- Breaking Changes
- Planned Breaking API Changes (27.0)
- Removed: macOS 10.13 / 10.14 support
- Deprecated:
ipcRenderer.sendTo()
- Removed: color scheme events in
systemPreferences
- Removed:
webContents.getPrinters
- Removed:
systemPreferences.{get,set}AppLevelAppearance
andsystemPreferences.appLevelAppearance
- Removed:
alternate-selected-control-text
value forsystemPreferences.getColor
- Planned Breaking API Changes (26.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (25.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (24.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (23.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (22.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (21.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (20.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (19.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (18.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (17.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (16.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (15.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (14.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (13.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (12.0)
- Removed: Pepper Flash support
- Default Changed:
worldSafeExecuteJavaScript
defaults totrue
- Default Changed:
contextIsolation
defaults totrue
- Removed:
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory()
- Removed:
crashReporter
methods in the renderer process - Default Changed:
crashReporter.start({ compress: true })
- Deprecated:
remote
module - Deprecated:
shell.moveItemToTrash()
- Planned Breaking API Changes (11.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (10.0)
- Deprecated:
companyName
argument tocrashReporter.start()
- Deprecated:
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory()
- Deprecated:
crashReporter
methods in the renderer process - Deprecated:
crashReporter.start({ compress: false })
- Default Changed:
enableRemoteModule
defaults tofalse
protocol.unregisterProtocol
protocol.uninterceptProtocol
protocol.registerFileProtocol
protocol.registerBufferProtocol
protocol.registerStringProtocol
protocol.registerHttpProtocol
protocol.registerStreamProtocol
protocol.interceptFileProtocol
protocol.interceptStringProtocol
protocol.interceptBufferProtocol
protocol.interceptHttpProtocol
protocol.interceptStreamProtocol
protocol.isProtocolHandled
- Deprecated:
- Planned Breaking API Changes (9.0)
- Default Changed: Loading non-context-aware native modules in the renderer process is disabled by default
- Deprecated:
BrowserWindow
extension APIs - Removed:
<webview>.getWebContents()
- Removed:
webFrame.setLayoutZoomLevelLimits()
- Behavior Changed: Sending non-JS objects over IPC now throws an exception
- API Changed:
shell.openItem
is nowshell.openPath
- Planned Breaking API Changes (8.0)
- Planned Breaking API Changes (7.0)
- Deprecated: Atom.io Node Headers URL
- API Changed:
session.clearAuthCache()
no longer accepts options - API Changed:
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState
is nowpowerMonitor.getSystemIdleState
- API Changed:
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime
is nowpowerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime
- API Changed:
webFrame.setIsolatedWorldInfo
replaces separate methods - Removed:
marked
property ongetBlinkMemoryInfo
- Behavior Changed:
webkitdirectory
attribute for<input type="file"/>
now lists directory contents - API Changed: Callback-based versions of promisified APIs
- Planned Breaking API Changes (6.0)
- API Changed:
win.setMenu(null)
is nowwin.removeMenu()
- API Changed:
electron.screen
in the renderer process should be accessed viaremote
- API Changed:
require()
ing node builtins in sandboxed renderers no longer implicitly loads theremote
version - Deprecated:
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState
replaced withpowerMonitor.getSystemIdleState
- Deprecated:
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime
replaced withpowerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime
- Deprecated:
app.enableMixedSandbox()
is no longer needed - Deprecated:
Tray.setHighlightMode
- API Changed:
- Planned Breaking API Changes (5.0)
- Default Changed:
nodeIntegration
andwebviewTag
default to false,contextIsolation
defaults to true - Behavior Changed:
nodeIntegration
in child windows opened vianativeWindowOpen
- API Changed: Registering privileged schemes must now be done before app ready
- Deprecated:
webFrame.setIsolatedWorld*
replaced withwebFrame.setIsolatedWorldInfo
- API Changed:
webFrame.setSpellCheckProvider
now takes an asynchronous callback - API Changed:
webContents.getZoomLevel
andwebContents.getZoomFactor
are now synchronous
- Default Changed:
- Planned Breaking API Changes (4.0)
- Breaking API Changes (3.0)
- Breaking API Changes (2.0)
Breaking Changes
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.
