraParameter and getParameters.
All above methods remain non-deprecated when called from the main process.
See #23265 for more details.
crashReporter.start({ compress: false })
Setting { compress: false } in crashReporter.start is deprecated. Nearly all crash ingestion servers support gzip compression. This option will be removed in a future version of Electron.
enableRemoteModule defaults to false
In Electron 9, using the remote module without explicitly enabling it via the enableRemoteModule WebPreferences option began emitting a warning. In Electron 10, the remote module is now disabled by default. To use the remote module, enableRemoteModule: true must be specified in WebPreferences:
const w = new BrowserWindow({
webPreferences: {
enableRemoteModule: true
}
})
We recommend moving away from the remote module.
protocol.unregisterProtocol
protocol.uninterceptProtocol
The APIs are now synchronous and the optional callback is no longer needed.
// Deprecated
protocol.unregisterProtocol(scheme, () => { /* ... */ })
// Replace with
protocol.unregisterProtocol(scheme)
protocol.registerFileProtocol
protocol.registerBufferProtocol
protocol.registerStringProtocol
protocol.registerHttpProtocol
protocol.registerStreamProtocol
protocol.interceptFileProtocol
protocol.interceptStringProtocol
protocol.interceptBufferProtocol
protocol.interceptHttpProtocol
protocol.interceptStreamProtocol
The APIs are now synchronous and the optional callback is no longer needed.
// Deprecated
protocol.registerFileProtocol(scheme, handler, () => { /* ... */ })
// Replace with
protocol.registerFileProtocol(scheme, handler)
The registered or intercepted protocol does not have effect on current page until navigation happens.
protocol.isProtocolHandled
This API is deprecated and users should use protocol.isProtocolRegistered and protocol.isProtocolIntercepted instead.
// Deprecated
protocol.isProtocolHandled(scheme).then(() => { /* ... */ })
// Replace with
const isRegistered = protocol.isProtocolRegistered(scheme)
const isIntercepted = protocol.isProtocolIntercepted(scheme)
As of Electron 9 we do not allow loading of non-context-aware native modules in the renderer process. This is to improve security, performance and maintainability of Electron as a project.
If this impacts you, you can temporarily set app.allowRendererProcessReuse to false to revert to the old behavior. This flag will only be an option until Electron 11 so you should plan to update your native modules to be context aware.
For more detailed information see #18397.
BrowserWindow extension APIs
The following extension APIs have been deprecated:
BrowserWindow.addExtension(path)BrowserWindow.addDevToolsExtension(path)BrowserWindow.removeExtension(name)BrowserWindow.removeDevToolsExtension(name)BrowserWindow.getExtensions()BrowserWindow.getDevToolsExtensions()Use the session APIs instead:
ses.loadExtension(path)ses.removeExtension(extension_id)ses.getAllExtensions()// Deprecated in Electron 9 BrowserWindow.addExtension(path) BrowserWindow.addDevToolsExtension(path) // Replace with session.defaultSession.loadExtension(path)
// Deprecated in Electron 9 BrowserWindow.removeExtension(name) BrowserWindow.removeDevToolsExtension(name) // Replace with session.defaultSession.removeExtension(extension_id)
// Deprecated in Electron 9 BrowserWindow.getExtensions() BrowserWindow.getDevToolsExtensions() // Replace with session.defaultSession.getAllExtensions()
<webview>.getWebContents()
This API, which was deprecated in Electron 8.0, is now removed.
// Removed in Electron 9.0
webview.getWebContents()
// Replace with
const { remote } = require('electron')
remote.webContents.fromId(webview.getWebContentsId())
webFrame.setLayoutZoomLevelLimits()
Chromium has removed support for changing the layout zoom level limits, and it is beyond Electron's capacity to maintain it. The function was deprecated in Electron 8.x, and has been removed in Electron 9.x. The layout zoom level limits are now fixed at a minimum of 0.25 and a maximum of 5.0, as defined here.
In Electron 8.0, IPC was changed to use the Structured Clone Algorithm, bringing significant performance improvements. To help ease the transition, the old IPC serialization algorithm was kept and used for some objects that aren't serializable with Structured Clone. In particular, DOM objects (e.g. Element, Location and DOMMatrix), Node.js objects backed by C++ classes (e.g. process.env, some members of Stream), and Electron objects backed by C++ classes (e.g. WebContents, BrowserWindow and WebFrame) are not serializable with Structured Clone. Whenever the old algorithm was invoked, a deprecation warning was printed.
