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Electron 45

· 17 min read
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Electron 45 has been released! It includes upgrades to Chromium 156.0.8078.48, V8 15.6, and Node v24.22.0.

The Electron team is excited to announce the release of Electron 45! You can install it with npm via npm install electron@latest or download it from our releases website. Continue reading for details about this release.

If you have any feedback, please share it with us on Bluesky or Mastodon! Bugs and feature requests can be reported in Electron's issue tracker.

Notable Changes​

Faster startup, menus, and native API calls​

Electron 45 reduces sandboxed renderer startup work by avoiding Electron's JavaScript bootstrap bundle unless webviewTag is enabled, and improves cold-launch time on macOS by prefetching the framework's files. Building and showing menus is faster, and calls to native methods and properties on windows, views, and web contents have less overhead. #54048 #54528 #53914 #54359

info

Sandboxed preload scripts no longer include Buffer, setImmediate, clearImmediate, or the events, timers, and url module shims. Update affected preloads to use Web APIs or bundle the polyfills they need before upgrading. See the migration guide for replacements.

Screen sharing now asks for the display-capture permission​

Requests to capture the screen, a window, or a tab are now passed to session.setPermissionRequestHandler() as the documented display-capture permission instead of media. Previously they arrived as media with an empty mediaTypes array, indistinguishable from a camera or microphone request. Applications with a permission handler that grants media and denies everything else must also grant display-capture, or screen sharing will stop working. See the breaking changes document for details. #52824

Experimental Prompt API support with a local AI handler​

Electron 45 adds an experimental way to connect Chromium's Prompt API to a model supplied by your application. Register a utility process with session.registerLocalAIHandler() and implement the handler with the new localAIHandler module and LanguageModelUtility class. With the AIPromptAPI Blink feature enabled, renderer code can then use LanguageModel.create() and the resulting model's prompt() method.

Electron does not bundle a model or inference engine: your application chooses and provides the implementation. See the Local AI Handler tutorial for setup and examples. #50659

System passkeys on macOS​

Electron 45 extends app.configureWebAuthn() with platform passkey support on macOS. Set platformPasskeys: true and navigator.credentials.create() and .get() present Apple's native passkey sheet, served by any credential provider such as iCloud Keychain or 1Password. When both Touch ID and platform passkeys are configured, the new select-webauthn-authenticator session event lets your app choose which one to use. #51563

Unlike device-bound Touch ID credentials, system passkeys can sync across devices and are shared across Electron session partitions and other applications associated with the same domain. See the app.configureWebAuthn() documentation for details and limitations.

Broader crash reporting on Windows​

Electron now ships a Windows Error Reporting (WER) helper so crashReporter can capture __fastfail terminations and other crashes that bypass the in-process handler on Windows 10 20H1 and later. The helper is registered when your application calls crashReporter.start(). #53851

info

Package the helper DLL alongside your application's executable. If you rename electron.exe to myapp.exe, also rename electron_wer.dll to myapp_wer.dll. The helper must match the executable's name for Windows to load it.

See the crashReporter documentation for registration details and how to opt out of this additional crash coverage.

Files inside ASAR archives are read directly from the archive​

fs.open(), fs.createReadStream(), fs.copyFile(), fs.cp(), and related APIs now read files inside ASAR archives straight out of the archive instead of extracting a temporary copy first. Cold reads of large packed files are up to 100x faster, and apps no longer leave temporary files behind. The descriptors these calls return are only meaningful to Node's fs module; see the breaking changes document for what is no longer supported. #52833 #53919

Network, auth, and download events identify the requesting frame​

webRequest and protocol handler requests now carry an initiatorOrigin, DownloadItem gains getInitiatorOrigin(), and the will-download and preconnect session events receive the requesting frame as a trailing argument. Together with a series of fixes that attribute permission checks to the frame that made them, this makes it easier to write permission and network policies that reason about individual frames rather than whole windows. #53700 #53679 #53690 #53692

Native heap profiling with Perfetto​

Electron's contentTracing module now supports experimental native heap profiling through Perfetto. Pass nativeHeapProfiling to contentTracing.startRecording() to collect sampled C/C++ allocations alongside your trace. This profiles native memory, not the JavaScript heap.

