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Deskifier for React

Turn your React app into a desktop app

Keep building and deploying your React app the way you do now. Deskifier gives it a desktop version: signed installers for Mac, Windows and Linux that load your production app and call native features from your components.

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What the Electron route involves for a React app

The well-known path is Electron with electron-builder or Electron Forge. Getting a window to show your app takes an afternoon. The work comes after: deciding whether to bundle your build and load it from file:// (where BrowserRouter paths and absolute asset URLs break unless you switch to HashRouter or a custom protocol) or load your hosted URL, writing a preload script and IPC for anything native, buying and wiring up code signing for both platforms, notarising for macOS, and running an update feed.

If your team wants to own that and needs things a web page can’t do, such as bundled offline code or native Node modules, doing it yourself is a reasonable choice. If you want the desktop app to be your React app in a better home, Deskifier loads your deployed URL and manages the rest. Your router, your API calls and your auth work as they do in Chrome, and every deploy reaches desktop users on their next load.

What your React app gains

No routing workarounds
The app loads over https from your own domain, so BrowserRouter, code splitting and absolute asset paths work unchanged.
Native calls from components
Notifications, global shortcuts, file dialogs and printing are promise calls on window.deskifier. No preload script or IPC to write.
Tray and launch at login
A tray or menu bar icon with its own menu, and background running after the window closes.
Deep links
Your own myapp:// protocol opens the app and hands the URL to your code, useful for magic links and OAuth callbacks.
Signed installers
A notarised DMG for macOS and an Azure-signed installer for Windows, with no certificates for you to buy.
Two update paths
Deploy your React app and desktop users get it on their next load. The native shell updates itself separately.

React app to desktop app in three steps

  1. 1
    Deploy as usual
    Vite, Create React App, Next.js or Remix, on any host. The desktop app loads your production URL.
  2. 2
    Configure the shell
    Name, icon, window style, tray menu and deep link protocol, set in the Deskifier dashboard.
  3. 3
    Build installers
    Try a free dev build, then build signed installers for Mac, Windows and Linux or send builds to the app stores.

Frequently asked questions

window.deskifier only exists inside the desktop app. Check for it before calling, or use optional chaining, and render desktop-only UI behind the same check. The browser version carries on as before.

No. Because the app loads your deployed site over https, there’s no file:// base path to work around and no second build to maintain.

No. The desktop app loads your live site, so it needs a connection just as the browser does. If you need fully offline, bundled code, building on Electron directly is the better fit.

Yes. The app runs your site in Chromium with persistent storage, so sessions, cookies and localStorage behave as they do in Chrome and survive restarts.

Not for direct downloads, which Deskifier signs for you. You only need your own accounts to publish to the Mac App Store or Microsoft Store.

Dev builds are free, no card required. You pay per platform when you ship to users.

Keep reading
Vue apps as desktop apps →Any JavaScript app as a desktop app →Deskifier vs building on Electron yourself →All solutions →

Your React app, in the dock.

Paste your production URL and try a free dev build. No credit card required.

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