Types of Breaking Changes
This document uses the following convention to categorize breaking changes:
- API Changed: An API was changed in such a way that code that has not been updated is guaranteed to throw an exception.
- Behavior Changed: The behavior of Electron has changed, but not in such a way that an exception will necessarily be thrown.
- Default Changed: Code depending on the old default may break, not necessarily throwing an exception. The old behavior can be restored by explicitly specifying the value.
- Deprecated: An API was marked as deprecated. The API will continue to function, but will emit a deprecation warning, and will be removed in a future release.
- Removed: An API or feature was removed, and is no longer supported by Electron.
Planned Breaking API Changes (27.0)
Removed: macOS 10.13 / 10.14 support
macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and macOS 10.14 (Mojave) are no longer supported by Chromium.
Older versions of Electron will continue to run on these operating systems, but macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later will be required to run Electron v27.0.0 and higher.
Deprecated: ipcRenderer.sendTo()
The ipcRenderer.sendTo()
API has been deprecated. It should be replaced by setting up a MessageChannel between the renderers.
The senderId
and senderIsMainFrame
properties of IpcRendererEvent
have been deprecated as well.
Removed: color scheme events in systemPreferences
The following systemPreferences
events have been removed:
inverted-color-scheme-changed
high-contrast-color-scheme-changed
Use the new updated
event on the nativeTheme
module instead.
// Removed
systemPreferences.on('inverted-color-scheme-changed', () => { /* ... */ })
systemPreferences.on('high-contrast-color-scheme-changed', () => { /* ... */ })
// Replace with
nativeTheme.on('updated', () => { /* ... */ })
Removed: webContents.getPrinters
The webContents.getPrinters
method has been removed. Use webContents.getPrintersAsync
instead.
const w = new BrowserWindow({ show: false })
// Removed
console.log(w.webContents.getPrinters())
// Replace with
w.webContents.getPrintersAsync().then((printers) => {
console.log(printers)
})
Removed: systemPreferences.{get,set}AppLevelAppearance
and systemPreferences.appLevelAppearance
The systemPreferences.getAppLevelAppearance
and systemPreferences.setAppLevelAppearance
methods have been removed, as well as the systemPreferences.appLevelAppearance
property. Use the nativeTheme
module instead.
// Removed
systemPreferences.getAppLevelAppearance()
// Replace with
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
// Removed
systemPreferences.appLevelAppearance
// Replace with
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
// Removed
systemPreferences.setAppLevelAppearance('dark')
// Replace with
nativeTheme.themeSource = 'dark'
Removed: alternate-selected-control-text
value for systemPreferences.getColor
The alternate-selected-control-text
value for systemPreferences.getColor
has been removed. Use selected-content-background
instead.
// Removed
systemPreferences.getColor('alternate-selected-control-text')
// Replace with
systemPreferences.getColor('selected-content-background')
Planned Breaking API Changes (26.0)
Deprecated: webContents.getPrinters
The webContents.getPrinters
method has been deprecated. Use webContents.getPrintersAsync
instead.
const w = new BrowserWindow({ show: false })
// Deprecated
console.log(w.webContents.getPrinters())
// Replace with
w.webContents.getPrintersAsync().then((printers) => {
console.log(printers)
})
Deprecated: systemPreferences.{get,set}AppLevelAppearance
and systemPreferences.appLevelAppearance
The systemPreferences.getAppLevelAppearance
and systemPreferences.setAppLevelAppearance
methods have been deprecated, as well as the systemPreferences.appLevelAppearance
property. Use the nativeTheme
module instead.
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.getAppLevelAppearance()
// Replace with
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.appLevelAppearance
// Replace with
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.setAppLevelAppearance('dark')
// Replace with
nativeTheme.themeSource = 'dark'
Deprecated: alternate-selected-control-text
value for systemPreferences.getColor
The alternate-selected-control-text
value for systemPreferences.getColor
has been deprecated. Use selected-content-background
instead.
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.getColor('alternate-selected-control-text')
// Replace with
systemPreferences.getColor('selected-content-background')
Planned Breaking API Changes (25.0)
Deprecated: protocol.{register,intercept}{Buffer,String,Stream,File,Http}Protocol
The protocol.register*Protocol
and protocol.intercept*Protocol
methods have been replaced with protocol.handle.
