electron-builder

electron-builder is the de-facto packaging tool for Electron apps: it takes your app's code and turns it into distributable installers, a DMG for macOS, an NSIS installer for Windows, .deb or Snap packages for Linux, and store formats like AppX and MAS.

Beyond packaging, it wires up the surrounding machinery: code signing and notarization hooks, auto-update metadata for electron-updater, and publishing to release hosts like S3 or GitHub Releases. Configuration lives in a build key in package.json or a standalone config file.

The tool itself is excellent; the operational load around it is what surprises teams. It can invoke signing, but you still need the certificates, the Apple and Microsoft accounts, the CI runners for each OS, and an auto-update feed that never regresses. That pipeline is most of the real cost of shipping a desktop app, as broken down in how much a desktop app costs.

Deskifier runs electron-builder under the hood, with the certificates, build machines, and update feeds managed for you, so pointing it at a URL produces the same signed artifacts without owning the pipeline.