Electron builds and startup checks

Use Node.js 22 or newer and install npm dependencies at the repository root with npm ci. TrackingServer also requires the .NET SDK selected by global.json; dotnet --version must succeed from the repository root. Its ElectronNET CLI is pinned in .config/dotnet-tools.json and restored automatically by the build. No global Electron or electronize installation is required. Angular package versions are shared and are not changed by packaging.

Run these commands from the repository root, replacing <app> with emulator or server:

Build macOS packages on macOS. For startup testing, build on the target OS and architecture. Append -- --dir to generate only the unpacked application, for example:

npm run build:emulator:electron-osx-arm64 -- --dir
npm run smoke:electron -- emulator
npm run build:server:electron-osx-arm64 -- --dir
npm run smoke:electron -- server

On Linux, run the smoke command under xvfb-run -a if no graphical display is available. Emulator output is in tools/emulator/release; TrackingServer output is in tools/ReFlex.TrackingServer/bin/Desktop. The smoke test reads smoke-target.json from that output directory, starts the packaged executable, checks that Angular has rendered its main page, and checks the TrackingServer version API. It fails on early process exit, renderer exceptions or a startup timeout. It terminates the app and its backend after the check. Startup logs and a screenshot are written to test/artifacts/electron/<app>.

The Electron startup smoke tests GitHub workflow runs both apps on all five native OS/architecture combinations on pull requests and pushes to main. PR builds are unsigned, never publish installers and require no signing secrets. They use unpacked applications so the check exercises the shipped files, including the self-contained .NET backend, without installing a system-wide application.

The Emulator renderer is bundled by Angular. Packaging copies only the bundled renderer and Electron entry point into an isolated .electron-app directory; it never installs or prunes dependencies in the npm workspace. TrackingServer publishes shared types, components and the SPA before Electron.NET packaging. Its browser files are served from ClientApp/dist/browser; local Electron HTTP does not require an ASP.NET development HTTPS certificate. The existing default Azure Kinect module is enabled only on Windows x64; other platforms do not load that Windows-only module. Set the MSBuild/environment property EnableDefaultSensors=false to opt out of the default hardware module.