Electron is a framework for building desktop applications with JavaScript, HTML and CSS, the languages of web pages. It is an open-source project under the OpenJS Foundation, maintained by a community of contributors.
Electron embeds Chromium (the open-source browser engine behind Google Chrome) and Node.js (a JavaScript runtime with access to files and the operating system) into its program file. One JavaScript codebase therefore becomes an app that runs natively on macOS, Windows and Linux. The main process controls the app and opens windows, and each window shows a web page; APIs give access to native menus, dialogs and notifications. Built-in modules send automatic updates to macOS and Windows users and collect crash reports. Community tools package the app as a .dmg, .msi or .rpm installer, and Electron supports the Mac App Store, the Microsoft Store and the Snap Store. Electron Forge is a toolkit that builds and publishes apps. Major versions follow Chromium releases, so security fixes arrive quickly.
Electron is free and open source under the MIT license and is installed as a package from the npm registry.