Build Instructions (macOS)

Follow the guidelines below for building Electron on macOS.

Prerequisites

• macOS >= 10.11.6
• Xcode >= 8.2.1
• node.js (external)
• Python 2.7 with support for TLS 1.2

Python

Please also ensure that your system and Python version support at least TLS 1.2. This depends on both your version of macOS and Python. For a quick test, run:

$ python ./script/check-tls.py

If the script returns that your configuration is using an outdated security protocol, you can either update macOS to High Sierra or install a new version of Python 2.7.x. To upgrade Python, use Homebrew:

$ brew install python@2 && brew link python@2 --force

If you are using Python as provided by Homebrew, you also need to install the following Python modules:

• pyobjc

macOS SDK

If you're developing Electron and don't plan to redistribute your custom Electron build, you may skip this section.

For certain features (e.g. pinch-zoom) to work properly, you must target the macOS 10.10 SDK.

Official Electron builds are built with Xcode 8.2.1, which does not contain the 10.10 SDK by default. To obtain it, first download and mount the Xcode 6.4 DMG.

Then, assuming that the Xcode 6.4 DMG has been mounted at /Volumes/Xcode and that your Xcode 8.2.1 install is at /Applications/Xcode.app, run:

cp -r /Volumes/Xcode/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.10.sdk /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/

You will also need to enable Xcode to build against the 10.10 SDK:

• Open /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Info.plist
• Set the MinimumSDKVersion to 10.10
• Save the file

Getting the Code

$ git clone https://github.com/electron/electron

Bootstrapping

The bootstrap script will download all necessary build dependencies and create the build project files. Notice that we're using ninja to build Electron so there is no Xcode project generated.

$ cd electron
  $ ./script/bootstrap.py -v

If you are using editor supports JSON compilation database based language server, you can generate it:

$ ./script/build.py --compdb

Building

Build both Release and Debug targets:

$ ./script/build.py

You can also only build the Debug target:

$ ./script/build.py -c D

After building is done, you can find Electron.app under out/D.

32bit Support

Electron can only be built for a 64bit target on macOS and there is no plan to support 32bit macOS in the future.

Cleaning

To clean the build files:

$ npm run clean

To clean only out and dist directories:

$ npm run clean-build

Note: Both clean commands require running bootstrap again before building.

Tests

See Build System Overview: Tests