Publishing

The publish command creates distributables and uploads them to GitHub Releases.

Configure Repository Information

Update forge.config.ts with your repository details:

publishers: [
  {
    name: "@electron-forge/publisher-github",
    config: {
      repository: {
        owner: "your-username",
        name: "your-repository",
      },
      draft: true,
      prerelease: false,
    },
  },
],

Set Up GitHub Token

Create a GitHub Personal Access Token with repo permissions and set it as an environment variable:

$env:GITHUB_TOKEN="your-github-token"
npm run publish

export GITHUB_TOKEN="your-github-token"
npm run publish

Update Version

Before publishing, update the version in package.json:

{
  "version": "1.0.1"
}

The version number will be used as the release tag.

Publish

Run the publish command:

npm run publish

This will create a draft release on GitHub with the built artifacts attached.

By default, releases are created as drafts. Review and edit the release description on GitHub before publishing it to users.

Using GitHub Actions

electron-shadcn includes a pre-configured GitHub Actions workflow for automated publishing.

The workflow is located at .github/workflows/publish.yml and can be triggered manually from the Actions tab in your repository.

Workflow Features

Builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Automatically creates GitHub Releases
Uploads all platform artifacts
Creates draft releases for review

Running the Workflow

The publish workflow needs to be triggered manually, this allows you to control when releases are created.

Go to your repository on GitHub
Navigate to Actions → Publish Release
Click Run workflow
Select the branch and confirm

Build Configuration

The build configuration is managed in forge.config.ts. Here you can customize:

App metadata: Name, description, icons
Makers: Configure installers for each platform
Publishers: Set up release destinations
Plugins: Vite bundler configuration

Customizing App Icons

TODO: Add instructions for customizing app icons.

Troubleshooting

Code Signing Issues on macOS

For distribution outside the Mac App Store, you need to notarize your app. See the Electron documentation on notarization.

Publishing

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