In Electron 9.0, the old serialization algorithm has been removed, and sending such non-serializable objects will now throw an "object could not be cloned" error.
shell.openItem is now shell.openPath
The shell.openItem API has been replaced with an asynchronous shell.openPath API. You can see the original API proposal and reasoning here.
The algorithm used to serialize objects sent over IPC (through ipcRenderer.send, ipcRenderer.sendSync, WebContents.send and related methods) has been switched from a custom algorithm to V8's built-in Structured Clone Algorithm, the same algorithm used to serialize messages for postMessage. This brings about a 2x performance improvement for large messages, but also brings some breaking changes in behavior.
undefined.// Previously:
ipcRenderer.send('channel', { value: 3, someFunction: () => {} })
// => results in { value: 3 } arriving in the main process
// From Electron 8:
ipcRenderer.send('channel', { value: 3, someFunction: () => {} })
// => throws Error("() => {} could not be cloned.")
NaN, Infinity and -Infinity will now be correctly serialized, instead of being converted to null.null.Set, Map, Error and RegExp values will be correctly serialized, instead of being converted to {}.BigInt values will be correctly serialized, instead of being converted to null.nulls.Date objects will be transferred as Date objects, instead of being converted to their ISO string representation.Uint8Array, Uint16Array, Uint32Array and so on) will be transferred as such, instead of being converted to Node.js Buffer.Buffer objects will be transferred as Uint8Arrays. You can convert a Uint8Array back to a Node.js Buffer by wrapping the underlying ArrayBuffer:Buffer.from(value.buffer, value.byteOffset, value.byteLength)
Sending any objects that aren't native JS types, such as DOM objects (e.g. Element, Location, DOMMatrix), Node.js objects (e.g. process.env, Stream), or Electron objects (e.g. WebContents, BrowserWindow, WebFrame) is deprecated. In Electron 8, these objects will be serialized as before with a DeprecationWarning message, but starting in Electron 9, sending these kinds of objects will throw a 'could not be cloned' error.
<webview>.getWebContents()
This API is implemented using the remote module, which has both performance and security implications. Therefore its usage should be explicit.
// Deprecated
webview.getWebContents()
// Replace with
const { remote } = require('electron')
remote.webContents.fromId(webview.getWebContentsId())
However, it is recommended to avoid using the remote module altogether.
// main
const { ipcMain, webContents } = require('electron')
const getGuestForWebContents = (webContentsId, contents) => {
const guest = webContents.fromId(webContentsId)
if (!guest) {
throw new Error(`Invalid webContentsId: ${webContentsId}`)
}
if (guest.hostWebContents !== contents) {
throw new Error('Access denied to webContents')
}
return guest
}
ipcMain.handle('openDevTools', (event, webContentsId) => {
const guest = getGuestForWebContents(webContentsId, event.sender)
guest.openDevTools()
})
// renderer
const { ipcRenderer } = require('electron')
ipcRenderer.invoke('openDevTools', webview.getWebContentsId())
webFrame.setLayoutZoomLevelLimits()
Chromium has removed support for changing the layout zoom level limits, and it is beyond Electron's capacity to maintain it. The function will emit a warning in Electron 8.x, and cease to exist in Electron 9.x. The layout zoom level limits are now fixed at a minimum of 0.25 and a maximum of 5.0, as defined here.
systemPreferences
The following systemPreferences events have been deprecated:
inverted-color-scheme-changedhigh-contrast-color-scheme-changedUse the new updated event on the nativeTheme module instead.
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.on('inverted-color-scheme-changed', () => { /* ... */ })
systemPreferences.on('high-contrast-color-scheme-changed', () => { /* ... */ })
// Replace with
nativeTheme.on('updated', () => { /* ... */ })
systemPreferences
The following systemPreferences methods have been deprecated:
systemPreferences.isDarkMode()systemPreferences.isInvertedColorScheme()systemPreferences.isHighContrastColorScheme()Use the following nativeTheme properties instead:
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColorsnativeTheme.shouldUseInvertedColorSchemenativeTheme.shouldUseHighContrastColors// Deprecated systemPreferences.isDarkMode() // Replace with nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors // Deprecated systemPreferences.isInvertedColorScheme() // Replace with nativeTheme.shouldUseInvertedColorScheme // Deprecated systemPreferences.isHighContrastColorScheme() // Replace with nativeTheme.shouldUseHighContrastColors
This is the URL specified as disturl in a .npmrc file or as the --dist-url command line flag when building native Node modules. Both will be supported for the foreseeable future but it is recommended that you switch.