For example, add this to your main process to record ten seconds while you reproduce an issue in your application:

const { app, contentTracing } = require('electron');
const { setTimeout } = require('node:timers/promises');

app.whenReady().then(async () => {
  await contentTracing.startRecording({
    nativeHeapProfiling: {
      samplingInterval: 128 * 1024,
    },
  });

  await setTimeout(10_000);

  const tracePath = await contentTracing.stopRecording();
  console.log(`Trace saved to ${tracePath}`);
});

Open the resulting recording in the Perfetto UI. samplingInterval is the average number of allocated bytes between samples; lower values provide more detail at a higher performance cost. See the contentTracing documentation and NativeHeapProfilerOptions reference for configuration details.

This replaces the experimental contentTracing.enableHeapProfiling() method. All contentTracing recordings now use Perfetto's protobuf format rather than the legacy JSON format; see the Breaking Changes section below for migration details. #54863

Stack Changes​

Electron 45 upgrades Chromium from 152.0.7977.54 to 156.0.8078.48, Node.js from v24.18.1 to v24.22.0, and V8 from 15.2 to 15.6.

See the Electron 45.0.0 release notes for the full list of changes.

New Features and Improvements​

Some of these changes are also available in earlier release lines, as noted below.

  • Added experimental Prompt API support through session.registerLocalAIHandler(), localAIHandler, and LanguageModelUtility, allowing applications to provide their own local model implementation in a utility process. #50659
  • Added app shims on macOS, allowing applications to show windows under another app's Dock icon. #55072 (Also in 44.9.0)
  • Added support for Notification action buttons on Linux. #54889 (Also in 44.8.0)
  • Added experimental protocol.registerSource() to serve custom schemes from directories on disk, including ASAR archives, without a JavaScript handler or routing requests through the main thread. #54521 (Also in 44.6.0)
  • Added launch-failure reporting with systemErrorCode to the app child-process-gone event. #54230 (Also in 44.5.0)
  • Added disableWakeLocks to webPreferences so that page activity such as audio playback no longer prevents the system from sleeping. #52342
  • Added initiatorOrigin to webRequest and protocol handler requests, DownloadItem.getInitiatorOrigin(), and a trailing frame argument to the will-download and preconnect session events. #53700 (Also in 43.7.0, 44.4.0)
  • Added webFrame.getIsolatedWorlds() and the isolated-world-created event so preload scripts can discover isolated worlds as they are created. #50633
  • Moved native heap profiling to Perfetto, configured through the nativeHeapProfiling option in contentTracing.startRecording(). #54863
  • Added a Windows Error Reporting helper so crashReporter can capture __fastfail and other crashes that bypass the in-process handler on Windows 10 20H1 and later. See Broader crash reporting on Windows above for packaging requirements. #53851
  • Added platform passkey support to app.configureWebAuthn() on macOS, and a select-webauthn-authenticator session event for choosing between Touch ID and platform passkeys. #51563
  • Added the ELECTRON_DEBUG_DRAGGABLE_REGIONS environment variable, which visualizes and logs draggable regions in unpackaged apps to help debug custom title bars. #53626 (Also in 43.7.0, 44.3.0)
  • Files inside ASAR archives are now read directly from the archive by fs.open(), fs.createReadStream(), fs.copyFile(), fs.cp(), and related APIs instead of through a temporary copy, and fs.opendir() and fs.readlink() now work on archives. #52833
  • Improved protocol.handle() performance by relaying untouched net.fetch() responses without passing them through JavaScript. #53379 (Also in 44.2.0)
  • Improved performance of fs operations on paths inside ASAR archives. #53919 (Also in 44.4.3)
  • Improved performance of Menu and MenuItem by implementing them natively. #53914
  • Improved sandboxed renderer startup by avoiding Electron's JavaScript bootstrap bundle unless webviewTag is enabled. #54048
  • Improved cold-launch time on macOS by prefetching Electron's framework files. #54528
  • Reduced the cost of calling native methods and properties on BrowserWindow, BaseWindow, WebContents, WebFrameMain, and View, and improved the performance of app.getName(), app.name, app.getVersion(), and app.getAppPath(). #54359
  • Reduced IPC dispatch overhead by delivering messages to JavaScript listeners natively. #53957
  • Improved performance of computing draggable regions in windows with many -webkit-app-region: drag elements. #53596 (Also in 43.7.0, 44.3.0)
  • Further improved performance for interleaved draggable and non-draggable regions by recursively combining them. #53649 (Also in 44.3.0)
  • Improved startup time by loading WHATWG streams and the desktop-name helper only when they are used. #53899 (Also in 44.4.0)
  • Improved startup time of Node.js-enabled renderers by pushing preload paths to them instead of fetching them with a synchronous IPC. #53916 (Also in 43.7.2, 44.4.0)
  • Renderer network requests no longer wait on the main process when a session's webRequest listeners only observe requests or are filtered to other resource types. #53204 (Also in 44.1.0)
  • The macOS autoUpdater now streams update downloads to disk instead of holding the ZIP in memory, can resume interrupted downloads when the server supports it, and supports binary delta updates when offered by the update feed. Resuming requires Range support and an ETag or Last-Modified header from the server; delta updates require an optional delta entry in the feed. See the autoUpdater documentation for server and feed requirements. #52820 (Also in 44.7.0)
  • Fixed getDisplayMedia({ audio: { restrictOwnAudio: true } }) being ignored by setDisplayMediaRequestHandler, causing loopback audio to include local app playback. #52455 (Also in 43.4.0, 44.0.0)
  • Fixed app.getLoginItemSettings() not finding Windows login items when the executable path contains spaces. #54419
  • Fixed notifications from long domains sometimes failing to appear on Windows. #54348
  • Fixed process.nextTick and promise callbacks queued in protocol and webRequest handlers running at the wrong time. #54301
  • Fixed a possible hang when pressing Esc while a <webview> is fullscreen. #53744
  • Fixed <select> dropdowns not appearing in offscreen-rendered frames on macOS. #53716
  • Fixed content-protected windows temporarily appearing in macOS screen captures during picture-in-picture state changes. #54612

