Electron Notarize
Notarize your Electron apps seamlessly
Installation
npm i electron-notarize --save-dev
yarn add electron-notarize --dev
What is app "notarization"?
From apple's docs, the definition of a "notarized app"
A notarized app is a macOS app that was uploaded to Apple for processing before it was distributed. When you export a notarized app from Xcode, it code signs the app with a Developer ID certificate and staples a ticket from Apple to the app. The ticket confirms that you previously uploaded the app to Apple.
On macOS 10.14 and later, the user can launch notarized apps when Gatekeeper is enabled. When the user first launches a notarized app, Gatekeeper looks for the app’s ticket online. If the user is offline, Gatekeeper looks for the ticket that was stapled to the app.
Basically Apple are going to make this a hard requirement soon, may as well get
on the train early.
API
Method: notarize(opts): Promise<void>
options
Object
appBundleId
String - The app bundle identifier your Electron app is using. E.g. com.github.electron
appPath
String - The absolute path to your .app
fileappleId
String - The username of your apple developer accountappleIdPassword
String - The password for your apple developer accountascProvider
String (optional) - Your Team ID in App Store Connect. This is necessary if you are part of multiple teams
Prerequisites
For notarization, you need the following things:
- Xcode 10 or later installed on your Mac.
- An Apple Developer account.
- An app-specific password for your ADC account’s Apple ID.
Safety when using appleIdPassword
- Never hard code your password into your packaging scripts, use an environment
variable at a minimum.
- It is possible to provide a keychain reference instead of your actual password (assuming that you have already logged into
the Application Loader from Xcode). For example:
const password = `@keychain:"Application Loader: ${appleId}"`;
Another option is that you can add a new keychain item using either the Keychain Access app or from the command line using the security
utility:
security add-generic-password -a "AC_USERNAME" -w <app_specific_password> -s "AC_PASSWORD"
where AC_USERNAME
should be replaced with your Apple ID, and then in your code you can use:
const password = `@keychain:AC_PASSWORD`;
Example Usage
import { notarize } from 'electron-notarize';
async function packageTask () {
await notarize({
appBundleId,
appPath,
appleId,
appleIdPassword,
ascProvider,
});
}