The publish key contains a set of options instructing electron-builder on how it should publish artifacts and build update info files for auto update.

String | Object | Array<Object | String> where Object it is Keygen, Generic Server, GitHub, S3, Spaces or Snap Store options. Order is important — first item will be used as a default auto-update server. Can be specified in the top-level configuration or any platform- (mac, linux, win) or target- (e.g. nsis) specific configuration.

Note that when using a generic server, you have to upload the built application and metadata files yourself.

Travis and AppVeyor support publishing artifacts. But it requires additional configuration for each CI and you need to configure what to publish. electron-builder makes publishing dead simple.

If GH_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN is defined — defaults to [{provider: "github"}].

If KEYGEN_TOKEN is defined and GH_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN is not — defaults to [{provider: "keygen"}].

If GITHUB_RELEASE_TOKEN is defined, it will be used instead of (GH_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN) to publish your release. - e.g. mac: export GITHUB_RELEASE_TOKEN=<my token> - the GITHUB_TOKEN will still be used when your app checks for updates, etc. - you could make your GITHUB_TOKEN “Read-only” when creating a fine-grained personal access token, and “Read and write” for the GITHUB_RELEASE_TOKEN. - “Contents” fine-grained permission was sufficient. (at time of writing - Apr 2024)

Snap store

snap target by default publishes to snap store (the app store for Linux). To force publishing to another providers, explicitly specify publish configuration for snap.

You can publish to multiple providers. For example, to publish Windows artifacts to both GitHub and Bitbucket (order is important — first item will be used as a default auto-update server, so, in this example app will use github as auto-update provider):

{
  "build": {
    "win": {
      "publish": ["github", "bitbucket"]
    }
  }
}

win:
  publish:
      # an object provider for github with additional options
    - provider: github
      protocol: https
      # a string provider for bitbucket that will use default options
    - bitbucket

You can also configure publishing using CLI arguments, for example, to force publishing snap not to Snap Store, but to GitHub: -c.snap.publish=github

Custom publish provider can be used if need.

Macros

In all publish options File Macros are supported.

How to Publish

Excerpt from CLI Usage of electron-builder command:

Publishing:
  --publish, -p  [choices: "onTag", "onTagOrDraft", "always", "never"]

CLI --publish option values:

Value	Description
onTag	on tag push only
onTagOrDraft	on tag push or if draft release exists
always	always publish
never	never publish

But please consider using automatic rules instead of explicitly specifying publish:

• If CI server detected, — onTagOrDraft.

• If CI server reports that tag was pushed, — onTag.

Release will be drafted (if doesn’t already exist) and artifacts published only if tag was pushed.

• If npm script named release, — always.

Add to scripts in the development package.json:

"release": "electron-builder"

and if you run yarn release, a release will be drafted (if doesn’t already exist) and artifacts published.

Recommended GitHub Releases Workflow

1. Draft a new release. Set the “Tag version” to the value of version in your application package.json, and prefix it with v. “Release title” can be anything you want.

   For example, if your application package.json version is 1.0, your draft’s “Tag version” would be v1.0.

2. Push some commits. Every CI build will update the artifacts attached to this draft.

3. Once you are done, publish the release. GitHub will tag the latest commit for you.

The benefit of this workflow is that it allows you to always have the latest artifacts, and the release can be published once it is ready.

Continuous Deployment Workflow on Amazon S3 and other non-GitHub

This example workflow is modelled on how releases are handled in maven (it is an example of one of many possible workflows, you are not forced to follow it).

1. Setup your CI to publish on each commit. E.g. "dist": "electron-builder --publish always" in your package.json.
2. Set your version in your application package.json to 1.9.0-snapshot (or 1.9.0-master or whatever you want your development channel to be named). This will publish a file named snapshot.yml and a build named something-snapshot.exe (and corresponding for mac) to S3.
3. When you are ready to deploy, simply change you package version to 1.9.0 and push. This will then produce a latest.yml and something.exe on s3. Usually you’ll git-tag this version as well (just to keep track of it).
4. Change the version back to a snapshot version right after, i.e. 1.10.0-snapshot, and commit it.