Breaking Changes​

Removed: Node.js module shims and globals in sandboxed preload scripts​

Sandboxed preload scripts and service worker preload scripts no longer include the bundled events, timers, and url Node.js module shims, or the Buffer, setImmediate, and clearImmediate globals. Their require() function now only loads electron, electron/renderer, and electron/common; process and global are still provided.

Use Web APIs such as URL, URLSearchParams, Uint8Array, TextEncoder, and TextDecoder, or bundle the polyfills your application needs. Use setTimeout / clearTimeout or queueMicrotask as appropriate in place of the removed immediate helpers. Preload scripts running with sandbox: false retain the full Node.js environment and are unaffected. #54048

Behavior Changed: Sandboxed preload event emitters use a native implementation​

In sandboxed preload scripts and service worker preload scripts, ipcRenderer, webFrame, and process now inherit from Electron's native EventEmitter implementation rather than the bundled events package. Their instance methods, including on, once, off, and emit, remain available. Static helpers previously accessed through require('events') are no longer provided; bundle the events package if you need them. #54048

Behavior Changed: Subframe workers need nodeIntegrationInSubFrames for Node.js integration​

With nodeIntegrationInWorker: true, a Worker created by an <iframe> now only gets Node.js integration when nodeIntegrationInSubFrames is also enabled. Previously a worker created by an iframe in the main frame's process could receive Node.js integration even though the iframe itself had none. Workers created by the main frame are unaffected. #53706

Behavior Changed: Extension preload scripts respect their embedding frame​

A chrome-extension:// document now receives window and session preload scripts only when it is a top-level frame or is hosted inside the DevTools front-end. An extension frame embedded in an ordinary page is treated like any other subframe and follows nodeIntegrationInSubFrames. #53706

Behavior Changed: WebContents capture uses chromeMediaSource: 'tab'​

The legacy chromeMediaSource: 'desktop' constraint in getUserMedia() now only accepts screen and window source IDs from desktopCapturer.getSources(). To capture a WebContents, use chromeMediaSource: 'tab' with an ID from webContents.getMediaSourceId(), or use session.setDisplayMediaRequestHandler(). Passing a WebContents source ID with 'desktop' now fails with an "Invalid state" error. #53708

These worker, extension-preload, and WebContents-capture changes were also backported to Electron 44.3.0, 43.7.0, and 42.11.3. See the migration guide for details.

