neutron

Neutron is an application to locate app.asar files in Electron applications.

Features

• Electron + Next.js app
• Lightweight build with asset compression
• Only English locales included for smaller size
• Cross-platform: macOS, Windows, and Linux support

Getting Started

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install

2. Compress assets (optional, but recommended):

   npm run compress-assets

   This will optimize images and static assets for a smaller app size.

3. Build the app:

   npm run build

   This runs Next.js build and packages the Electron app. Only necessary files are included, and only English locales are kept.

4. Run the app in development:

   npm run dev

5. Run the app:

   npm start

Cross-Platform Builds

Neutron can be built for macOS, Windows, and Linux using electron-builder.

• Build for all platforms:

  electron-builder -mwl

  (-mwl = mac, windows, linux)

• Note:

  • To build Windows apps on macOS or Linux, you need Wine installed.
  • Output installers will be in the release/ directory.

• Platform targets:

  • macOS: .dmg, .zip
  • Windows: .exe (NSIS installer), .zip
  • Linux: .AppImage, .deb, .zip

.gitignore Best Practices

The following are excluded from git to keep the repository lightweight:

• node_modules/
• out/, .next/, release/ (build outputs)
• *.dmg, *.zip, *.asar (packaged artifacts)
• .DS_Store, log files

Notes

• Do not commit build artifacts or release files to git. This keeps the repository well under GitHub's 100MB file limit.
• If you need to further reduce app size, check for unused dependencies or assets.

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For more details, see the scripts in the scripts/ directory.