Deprecated: https://atom.io/download/electron
Replace with: https://electronjs.org/headers
session.clearAuthCache() no longer accepts options
The session.clearAuthCache API no longer accepts options for what to clear, and instead unconditionally clears the whole cache.
// Deprecated
session.clearAuthCache({ type: 'password' })
// Replace with
session.clearAuthCache()
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState is now powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState
// Removed in Electron 7.0 powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState(threshold, callback) // Replace with synchronous API const idleState = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState(threshold)
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime is now powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime
// Removed in Electron 7.0 powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime(callback) // Replace with synchronous API const idleTime = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime()
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldInfo replaces separate methods
// Removed in Electron 7.0
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldContentSecurityPolicy(worldId, csp)
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldHumanReadableName(worldId, name)
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldSecurityOrigin(worldId, securityOrigin)
// Replace with
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldInfo(
worldId,
{
securityOrigin: 'some_origin',
name: 'human_readable_name',
csp: 'content_security_policy'
})
marked property on getBlinkMemoryInfo
This property was removed in Chromium 77, and as such is no longer available.
webkitdirectory attribute for <input type="file"/> now lists directory contents
The webkitdirectory property on HTML file inputs allows them to select folders. Previous versions of Electron had an incorrect implementation where the event.target.files of the input returned a FileList that returned one File corresponding to the selected folder.
As of Electron 7, that FileList is now list of all files contained within the folder, similarly to Chrome, Firefox, and Edge (link to MDN docs).
As an illustration, take a folder with this structure:
folder ├── file1 ├── file2 └── file3
In Electron <=6, this would return a FileList with a File object for:
path/to/folder
In Electron 7, this now returns a FileList with a File object for:
/path/to/folder/file3 /path/to/folder/file2 /path/to/folder/file1
Note that webkitdirectory no longer exposes the path to the selected folder. If you require the path to the selected folder rather than the folder contents, see the dialog.showOpenDialog API (link).
Electron 5 and Electron 6 introduced Promise-based versions of existing asynchronous APIs and deprecated their older, callback-based counterparts. In Electron 7, all deprecated callback-based APIs are now removed.
These functions now only return Promises:
app.getFileIcon() #15742
app.dock.show() #16904
contentTracing.getCategories() #16583
contentTracing.getTraceBufferUsage() #16600
contentTracing.startRecording() #16584
contentTracing.stopRecording() #16584
contents.executeJavaScript() #17312
cookies.flushStore() #16464
cookies.get() #16464
cookies.remove() #16464
cookies.set() #16464
debugger.sendCommand() #16861
dialog.showCertificateTrustDialog() #17181
inAppPurchase.getProducts() #17355
inAppPurchase.purchaseProduct()#17355
netLog.stopLogging() #16862
session.clearAuthCache() #17259
session.clearCache() #17185
session.clearHostResolverCache() #17229
session.clearStorageData() #17249
session.getBlobData() #17303
session.getCacheSize() #17185
session.resolveProxy() #17222
session.setProxy() #17222
shell.openExternal() #16176
webContents.loadFile() #15855
webContents.loadURL() #15855
webContents.hasServiceWorker() #16535
webContents.printToPDF() #16795
webContents.savePage() #16742
webFrame.executeJavaScript() #17312
webFrame.executeJavaScriptInIsolatedWorld() #17312
webviewTag.executeJavaScript() #17312
win.capturePage() #15743
These functions now have two forms, synchronous and Promise-based asynchronous:
dialog.showMessageBox()/dialog.showMessageBoxSync() #17298
dialog.showOpenDialog()/dialog.showOpenDialogSync() #16973
dialog.showSaveDialog()/dialog.showSaveDialogSync() #17054
win.setMenu(null) is now win.removeMenu()
// Deprecated win.setMenu(null) // Replace with win.removeMenu()
electron.screen in the renderer process should be accessed via remote
// Deprecated
require('electron').screen
// Replace with
require('electron').remote.screen
require()ing node builtins in sandboxed renderers no longer implicitly loads the remote version
// Deprecated
require('child_process')
// Replace with
require('electron').remote.require('child_process')
// Deprecated
require('fs')
// Replace with
require('electron').remote.require('fs')
// Deprecated
require('os')
// Replace with
require('electron').remote.require('os')
// Deprecated
require('path')
// Replace with
require('electron').remote.require('path')
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState replaced with powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState
// Deprecated powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState(threshold, callback) // Replace with synchronous API const idleState = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState(threshold)
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime replaced with powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime
// Deprecated powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime(callback) // Replace with synchronous API const idleTime = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime()
app.enableMixedSandbox() is no longer needed
// Deprecated app.enableMixedSandbox()
Mixed-sandbox mode is now enabled by default.