Behavior Changed: screen capture requests are reported as display-capture​

Requests to capture the screen, a window, or a tab, whether made through navigator.mediaDevices.getDisplayMedia() or through getUserMedia() with the chromeMediaSource constraints, are now passed to session.setPermissionRequestHandler() as display-capture. media is now used only for camera and microphone devices, and details.mediaTypes lists video and/or audio for both. A handler that allows only media must also allow display-capture to keep screen sharing working:

session.defaultSession.setPermissionRequestHandler(
  (webContents, permission, callback) => {
    callback(permission === 'media' || permission === 'display-capture');
  },
);

The display-capture Permissions-Policy now also applies to the getUserMedia() path, so a cross-origin <iframe> that captures the screen this way needs allow="display-capture". #52824

Behavior Changed: window.open() children of unsandboxed windows get their own sandboxed process​

A window.open() child whose sandbox state differs from its opener's renderer process is now created in its own process with no opener relationship: window.open() returns null in the opener and window.opener is null in the child, matching noopener behavior. Because child windows default to sandboxed, a child opened from an unsandboxed window is now isolated by default, and a warning is logged to the opener's console. To keep sharing the opener's process, explicitly set sandbox: false in overrideBrowserWindowOptions.webPreferences in webContents.setWindowOpenHandler(). Only do this for content you trust. #52472

Behavior Changed: file descriptors for files inside ASAR archives are only usable through fs​

fs.open(), fs.openSync(), and fs.promises.open() on a file inside an ASAR archive now return a descriptor that only identifies the entry to Node's fs module rather than a descriptor for an extracted temporary copy. Code that reads the raw descriptor, such as a native addon, child_process stdio, or net.Socket({ fd }), fails with EBADF and is not supported. Opening a packed file with a flag that allows writing now fails with EACCES, as do fs.fchmod(), fs.fchown(), and fs.futimes() on these descriptors. fs.stat() on a symbolic link inside an archive now follows the link; use fs.lstat() to inspect the link itself. #52833

Default Changed: document.requestStorageAccessFor is disabled​

Chromium has disabled document.requestStorageAccessFor by default ahead of its removal. The API can temporarily be restored with the enableBlinkFeatures web preference set to RequestStorageAccessFor. See Chromium's intent to remove discussion for more information. #52800

Removed: contentTracing.enableHeapProfiling()​

The experimental contentTracing.enableHeapProfiling() method has been removed following Chromium's removal of its underlying implementation. To profile native allocations, pass nativeHeapProfiling to contentTracing.startRecording() instead. The old samplingRate option becomes nativeHeapProfiling.samplingInterval; the old mode and stackMode options have no direct equivalents. See the migration guide for details. #53342 #54863

Behavior Changed: contentTracing recordings use the Perfetto protobuf format​

contentTracing.stopRecording() now writes Perfetto protobuf recordings rather than legacy JSON traces. Open recordings in the Perfetto UI or use Perfetto's Trace Processor to query them. If a tool still requires legacy JSON, convert the recording with Perfetto's traceconv tool. #54863

Deprecated: synchronous safeStorage methods​

The synchronous safeStorage.isEncryptionAvailable(), safeStorage.encryptString(), and safeStorage.decryptString() methods are deprecated and will be removed in Electron 46, following Chromium's removal of the synchronous OSCrypt backend they are built on. Use isAsyncEncryptionAvailable(), encryptStringAsync(), and decryptStringAsync() instead; data encrypted with the synchronous method can be decrypted with decryptStringAsync(). Note that decryptStringAsync() returns an object containing the decrypted result, rather than a string. #53850

End of Support for 42.x.y​

Electron 42.x.y has reached end-of-support as per the project's support policy. Developers and applications are encouraged to upgrade to a newer version of Electron. See https://releases.electronjs.org/schedule to see the timeline for supported versions of Electron.

What's Next​

In the short term, you can expect the team to continue to focus on keeping up with the development of the major components that make up Electron, including Chromium, Node, and V8.

You can find Electron's public timeline here.

More information about future changes can be found on the Planned Breaking Changes page.