The new method can either register a new protocol or intercept an existing protocol, and responses can be of any type.
// Deprecated in Electron 25
protocol.registerBufferProtocol('some-protocol', () => {
callback({ mimeType: 'text/html', data: Buffer.from('<h5>Response</h5>') })
})
// Replace with
protocol.handle('some-protocol', () => {
return new Response(
Buffer.from('<h5>Response</h5>'), // Could also be a string or ReadableStream.
{ headers: { 'content-type': 'text/html' } }
)
})
// Deprecated in Electron 25
protocol.registerHttpProtocol('some-protocol', () => {
callback({ url: 'https://electronjs.org' })
})
// Replace with
protocol.handle('some-protocol', () => {
return net.fetch('https://electronjs.org')
})
// Deprecated in Electron 25
protocol.registerFileProtocol('some-protocol', () => {
callback({ filePath: '/path/to/my/file' })
})
// Replace with
protocol.handle('some-protocol', () => {
return net.fetch('file:///path/to/my/file')
})
Deprecated: BrowserWindow.setTrafficLightPosition(position)
BrowserWindow.setTrafficLightPosition(position)
has been deprecated, the BrowserWindow.setWindowButtonPosition(position)
API should be used instead which accepts null
instead of { x: 0, y: 0 }
to reset the position to system default.
// Deprecated in Electron 25
win.setTrafficLightPosition({ x: 10, y: 10 })
win.setTrafficLightPosition({ x: 0, y: 0 })
// Replace with
win.setWindowButtonPosition({ x: 10, y: 10 })
win.setWindowButtonPosition(null)
Deprecated: BrowserWindow.getTrafficLightPosition()
BrowserWindow.getTrafficLightPosition()
has been deprecated, the BrowserWindow.getWindowButtonPosition()
API should be used instead which returns null
instead of { x: 0, y: 0 }
when there is no custom position.
// Deprecated in Electron 25
const pos = win.getTrafficLightPosition()
if (pos.x === 0 && pos.y === 0) {
// No custom position.
}
// Replace with
const ret = win.getWindowButtonPosition()
if (ret === null) {
// No custom position.
}
Planned Breaking API Changes (24.0)
API Changed: nativeImage.createThumbnailFromPath(path, size)
The maxSize
parameter has been changed to size
to reflect that the size passed in will be the size the thumbnail created. Previously, Windows would not scale the image up if it were smaller than maxSize
, and macOS would always set the size to maxSize
. Behavior is now the same across platforms.
Updated Behavior:
// a 128x128 image.
const imagePath = path.join('path', 'to', 'capybara.png')
// Scaling up a smaller image.
const upSize = { width: 256, height: 256 }
nativeImage.createThumbnailFromPath(imagePath, upSize).then(result => {
console.log(result.getSize()) // { width: 256, height: 256 }
})
// Scaling down a larger image.
const downSize = { width: 64, height: 64 }
nativeImage.createThumbnailFromPath(imagePath, downSize).then(result => {
console.log(result.getSize()) // { width: 64, height: 64 }
})
Previous Behavior (on Windows):
// a 128x128 image
const imagePath = path.join('path', 'to', 'capybara.png')
const size = { width: 256, height: 256 }
nativeImage.createThumbnailFromPath(imagePath, size).then(result => {
console.log(result.getSize()) // { width: 128, height: 128 }
})
Planned Breaking API Changes (23.0)
Behavior Changed: Draggable Regions on macOS
The implementation of draggable regions (using the CSS property -webkit-app-region: drag
) has changed on macOS to bring it in line with Windows and Linux. Previously, when a region with -webkit-app-region: no-drag
overlapped a region with -webkit-app-region: drag
, the no-drag
region would always take precedence on macOS, regardless of CSS layering. That is, if a drag
region was above a no-drag
region, it would be ignored. Beginning in Electron 23, a drag
region on top of a no-drag
region will correctly cause the region to be draggable.