Tray.setHighlightMode
Under macOS Catalina our former Tray implementation breaks. Apple's native substitute doesn't support changing the highlighting behavior.
// Deprecated tray.setHighlightMode(mode) // API will be removed in v7.0 without replacement.
nodeIntegration and webviewTag default to false, contextIsolation defaults to true
The following webPreferences option default values are deprecated in favor of the new defaults listed below.
| Property | Deprecated Default | New Default |
|---|---|---|
contextIsolation |
false |
true |
nodeIntegration |
true |
false |
webviewTag |
nodeIntegration if set else true
|
false |
E.g. Re-enabling the webviewTag
const w = new BrowserWindow({
webPreferences: {
webviewTag: true
}
})
nodeIntegration in child windows opened via nativeWindowOpen
Child windows opened with the nativeWindowOpen option will always have Node.js integration disabled, unless nodeIntegrationInSubFrames is true.
Renderer process APIs webFrame.registerURLSchemeAsPrivileged and webFrame.registerURLSchemeAsBypassingCSP as well as browser process API protocol.registerStandardSchemes have been removed. A new API, protocol.registerSchemesAsPrivileged has been added and should be used for registering custom schemes with the required privileges. Custom schemes are required to be registered before app ready.
webFrame.setIsolatedWorld* replaced with webFrame.setIsolatedWorldInfo
// Deprecated
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldContentSecurityPolicy(worldId, csp)
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldHumanReadableName(worldId, name)
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldSecurityOrigin(worldId, securityOrigin)
// Replace with
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldInfo(
worldId,
{
securityOrigin: 'some_origin',
name: 'human_readable_name',
csp: 'content_security_policy'
})
webFrame.setSpellCheckProvider now takes an asynchronous callback
The spellCheck callback is now asynchronous, and autoCorrectWord parameter has been removed.
// Deprecated
webFrame.setSpellCheckProvider('en-US', true, {
spellCheck: (text) => {
return !spellchecker.isMisspelled(text)
}
})
// Replace with
webFrame.setSpellCheckProvider('en-US', {
spellCheck: (words, callback) => {
callback(words.filter(text => spellchecker.isMisspelled(text)))
}
})
webContents.getZoomLevel and webContents.getZoomFactor are now synchronous
webContents.getZoomLevel and webContents.getZoomFactor no longer take callback parameters, instead directly returning their number values.
// Deprecated
webContents.getZoomLevel((level) => {
console.log(level)
})
// Replace with
const level = webContents.getZoomLevel()
console.log(level)
// Deprecated
webContents.getZoomFactor((factor) => {
console.log(factor)
})
// Replace with
const factor = webContents.getZoomFactor()
console.log(factor)
The following list includes the breaking API changes made in Electron 4.0.
app.makeSingleInstance
// Deprecated
app.makeSingleInstance((argv, cwd) => {
/* ... */
})
// Replace with
app.requestSingleInstanceLock()
app.on('second-instance', (event, argv, cwd) => {
/* ... */
})
app.releaseSingleInstance
// Deprecated app.releaseSingleInstance() // Replace with app.releaseSingleInstanceLock()
app.getGPUInfo
app.getGPUInfo('complete')
// Now behaves the same with `basic` on macOS
app.getGPUInfo('basic')
win_delay_load_hook
When building native modules for windows, the win_delay_load_hook variable in the module's binding.gyp must be true (which is the default). If this hook is not present, then the native module will fail to load on Windows, with an error message like Cannot find module. See the native module guide for more.
Electron 18 will no longer run on 32-bit Linux systems. See discontinuing support for 32-bit Linux for more information.
