Creating Installers – NSIS (Windows), DMG (macOS), AppImage (Linux)

Creating Installers – NSIS (Windows), DMG (macOS), AppImage (Linux)

NSIS (Windows)

electron-builder uses NSIS under the hood. You can customise the installer via the nsis object in package.json:

"nsis": {
  "oneClick": false,
  "perMachine": true,
  "allowToChangeInstallationDirectory": true,
  "include": "build/installer.nsh"
}

A custom NSIS script (installer.nsh) can add extra steps (e.g., install a service).

DMG (macOS)

electron-builder creates a DMG that displays a drag‑to‑Applications window. You can tweak the appearance:

"dmg": {
  "icon": "build/icon.icns",
  "background": "build/dmg-bg.png",
  "contents": [
    { "x": 130, "y": 220 },
    { "x": 410, "y": 220, "type": "link", "path": "/Applications" }
  ]
}

AppImage (Linux)

electron-builder bundles everything into a self‑extracting AppImage. Add Linux specific config if you need desktop icons:

"linux": {
  "target": "AppImage",
  "category": "Utility",
  "icon": "build/icon.png"
}

Run npm run build and you’ll find MyApp-Setup.exe, MyApp.dmg, and MyApp.AppImage in the dist/ folder.