Additionally, the customButtonsOnHover
BrowserWindow property previously created a draggable region which ignored the -webkit-app-region
CSS property. This has now been fixed (see #37210 for discussion).
As a result, if your app uses a frameless window with draggable regions on macOS, the regions which are draggable in your app may change in Electron 23.
Removed: Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 support
Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 are no longer supported. Electron follows the planned Chromium deprecation policy, which will deprecate Windows 7 support beginning in Chromium 109.
Older versions of Electron will continue to run on these operating systems, but Windows 10 or later will be required to run Electron v23.0.0 and higher.
Removed: BrowserWindow scroll-touch-*
events
The deprecated scroll-touch-begin
, scroll-touch-end
and scroll-touch-edge
events on BrowserWindow have been removed. Instead, use the newly available input-event event on WebContents.
// Removed in Electron 23.0
win.on('scroll-touch-begin', scrollTouchBegin)
win.on('scroll-touch-edge', scrollTouchEdge)
win.on('scroll-touch-end', scrollTouchEnd)
// Replace with
win.webContents.on('input-event', (_, event) => {
if (event.type === 'gestureScrollBegin') {
scrollTouchBegin()
} else if (event.type === 'gestureScrollUpdate') {
scrollTouchEdge()
} else if (event.type === 'gestureScrollEnd') {
scrollTouchEnd()
}
})
Removed: webContents.incrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
The webContents.incrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
function has been removed. It is now automatically handled by webContents.capturePage
when a page capture completes.
const w = new BrowserWindow({ show: false })
// Removed in Electron 23
w.webContents.incrementCapturerCount()
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
w.webContents.decrementCapturerCount()
})
// Replace with
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
})
Removed: webContents.decrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
The webContents.decrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
function has been removed. It is now automatically handled by webContents.capturePage
when a page capture completes.
const w = new BrowserWindow({ show: false })
// Removed in Electron 23
w.webContents.incrementCapturerCount()
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
w.webContents.decrementCapturerCount()
})
// Replace with
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
})
Planned Breaking API Changes (22.0)
Deprecated: webContents.incrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
webContents.incrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
has been deprecated. It is now automatically handled by webContents.capturePage
when a page capture completes.
const w = new BrowserWindow({ show: false })
// Removed in Electron 23
w.webContents.incrementCapturerCount()
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
w.webContents.decrementCapturerCount()
})
// Replace with
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
})
Deprecated: webContents.decrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
webContents.decrementCapturerCount(stayHidden, stayAwake)
has been deprecated. It is now automatically handled by webContents.capturePage
when a page capture completes.
const w = new BrowserWindow({ show: false })
// Removed in Electron 23
w.webContents.incrementCapturerCount()
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
w.webContents.decrementCapturerCount()
})
// Replace with
w.capturePage().then(image => {
console.log(image.toDataURL())
})
Removed: WebContents new-window
event
The new-window
event of WebContents has been removed. It is replaced by webContents.setWindowOpenHandler().
// Removed in Electron 22
webContents.on('new-window', (event) => {
event.preventDefault()
})
// Replace with
webContents.setWindowOpenHandler((details) => {
return { action: 'deny' }
})
Removed: <webview>
new-window
event
The new-window
event of <webview>
has been removed. There is no direct replacement.
// Removed in Electron 22
webview.addEventListener('new-window', (event) => {})
docs/fiddles/ipc/webview-new-window (27.0.1)Open in Fiddle
- child.html
- main.js
- preload.js
- index.html
- renderer.js
<body>
<a href="child.html" target="_blank">new window</a>
</body>
// Modules to control application life and create native browser window
const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
const path = require('node:path')
function createWindow () {
// Create the browser window.
const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
webPreferences: {
preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js'),
webviewTag: true
}
})
mainWindow.webContents.on('did-attach-webview', (event, wc) => {
wc.setWindowOpenHandler((details) => {
mainWindow.webContents.send('webview-new-window', wc.id, details)
return { action: 'deny' }
})
})
// and load the index.html of the app.
mainWindow.loadFile('index.html')
// Open the DevTools.
// mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools()
}
// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Some APIs can only be used after this event occurs.
app.whenReady().then(() => {
createWindow()
app.on('activate', function () {
// On macOS it's common to re-create a window in the app when the
// dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) createWindow()
})
})
// Quit when all windows are closed, except on macOS. There, it's common
// for applications and their menu bar to stay active until the user quits
// explicitly with Cmd + Q.
app.on('window-all-closed', function () {
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') app.quit()
})
// In this file you can include the rest of your app's specific main process
// code. You can also put them in separate files and require them here.
const { ipcRenderer } = require('electron')
const webview = document.getElementById('webview')
ipcRenderer.on('webview-new-window', (e, webContentsId, details) => {
console.log('webview-new-window', webContentsId, details)
webview.dispatchEvent(new Event('new-window'))
})
<body>
<webview id=webview src="child.html" allowpopups></webview>
<script src="renderer.js"></script>
</body>
const webview = document.getElementById('webview')
webview.addEventListener('new-window', () => {
console.log('got new-window event')
})
Deprecated: BrowserWindow scroll-touch-*
events
The scroll-touch-begin
, scroll-touch-end
and scroll-touch-edge
events on BrowserWindow are deprecated. Instead, use the newly available input-event event on WebContents.
// Deprecated
win.on('scroll-touch-begin', scrollTouchBegin)
win.on('scroll-touch-edge', scrollTouchEdge)
win.on('scroll-touch-end', scrollTouchEnd)
// Replace with
win.webContents.on('input-event', (_, event) => {
if (event.type === 'gestureScrollBegin') {
scrollTouchBegin()
} else if (event.type === 'gestureScrollUpdate') {
scrollTouchEdge()
} else if (event.type === 'gestureScrollEnd') {
scrollTouchEnd()
}
})
Planned Breaking API Changes (21.0)
Behavior Changed: V8 Memory Cage enabled
The V8 memory cage has been enabled, which has implications for native modules which wrap non-V8 memory with ArrayBuffer
or Buffer
. See the blog post about the V8 memory cage for more details.
API Changed: webContents.printToPDF()
webContents.printToPDF()
has been modified to conform to Page.printToPDF in the Chrome DevTools Protocol. This has been changes in order to address changes upstream that made our previous implementation untenable and rife with bugs.
Arguments Changed
pageRanges
Arguments Removed
printSelectionOnly
marginsType
headerFooter
scaleFactor
Arguments Added
headerTemplate
footerTemplate
displayHeaderFooter
margins
scale
preferCSSPageSize
// Main process
const { webContents } = require('electron')
webContents.printToPDF({
landscape: true,
displayHeaderFooter: true,
printBackground: true,
scale: 2,
pageSize: 'Ledger',
margins: {
top: 2,
bottom: 2,
left: 2,
right: 2
},
pageRanges: '1-5, 8, 11-13',
headerTemplate: '<h1>Title</h1>',
footerTemplate: '<div><span class="pageNumber"></span></div>',
preferCSSPageSize: true
}).then(data => {
fs.writeFile(pdfPath, data, (error) => {
if (error) throw error
console.log(`Wrote PDF successfully to ${pdfPath}`)
})
}).catch(error => {
console.log(`Failed to write PDF to ${pdfPath}: `, error)
})
Planned Breaking API Changes (20.0)
Removed: macOS 10.11 / 10.12 support
macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) and macOS 10.12 (Sierra) are no longer supported by Chromium.
Older versions of Electron will continue to run on these operating systems, but macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later will be required to run Electron v20.0.0 and higher.
Default Changed: renderers without 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.
Removed: 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.
API Changed: 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, but instead is passed the origin
, which is the origin that is checking for device permission.
Planned Breaking API Changes (19.0)
Removed: IA32 Linux binaries
This is a result of Chromium 102.0.4999.0 dropping support for IA32 Linux. This concludes the removal of support for IA32 Linux.
Planned Breaking API Changes (18.0)
Removed: 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.
Planned Breaking API Changes (17.0)
Removed: 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.
Deprecated: 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.
Planned Breaking API Changes (16.0)
Behavior Changed: 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.
Deprecated: 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.
Planned Breaking API Changes (15.0)
Default Changed: 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.
Deprecated: app.runningUnderRosettaTranslation
The app.runningUnderRosettaTranslation
property has been deprecated. Use app.runningUnderARM64Translation
instead.
