Electron & React : Build autoUpdate feature on Gitlab private repository

This project shows how to deploy auto-update feature on electron project hosted on Gitlab. Electron's auto-updater module allow downloading new versions automatically.

1. Generate Gitlab token

Create your own token with API scope.

2. Change package.json and main.ts with your own settings

package.json :

"repository": {
  "type": "git",
  "url": "https://gitlab.com/your-gitlab-username/your-repository-name/"
}

"publish": {
"provider": "generic",
"url": "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/Your-project-id/jobs/artifacts/your-branch-name/raw/dist?job=build"
}

electron/main.ts

// Auto update feature
autoUpdater.requestHeaders = {"PRIVATE-TOKEN": "your-gitlab-token"};

3. Build app and launch it locally

Run yarn run electron:build to build your app. Run mercure.exe with command line or by double-clicking it. You can see there is no new version available

4. Change files and push to repository

If you want to commit and publish a new version on your repository, don't forget to change the package.json version. Otherwise the auto-updater module won't be able to detect a new version

package.json :

"version": "1.5.0"

The commit will trigger gitlab pipeline :

Uploading artifacts for successful job
Uploading artifacts...
dist/: found 421 matching files and directories    
Uploading artifacts as "archive" to coordinator... ok 
Cleaning up file based variables
Job succeeded

Once the pipeline is finished, a new version is available at https://gitlab.com/your-username/your-repo-name/-/jobs/job-ID/artifacts/file The latest.yml file is very important because it contains the version id.

5. Run your app

You should see this message :