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Sumanth Perambuduri
Sumanth Perambuduri

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Multi-OS Electron Build & Release with GitHub Actions

#electron #node #github #cicd

Automating your Electron app’s build and release process can save a lot of time—and reduce human error. With GitHub Actions, we can create a workflow that not only builds and publishes Electron apps but also handles multiple operating systems and automatically generates changelogs for tagged releases.

Here’s how you can set it up.

Workflow Overview

This workflow triggers on every push to the main branch. It does the following:

  1. Checks if the commit is a version tag (e.g., v1.2.3)
  2. Builds the Electron app on both Ubuntu and Windows
  3. Publishes releases only for tagged commits
  4. Generates a changelog for tagged releases (check this)
  5. Updates or creates a GitHub release

GitHub Actions Workflow File 

name: Build/release on: push: branches: - 'main' jobs: release: runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }} strategy: matrix: os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest] steps: # Step 1: Checkout the repository - name: Check out repository uses: actions/checkout@v5 # Step 2: Detect if commit is a tag - uses: kaisugi/action-regex-match@v1.0.1 id: regex-match with: text: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }} regex: '^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$' # Step 3: Set up Node.js - name: Set up Node.js uses: actions/setup-node@v5 with: node-version: 20 cache: 'npm' # Step 4: Package Electron (non-tagged commits) - name: Package Electron if: ${{ steps.regex-match.outputs.match == '' }} env: GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} run: | npm i npx electron-builder --publish never # Step 5: Package and Publish Electron (tagged commits) - name: Package and Publish Electron if: ${{ steps.regex-match.outputs.match != '' }} env: GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} run: | npm i npx electron-builder --publish always # Step 6: Build Changelog - name: Build Changelog if: ${{ steps.regex-match.outputs.match != '' }} id: changelog uses: ardalanamini/auto-changelog@v4 with: mention-authors: false mention-new-contributors: false include-compare-link: false semver: false # Step 7: Update GitHub Release - name: Update Release if: ${{ steps.regex-match.outputs.match != '' }} uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1.20.0 with: body: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.changelog }} allowUpdates: true tag: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }} name: Release ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }} token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
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How It Works

Multi-OS Builds

The workflow uses a matrix strategy to run the release job on both Ubuntu and Windows. This ensures your Electron app is packaged correctly for multiple platforms without needing separate workflows.

strategy: matrix: os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
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Tag Detection

Instead of relying on bash scripts, this workflow uses action-regex-match to check if the commit message is a semantic version tag (vX.Y.Z).

- uses: kaisugi/action-regex-match@v1.0.1 id: regex-match with: text: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }} regex: '^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'
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This outputs a match variable we can use to determine whether to publish a release.

Conditional Steps

We use GitHub Actions’ if: statements to separate regular builds from release builds:
match == '' → normal packaging
match != '' → publish and release

Changelog & Release

For tagged releases, the workflow automatically generates a changelog with auto-changelog and updates the GitHub release with ncipollo/release-action.

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