GitHub Repository

Detected automatically using:

• repository in the application or development package.json,
• if not set, env
  • TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG
  • or APPVEYOR_REPO_NAME
  • or CIRCLE_PROJECT_USERNAME/CIRCLE_PROJECT_REPONAME,
• if no env, from .git/config origin url.

Publishers

Bitbucket

Electron-Builder / builder-util-runtime / BitbucketOptions

Bitbucket options. https://bitbucket.org/ Define BITBUCKET_TOKEN environment variable.

For converting an app password to a usable token, you can utilize this

convertAppPassword(owner: string, appPassword: string) {
 const base64encodedData = Buffer.from(`${owner}:${appPassword.trim()}`).toString("base64")
 return `Basic ${base64encodedData}`
}

Extends

• PublishConfiguration

Properties

channel?

readonly optional channel: null | string

The channel.

Default

latest

---

owner

readonly owner: string

Repository owner

---

provider

readonly provider: "bitbucket"

The provider. Must be bitbucket.

Overrides

PublishConfiguration.provider

---

publishAutoUpdate?

readonly optional publishAutoUpdate: boolean

Whether to publish auto update info files.

Auto update relies only on the first provider in the list (you can specify several publishers). Thus, probably, there`s no need to upload the metadata files for the other configured providers. But by default will be uploaded.

Default

true

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.publishAutoUpdate

---

requestHeaders?

readonly optional requestHeaders: OutgoingHttpHeaders

Any custom request headers

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.requestHeaders

---

slug

readonly slug: string

Repository slug/name

---

timeout?

readonly optional timeout: null | number

Request timeout in milliseconds. (Default is 2 minutes; O is ignored)

Default

120000

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.timeout

---

token?

readonly optional token: null | string

The app password to support auto-update from private bitbucket repositories.

---

username?

readonly optional username: null | string

The user name to support auto-update from private bitbucket repositories.

Github

Electron-Builder / builder-util-runtime / GithubOptions

GitHub options.

GitHub personal access token is required. You can generate by going to https://github.com/settings/tokens/new. The access token should have the repo scope/permission. Define GH_TOKEN environment variable.

Extends

• PublishConfiguration

Properties

channel?

readonly optional channel: null | string

The channel.

Default

latest

---

host?

readonly optional host: null | string

The host (including the port if need).

Default

github.com

---

owner?

readonly optional owner: null | string

The owner.

---

private?

readonly optional private: null | boolean

Whether to use private github auto-update provider if GH_TOKEN environment variable is defined. See Private GitHub Update Repo.

---

protocol?

readonly optional protocol: null | "https" | "http"

The protocol. GitHub Publisher supports only https.

Default

https

---

provider

readonly provider: "github"

The provider. Must be github.

Overrides

PublishConfiguration.provider

---

publishAutoUpdate?

readonly optional publishAutoUpdate: boolean

Whether to publish auto update info files.

Auto update relies only on the first provider in the list (you can specify several publishers). Thus, probably, there`s no need to upload the metadata files for the other configured providers. But by default will be uploaded.

Default

true

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.publishAutoUpdate

---

releaseType?

optional releaseType: null | "draft" | "prerelease" | "release"

The type of release. By default draft release will be created.

Also you can set release type using environment variable. If EP_DRAFTis set to true — draft, if EP_PRE_RELEASEis set to true — prerelease.

Default

draft

---

repo?

readonly optional repo: null | string

The repository name. Detected automatically.

