# System map — electron/electron

> Canonical page: https://codevetter.com/unpack/electron/system-map

# System map — electron/electron

Scanned commit 56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f (2026-09-22). Generated by codevetter codevetter 1.12.0 on 2026-09-22.

Electron is a Chromium content-API embedder: platform entry points (shell/app/electron_main_*.cc) create an ElectronMainDelegate that plugs Electron's content clients into content::ContentMain. The browser (main) process lives in shell/browser, renderers in shell/renderer, shared code in shell/common, and a separate utility-process client in shell/utility plus shell/services/node. On top of the C++ core sits a TypeScript layer in lib/ that is bundled per execution context (browser, renderer, worker, webview, isolated_renderer, node, utility) and compiled into the binary. Build is GN/Ninja driven by BUILD.gn and filenames.gni, with dependency versions pinned in DEPS and upstream modifications carried as patch queues in patches/.
- Each platform has a thin main() — shell/app/electron_main_linux.cc line 49 — that hands off to content::ContentMain with an ElectronMainDelegate; the delegate implements BasicStartupComplete, PreSandboxStartup, PreBrowserMain and the CreateContent*Client factory methods. — [shell/app/electron_main_linux.cc#L49](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/app/electron_main_linux.cc#L49) [shell/app/electron_main_delegate.cc#L216-L284](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/app/electron_main_delegate.cc#L216-L284) [shell/app/electron_main_delegate.cc#L437-L470](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/app/electron_main_delegate.cc#L437-L470)
- The browser-process composition root is ElectronBrowserMainParts: its constructor wires BrowserProcessImpl, NodeBindings, ElectronBindings and the Browser singleton, and PostEarlyInitialization() creates the V8 isolate via JavascriptEnvironment, initializes Node, and loads the app package. — [shell/browser/electron_browser_main_parts.cc#L200-L210](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/browser/electron_browser_main_parts.cc#L200-L210) [shell/browser/electron_browser_main_parts.cc#L290-L410](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/browser/electron_browser_main_parts.cc#L290-L410)
- ElectronMainDelegate::CreateContentRendererClient selects between ElectronSandboxedRendererClient and ElectronRendererClient based on IsSandboxEnabled(command_line), so the sandbox decision happens per child-process launch. — [shell/app/electron_main_delegate.cc#L454-L464](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/app/electron_main_delegate.cc#L454-L464)
- The JS layer in lib/ is compiled into seven self-contained bundles (browser, renderer, worker, webview, isolated_renderer, node, utility) by build/bundle/bundle.mjs using rolldown, driven by the per-target flags in build/bundle/targets.mjs. — [build/bundle/bundle.mjs#L50-L60](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/build/bundle/bundle.mjs#L50-L60) [build/bundle/targets.mjs#L23-L54](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/build/bundle/targets.mjs#L23-L54) [build/bundle/bundle.gni](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/build/bundle/bundle.gni)
- Native modules are exposed to JS through process._linkedBinding: node_bindings.cc declares the binding names in the ELECTRON_BROWSER_BINDINGS / ELECTRON_COMMON_BINDINGS / ELECTRON_RENDERER_BINDINGS macros, and each C++ file registers itself with NODE_LINKED_BINDING_CONTEXT_AWARE (e.g. electron_browser_app in electron_api_app.cc). — [shell/common/node_bindings.cc#L68-L120](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/common/node_bindings.cc#L68-L120) [shell/browser/api/electron_api_app.cc#L2127](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/browser/api/electron_api_app.cc#L2127)
- The 'electron' npm module object is assembled lazily: lib/browser/api/exports/electron.ts calls defineProperties over commonModuleList + browserModuleList, where each entry is { name, loader } with a deferred require(). — [lib/browser/api/exports/electron.ts#L1-L8](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/lib/browser/api/exports/electron.ts#L1-L8) [lib/browser/api/module-list.ts#L4-L48](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/lib/browser/api/module-list.ts#L4-L48) [lib/common/define-properties.ts](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/lib/common/define-properties.ts)
- require('electron'), 'electron/main', 'electron/renderer', 'electron/common' and 'electron/utility' are module aliases installed by lib/common/init.ts via fake entries in Module._cache and a Module._resolveFilename override. — [lib/common/init.ts#L79-L122](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/lib/common/init.ts#L79-L122)
- Dependencies are pinned in DEPS: chromium_version 155.0.8046.0, node_version v24.21.0, plus squirrel.mac, sparkle, nan and others; gclient applies the patch queue because 'apply_patches': True. — [DEPS#L1-L40](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/DEPS#L1-L40)
- patches/config.json maps 13 patch directories (chromium, boringssl, devtools_frontend, ffmpeg, v8, node, nan, libaddressinput, perfetto, squirrel.mac, webrtc, sqlite, angle) onto target repos under src/. — [patches/config.json](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/patches/config.json)
- Build configuration is GN: BUILD.gn (~2200 lines) defines the electron targets including the electron_fuses action that generates fuses.h/fuses.cc from build/fuses/fuses.json5; per-build args live in build/args/{all,testing,release}.gn. — [BUILD.gn#L450-L457](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/BUILD.gn#L450-L457) [build/fuses/fuses.json5](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/build/fuses/fuses.json5) [build/args/all.gn](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/build/args/all.gn)
- If no app is supplied, resources/default_app.asar provides a fallback app (default_app/) that parses CLI args, can open a file/URL/package directory, prints --version/--abi, or starts a REPL with lazy Electron builtins. — [default_app/main.ts#L297-L341](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/default_app/main.ts#L297-L341) [default_app/main.ts#L174-L295](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/default_app/main.ts#L174-L295) [shell/browser/app_package.cc#L93-L98](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/browser/app_package.cc#L93-L98)
- The published npm package (npm/) is a thin downloader: index.js reads path.txt for the executable name, supports ELECTRON_OVERRIDE_DIST_PATH, and runs install.js to fetch the binary. — [npm/index.js#L25-L52](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/npm/index.js#L25-L52)
- asar archives are supported at two levels: shell/common/asar implements the archive reader used by C++ (LoadAppPackage reads package.json through asar::ReadFileToString), and lib/node/asar-fs-wrapper.ts monkey-patches the fs module so Node can read inside .asar files. — [shell/common/asar/asar_util.cc](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/common/asar/asar_util.cc) [shell/browser/app_package.cc#L102-L107](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/shell/browser/app_package.cc#L102-L107) [lib/node/asar-fs-wrapper.ts](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/lib/node/asar-fs-wrapper.ts) [lib/node/init.ts#L1-L3](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/56f681cfe08e1c6bf02cfad2807ff1c47ae13d4f/lib/node/init.ts#L1-L3)

Every claim links to its cited files at the pinned commit. Citations identify source evidence; they do not establish runtime correctness. Independent CodeVetter scan — not reviewed by upstream maintainers.

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