// Deprecated
console.log(app.runningUnderRosettaTranslation)
// Replace with
console.log(app.runningUnderARM64Translation)
Planned Breaking API Changes (14.0)
Removed: 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()
Removed: 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.
Removed: Browser Window Affinity
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.
API Changed: 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).
Removed: 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.
Removed: BrowserWindowConstructorOptions inheriting from parent windows
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: {
// ...
}
}
})
Removed: 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']) {
// ...
}
})
Planned Breaking API Changes (13.0)
API Changed: 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
})
Removed: 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(/* ... */)
Removed: 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()
Removed: methods in systemPreferences
The following systemPreferences
methods have been deprecated:
systemPreferences.isDarkMode()
systemPreferences.isInvertedColorScheme()
systemPreferences.isHighContrastColorScheme()
Use the following nativeTheme
properties instead:
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
nativeTheme.shouldUseInvertedColorScheme
nativeTheme.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
Deprecated: WebContents 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' }
})
Planned Breaking API Changes (12.0)
Removed: Pepper Flash support
Chromium has removed support for Flash, and so we must follow suit. See Chromium’s Flash Roadmap for more details.
Default Changed: 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.
Default Changed: 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
Removed: 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')
Removed: crashReporter
methods in the renderer process
The following crashReporter
methods are no longer available in the renderer process:
crashReporter.start
crashReporter.getLastCrashReport
crashReporter.getUploadedReports
crashReporter.getUploadToServer
crashReporter.setUploadToServer
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory
They should be called only from the main process.
See #23265 for more details.
Default Changed: 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.
Deprecated: 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()
Deprecated: 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(/* ... */)
Planned Breaking API Changes (11.0)
Removed: 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.
Planned Breaking API Changes (10.0)
Deprecated: 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' } })
Deprecated: 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')
Deprecated: crashReporter
methods in the renderer process
Calling the following crashReporter
methods from the renderer process is deprecated:
crashReporter.start
crashReporter.getLastCrashReport
crashReporter.getUploadedReports
crashReporter.getUploadToServer
crashReporter.setUploadToServer
crashReporter.getCrashesDirectory
The 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.
Deprecated: 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.
Default Changed: 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)
Planned Breaking API Changes (9.0)
Default Changed: Loading non-context-aware native modules in the renderer process is disabled by default
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.
Deprecated: 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()
Removed: <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())
Removed: 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.
Behavior Changed: Sending non-JS objects over IPC now throws an exception
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.
API Changed: 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.
Planned Breaking API Changes (8.0)
Behavior Changed: Values sent over IPC are now serialized with Structured Clone Algorithm
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.
- Sending Functions, Promises, WeakMaps, WeakSets, or objects containing any such values, over IPC will now throw an exception, instead of silently converting the functions to
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 tonull
.- Objects containing cyclic references will now be correctly serialized, instead of being converted to
null
. Set
,Map
,Error
andRegExp
values will be correctly serialized, instead of being converted to{}
.BigInt
values will be correctly serialized, instead of being converted tonull
.- Sparse arrays will be serialized as such, instead of being converted to dense arrays with
null
s. Date
objects will be transferred asDate
objects, instead of being converted to their ISO string representation.- Typed Arrays (such as
Uint8Array
,Uint16Array
,Uint32Array
and so on) will be transferred as such, instead of being converted to Node.jsBuffer
. - Node.js
Buffer
objects will be transferred asUint8Array
s. You can convert aUint8Array
back to a Node.jsBuffer
by wrapping the underlyingArrayBuffer
:
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.
Deprecated: <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())
Deprecated: 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.