---

requestHeaders?

readonly optional requestHeaders: OutgoingHttpHeaders

Any custom request headers

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.requestHeaders

---

timeout?

readonly optional timeout: null | number

Request timeout in milliseconds. (Default is 2 minutes; O is ignored)

Default

120000

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.timeout

---

token?

readonly optional token: null | string

The access token to support auto-update from private github repositories. Never specify it in the configuration files. Only for setFeedURL.

---

vPrefixedTagName?

readonly optional vPrefixedTagName: boolean

Whether to use v-prefixed tag name.

Default

true

Keygen

Electron-Builder / builder-util-runtime / KeygenOptions

Keygen options. https://keygen.sh/ Define KEYGEN_TOKEN environment variable.

Extends

• PublishConfiguration

Properties

account

readonly account: string

Keygen account’s UUID

---

channel?

readonly optional channel: null | "stable" | "rc" | "beta" | "alpha" | "dev"

The channel.

Default

stable

---

platform?

readonly optional platform: null | string

The target Platform. Is set programmatically explicitly during publishing.

---

product

readonly product: string

Keygen product’s UUID

---

provider

readonly provider: "keygen"

The provider. Must be keygen.

Overrides

PublishConfiguration.provider

---

publishAutoUpdate?

readonly optional publishAutoUpdate: boolean

Whether to publish auto update info files.

Auto update relies only on the first provider in the list (you can specify several publishers). Thus, probably, there`s no need to upload the metadata files for the other configured providers. But by default will be uploaded.

Default

true

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.publishAutoUpdate

---

requestHeaders?

readonly optional requestHeaders: OutgoingHttpHeaders

Any custom request headers

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.requestHeaders

---

timeout?

readonly optional timeout: null | number

Request timeout in milliseconds. (Default is 2 minutes; O is ignored)

Default

120000

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.timeout

S3

Electron-Builder / builder-util-runtime / S3Options

Amazon S3 options. AWS credentials are required, please see getting your credentials. Define AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variables. Or in the ~/.aws/credentials.

Example configuration:

{
 "build":
   "publish": {
     "provider": "s3",
     "bucket": "bucket-name"
   }
 }
}

Extends

• BaseS3Options

Properties

accelerate?

readonly optional accelerate: boolean

If set to true, this will enable the s3 accelerated endpoint These endpoints have a particular format of: ${bucketname}.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com

---

acl?

readonly optional acl: null | "private" | "public-read"

The ACL. Set to null to not add.

Please see required permissions for the S3 provider.

Default

public-read

Overrides

BaseS3Options.acl

---

bucket

readonly bucket: string

The bucket name.

---

channel?

optional channel: null | string

The update channel.

Default

latest

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.channel

---

encryption?

readonly optional encryption: null | "AES256" | "aws:kms"

Server-side encryption algorithm to use for the object.

---

endpoint?

readonly optional endpoint: null | string

The endpoint URI to send requests to. The default endpoint is built from the configured region. The endpoint should be a string like https://{service}.{region}.amazonaws.com.

---

path?

readonly optional path: null | string

The directory path.

Default

/

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.path

---

provider

readonly provider: "s3"

The provider. Must be s3.

Overrides

BaseS3Options.provider

---

publishAutoUpdate?

readonly optional publishAutoUpdate: boolean

Whether to publish auto update info files.

Auto update relies only on the first provider in the list (you can specify several publishers). Thus, probably, there`s no need to upload the metadata files for the other configured providers. But by default will be uploaded.

Default

true

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.publishAutoUpdate

---

region?

optional region: null | string

The region. Is determined and set automatically when publishing.

---

requestHeaders?

readonly optional requestHeaders: OutgoingHttpHeaders

Any custom request headers

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.requestHeaders

---

storageClass?

readonly optional storageClass: null | "STANDARD" | "REDUCED_REDUNDANCY" | "STANDARD_IA"

The type of storage to use for the object.

