Website to Electron Action

GitHub Action that packages a pre-built static website into an Electron desktop app using Electron Forge. It copies your site into the embedded Electron template, applies your metadata/icons, and returns ready-made installers.

Usage

Basic Usage

name: Package desktop app
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  make-electron:
    runs-on: macos-latest # use windows-latest for Squirrel installer, ubuntu-latest for deb/rpm
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      # Build your static site first
      - name: Build static site
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm run build

      - name: Package Electron app
        uses: anyerqi/electron-website@main
        with:
          site-path: build
          app-name: my-site-app
          product-name: "My Site"
          app-version: 1.2.3
          app-description: "Docs viewer"
          icon-icns-path: .github/icons/app.icns    # optional, Mac
          icon-ico-path: .github/icons/app.ico      # optional, Windows
          icon-png-path: .github/icons/app.png      # optional, Linux
          author: username  # Required for Windows

      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: electron-artifacts
          path: electron-out

With Auto-Update (via GitHub Releases)

name: Package and Release
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  make-electron:
    runs-on: macos-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write  # Required for publishing releases
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Build static site
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm run build

      - name: Package and Publish Electron app
        uses: anyerqi/electron-website@main
        with:
          site-path: build
          app-name: my-site-app
          product-name: "My Site"
          app-version: ${{ github.ref_name }}  # Use tag as version (e.g., v1.0.0)
          auto-update: "true"
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

When auto-update is enabled:

• The built artifacts will be automatically published to GitHub Releases
• The app will check for updates from GitHub Releases on startup (using update-electron-app)
• Updates are checked every hour and downloaded automatically

Inputs

Input	Default	Description
site-path	dist	Folder containing your built static site
app-name	website-app	Package name used by Electron Forge (kebab-case)
product-name	Website App	Display name shown in installers
app-version	-	Version to embed in the build
app-description	-	Installer description
author	-	Author name (required for Windows)
icon-icns-path	-	Path to .icns icon for macOS
icon-ico-path	-	Path to .ico icon for Windows
icon-png-path	-	Path to .png icon for Linux/DMG
auto-update	false	Enable auto-update via GitHub Releases
github-token	-	GitHub token for publishing releases (required if auto-update is true)

Outputs

Output	Description
artifact-path	Workspace path where Electron Forge artifacts are copied (electron-out)

Notes

• Run on the platform you need artifacts for: macOS for DMG/universal, Windows for Squirrel installer, Linux for deb/rpm.
• The action runs npm ci inside the action bundle, copies your site into the embedded dist/, updates package.json metadata, and executes npm run make.
• Default icons live under assets/; provide platform-specific icons via inputs to override them.
• When using auto-update, make sure your workflow has contents: write permission to publish releases.
• The auto-update feature uses the current repository's GitHub Releases as the update source.