The following list includes the breaking API changes in Electron 3.0.
app
// Deprecated
app.getAppMemoryInfo()
// Replace with
app.getAppMetrics()
// Deprecated
const metrics = app.getAppMetrics()
const { memory } = metrics[0] // Deprecated property
BrowserWindow
// Deprecated
const optionsA = { webPreferences: { blinkFeatures: '' } }
const windowA = new BrowserWindow(optionsA)
// Replace with
const optionsB = { webPreferences: { enableBlinkFeatures: '' } }
const windowB = new BrowserWindow(optionsB)
// Deprecated
window.on('app-command', (e, cmd) => {
if (cmd === 'media-play_pause') {
// do something
}
})
// Replace with
window.on('app-command', (e, cmd) => {
if (cmd === 'media-play-pause') {
// do something
}
})
clipboard
// Deprecated clipboard.readRtf() // Replace with clipboard.readRTF() // Deprecated clipboard.writeRtf() // Replace with clipboard.writeRTF() // Deprecated clipboard.readHtml() // Replace with clipboard.readHTML() // Deprecated clipboard.writeHtml() // Replace with clipboard.writeHTML()
crashReporter
// Deprecated
crashReporter.start({
companyName: 'Crashly',
submitURL: 'https://crash.server.com',
autoSubmit: true
})
// Replace with
crashReporter.start({
companyName: 'Crashly',
submitURL: 'https://crash.server.com',
uploadToServer: true
})
nativeImage
// Deprecated
nativeImage.createFromBuffer(buffer, 1.0)
// Replace with
nativeImage.createFromBuffer(buffer, {
scaleFactor: 1.0
})
process
// Deprecated const info = process.getProcessMemoryInfo()
screen
// Deprecated screen.getMenuBarHeight() // Replace with screen.getPrimaryDisplay().workArea
session
// Deprecated
ses.setCertificateVerifyProc((hostname, certificate, callback) => {
callback(true)
})
// Replace with
ses.setCertificateVerifyProc((request, callback) => {
callback(0)
})
Tray
// Deprecated
tray.setHighlightMode(true)
// Replace with
tray.setHighlightMode('on')
// Deprecated
tray.setHighlightMode(false)
// Replace with
tray.setHighlightMode('off')
webContents
// Deprecated
webContents.openDevTools({ detach: true })
// Replace with
webContents.openDevTools({ mode: 'detach' })
// Removed
webContents.setSize(options)
// There is no replacement for this API
webFrame
// Deprecated
webFrame.registerURLSchemeAsSecure('app')
// Replace with
protocol.registerStandardSchemes(['app'], { secure: true })
// Deprecated
webFrame.registerURLSchemeAsPrivileged('app', { secure: true })
// Replace with
protocol.registerStandardSchemes(['app'], { secure: true })
<webview>
// Removed
webview.setAttribute('disableguestresize', '')
// There is no replacement for this API
// Removed
webview.setAttribute('guestinstance', instanceId)
// There is no replacement for this API
// Keyboard listeners no longer work on webview tag
webview.onkeydown = () => { /* handler */ }
webview.onkeyup = () => { /* handler */ }
This is the URL specified as disturl in a .npmrc file or as the --dist-url command line flag when building native Node modules.
Deprecated: https://atom.io/download/atom-shell
Replace with: https://atom.io/download/electron
The following list includes the breaking API changes made in Electron 2.0.
BrowserWindow
// Deprecated
const optionsA = { titleBarStyle: 'hidden-inset' }
const windowA = new BrowserWindow(optionsA)
// Replace with
const optionsB = { titleBarStyle: 'hiddenInset' }
const windowB = new BrowserWindow(optionsB)
menu
// Removed
menu.popup(browserWindow, 100, 200, 2)
// Replaced with
menu.popup(browserWindow, { x: 100, y: 200, positioningItem: 2 })
nativeImage
// Removed nativeImage.toPng() // Replaced with nativeImage.toPNG() // Removed nativeImage.toJpeg() // Replaced with nativeImage.toJPEG()
process
process.versions.electron and process.version.chrome will be made read-only properties for consistency with the other process.versions properties set by Node.webContents
// Removed webContents.setZoomLevelLimits(1, 2) // Replaced with webContents.setVisualZoomLevelLimits(1, 2)
webFrame
// Removed webFrame.setZoomLevelLimits(1, 2) // Replaced with webFrame.setVisualZoomLevelLimits(1, 2)
<webview>
// Removed webview.setZoomLevelLimits(1, 2) // Replaced with webview.setVisualZoomLevelLimits(1, 2)
Each Electron release includes two identical ARM builds with slightly different filenames, like electron-v1.7.3-linux-arm.zip and electron-v1.7.3-linux-armv7l.zip. The asset with the v7l prefix was added to clarify to users which ARM version it supports, and to disambiguate it from future armv6l and arm64 assets that may be produced.
The file without the prefix is still being published to avoid breaking any setups that may be consuming it. Starting at 2.0, the unprefixed file will no longer be published.
For details, see 6986 and 7189.
© GitHub Inc.
Licensed under the MIT license.
https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/breaking-changes