Default

STANDARD

---

timeout?

readonly optional timeout: null | number

Request timeout in milliseconds. (Default is 2 minutes; O is ignored)

Default

120000

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.timeout

Snap Store

Electron-Builder / builder-util-runtime / SnapStoreOptions

Snap Store options. To publish directly to Snapcraft, see Snapcraft authentication options for local or CI/CD authentication options.

Extends

• PublishConfiguration

Properties

channels?

readonly optional channels: null | string | string[]

The list of channels the snap would be released.

Default

["edge"]

---

provider

readonly provider: "snapStore"

The provider. Must be snapStore.

Overrides

PublishConfiguration.provider

---

publishAutoUpdate?

readonly optional publishAutoUpdate: boolean

Whether to publish auto update info files.

Auto update relies only on the first provider in the list (you can specify several publishers). Thus, probably, there`s no need to upload the metadata files for the other configured providers. But by default will be uploaded.

Default

true

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.publishAutoUpdate

---

repo?

readonly optional repo: string

snapcraft repo name

---

requestHeaders?

readonly optional requestHeaders: OutgoingHttpHeaders

Any custom request headers

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.requestHeaders

---

timeout?

readonly optional timeout: null | number

Request timeout in milliseconds. (Default is 2 minutes; O is ignored)

Default

120000

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.timeout

Spaces

Electron-Builder / builder-util-runtime / SpacesOptions

DigitalOcean Spaces options. Access key is required, define DO_KEY_ID and DO_SECRET_KEY environment variables.

Extends

• BaseS3Options

Properties

acl?

readonly optional acl: null | "private" | "public-read"

The ACL. Set to null to not add.

Default

public-read

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.acl

---

channel?

optional channel: null | string

The update channel.

Default

latest

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.channel

---

name

readonly name: string

The space name.

---

path?

readonly optional path: null | string

The directory path.

Default

/

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.path

---

provider

readonly provider: "spaces"

The provider. Must be spaces.

Overrides

BaseS3Options.provider

---

publishAutoUpdate?

readonly optional publishAutoUpdate: boolean

Whether to publish auto update info files.

Auto update relies only on the first provider in the list (you can specify several publishers). Thus, probably, there`s no need to upload the metadata files for the other configured providers. But by default will be uploaded.

Default

true

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.publishAutoUpdate

---

region

readonly region: string

The region (e.g. nyc3).

---

requestHeaders?

readonly optional requestHeaders: OutgoingHttpHeaders

Any custom request headers

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.requestHeaders

---

timeout?

readonly optional timeout: null | number

Request timeout in milliseconds. (Default is 2 minutes; O is ignored)

Default

120000

Inherited from

BaseS3Options.timeout

BYO Generic (create-your-own)

(And maybe submit it upstream in a PR!) Electron-Builder / builder-util-runtime / GenericServerOptions

Generic (any HTTP(S) server) options. In all publish options File Macros are supported.

Extends

• PublishConfiguration

Properties

channel?

readonly optional channel: null | string

The channel.

Default

latest

---

provider

readonly provider: "generic"

The provider. Must be generic.

Overrides

PublishConfiguration.provider

---

publishAutoUpdate?

readonly optional publishAutoUpdate: boolean

Whether to publish auto update info files.

Auto update relies only on the first provider in the list (you can specify several publishers). Thus, probably, there`s no need to upload the metadata files for the other configured providers. But by default will be uploaded.

Default

true

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.publishAutoUpdate

---

requestHeaders?

readonly optional requestHeaders: OutgoingHttpHeaders

Any custom request headers

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.requestHeaders

---

timeout?

readonly optional timeout: null | number

Request timeout in milliseconds. (Default is 2 minutes; O is ignored)

Default

120000

Inherited from

PublishConfiguration.timeout

---

url

readonly url: string

The base url. e.g. https://bucket_name.s3.amazonaws.com.

---

useMultipleRangeRequest?

readonly optional useMultipleRangeRequest: boolean

Whether to use multiple range requests for differential update. Defaults to true if url doesn’t contain s3.amazonaws.com.