This project is an innovative integration of multiple cutting-edge technologies, tailored for efficient and robust desktop application development. At its core, it leverages Electron, a powerful framework that allows for the building of native desktop applications using web technologies, combining the performance of a desktop application with the ease of development found in web applications. For the frontend, React is employed, renowned for its efficiency and flexibility in building dynamic user interfaces with its component-based architecture. The backend is powered by Node.js, an asynchronous, event-driven JavaScript runtime designed to build scalable network applications, ensuring that the server-side of the application is fast, scalable, and easy to maintain. Data persistence and management are handled by SQLite, a lightweight yet highly reliable database, which offers a perfect balance between simplicity, performance, and functionality, making it ideal for desktop applications where a full-scale DBMS might be unnecessary. This amalgamation of technologies – Electron, React, Node.js, and SQLite – provides a robust platform for developing feature-rich, high-performance, and scalable desktop applications.

This guide outlines the steps to run and build the project, including backend, frontend, and packaging for distribution.

To start the backend server, execute:

npm run start-backend

To run the React application in development mode, follow these steps:

cd app/frontend
npm run start

To build the project, you need to build the React app first and then run the Electron app.

cd app/frontend
npm run build

In the root directory, you can start the Electron app with hot reload or a standard start:

• For hot reload:

  npm run dev

• For standard start (restart required after changes):

  npm start

To create an executable file for distribution:

npm run dist

If you need to build for Windows, add the following script to your package.json:

"scripts": {
  "dist:win": "electron-builder --win --x64",
  // ... other scripts
}

Electron-builder can use Wine to build Windows targets on non-Windows platforms. First, install Wine:

brew install --cask wine-stable

Then, run the build script for Windows:

npm run dist:win