Deprecated events in systemPreferences
The following systemPreferences
events have been deprecated:
inverted-color-scheme-changed
high-contrast-color-scheme-changed
Use 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', () => { /* ... */ })
Deprecated: methods in systemPreferences
The following systemPreferences
methods have been deprecated:
systemPreferences.isDarkMode()
systemPreferences.isInvertedColorScheme()
systemPreferences.isHighContrastColorScheme()
Use the following nativeTheme
properties instead:
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
nativeTheme.shouldUseInvertedColorScheme
nativeTheme.shouldUseHighContrastColors
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.isDarkMode()
// Replace with
nativeTheme.shouldUseDarkColors
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.isInvertedColorScheme()
// Replace with
nativeTheme.shouldUseInvertedColorScheme
// Deprecated
systemPreferences.isHighContrastColorScheme()
// Replace with
nativeTheme.shouldUseHighContrastColors
Planned Breaking API Changes (7.0)
Deprecated: Atom.io Node Headers URL
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
API Changed: 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()
API Changed: powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState
is now powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState
// Removed in Electron 7.0
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState(threshold, callback)
// Replace with synchronous API
const idleState = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState(threshold)
API Changed: powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime
is now powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime
// Removed in Electron 7.0
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime(callback)
// Replace with synchronous API
const idleTime = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime()
API Changed: 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'
})
Removed: marked
property on getBlinkMemoryInfo
This property was removed in Chromium 77, and as such is no longer available.
Behavior Changed: 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).
API Changed: Callback-based versions of promisified APIs
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()
#15742app.dock.show()
#16904contentTracing.getCategories()
#16583contentTracing.getTraceBufferUsage()
#16600contentTracing.startRecording()
#16584contentTracing.stopRecording()
#16584contents.executeJavaScript()
#17312cookies.flushStore()
#16464cookies.get()
#16464cookies.remove()
#16464cookies.set()
#16464debugger.sendCommand()
#16861dialog.showCertificateTrustDialog()
#17181inAppPurchase.getProducts()
#17355inAppPurchase.purchaseProduct()
#17355netLog.stopLogging()
#16862session.clearAuthCache()
#17259session.clearCache()
#17185session.clearHostResolverCache()
#17229session.clearStorageData()
#17249session.getBlobData()
#17303session.getCacheSize()
#17185session.resolveProxy()
#17222session.setProxy()
#17222shell.openExternal()
#16176webContents.loadFile()
#15855webContents.loadURL()
#15855webContents.hasServiceWorker()
#16535webContents.printToPDF()
#16795webContents.savePage()
#16742webFrame.executeJavaScript()
#17312webFrame.executeJavaScriptInIsolatedWorld()
#17312webviewTag.executeJavaScript()
#17312win.capturePage()
#15743
These functions now have two forms, synchronous and Promise-based asynchronous:
dialog.showMessageBox()
/dialog.showMessageBoxSync()
#17298dialog.showOpenDialog()
/dialog.showOpenDialogSync()
#16973dialog.showSaveDialog()
/dialog.showSaveDialogSync()
#17054
Planned Breaking API Changes (6.0)
API Changed: win.setMenu(null)
is now win.removeMenu()
// Deprecated
win.setMenu(null)
// Replace with
win.removeMenu()
API Changed: electron.screen
in the renderer process should be accessed via remote
// Deprecated
require('electron').screen
// Replace with
require('electron').remote.screen
API Changed: 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')
Deprecated: powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState
replaced with powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState
// Deprecated
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleState(threshold, callback)
// Replace with synchronous API
const idleState = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleState(threshold)
Deprecated: powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime
replaced with powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime
// Deprecated
powerMonitor.querySystemIdleTime(callback)
// Replace with synchronous API
const idleTime = powerMonitor.getSystemIdleTime()
Deprecated: app.enableMixedSandbox()
is no longer needed
// Deprecated
app.enableMixedSandbox()
Mixed-sandbox mode is now enabled by default.
Deprecated: 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.
Planned Breaking API Changes (5.0)
Default Changed: 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
}
})
Behavior Changed: 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
.
API Changed: Registering privileged schemes must now be done before app ready
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.
Deprecated: 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'
})
API Changed: 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)))
}
})
API Changed: 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)
Planned Breaking API Changes (4.0)
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.
Removed: IA32 Linux support
Electron 18 will no longer run on 32-bit Linux systems. See discontinuing support for 32-bit Linux for more information.
Breaking API Changes (3.0)
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 */ }
Node Headers URL
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
Breaking API Changes (2.0)
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
andprocess.version.chrome
will be made read-only properties for consistency with the otherprocess.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)
Duplicate ARM Assets
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.