Non-Commercial Open Source — Early Development

Electron API Compatibility

How close is Gelectron to being a full drop-in replacement for Electron? Here's the honest answer.

0% compatible

100% target

Fully Working — 3 modules Partially Working — 15 modules Stubs — 6 modules Missing — 36 modules

Fully Working

5% of modules

Partially Working

Core methods work, gaps remain

Stubs Only

API exists, does nothing

Missing Entirely

Not started

Total Electron Modules

Across all categories

✓

Fully Working

These modules are fully functional and ready to use.

app

All methods, properties, events, quit lifecycle, dock, badge, GPU, about panel, secure keyboard entry, window tracking

ipcMain

handle / handleOnce / on / once / removeHandler, full EventEmitter

clipboard

readText/writeText/readHTML/writeHTML/readRTF/writeRTF/readImage/writeImage/readBookmark/writeBookmark/readFindText/writeFindText/clear/availableFormats/has. Sync via Unix FIFO channel (macOS/Linux) or async bridge (Windows). RTF/bookmark/find-text/formats via NSPasteboard on macOS

◐

Partially Working

Core functionality exists but key features are missing.

screen

~70%

Works: getPrimaryDisplay/getAllDisplays/getDisplayMatching/getCursorScreenPoint/getMenuBarHeight via Rust bridge (tao)

Missing: Display event listeners (display-added/removed/metrics-changed)

nativeTheme

~60%

Works: shouldUseDarkColors (getter + method), themeSource (getter/setter), shouldSystemUseDarkColors, queries Rust for system theme

Missing: Theme change events, accent color detection

BrowserWindow

~60%

Works: create, show, hide, focus, min/max/close/destroy, setTitle, setSize, loadURL, loadFile

Missing: DevTools, navigation, capturePage, print, printToPDF

~60%

Works: buildFromTemplate, append, insert, getMenuItemById, native setApplicationMenu via muda, _serialize

Missing: Click events from native menu, role-based predefined items

MenuItem

~70%

Works: All properties: id, label, type, role, accelerator, enabled, visible, checked, submenu, click

Missing: Role auto-behavior (copy/paste/undo etc.)

dialog

~40%

Works: showOpenDialog, showSaveDialog, showMessageBox, showErrorBox

Missing: Native dialogs not wired — Rust has no dialog commands

shell

~50%

Works: openExternal, openPath (Node mode)

Missing: moveItemToTrash deletes permanently, shortcut stubs

Notification

~25%

Works: API surface complete, show via browser Notification API if available

Missing: No native OS notification integration

nativeImage

~45%

Works: createFromPath/Buffer/DataURL, toDataURL, getSize

Missing: resize/crop pixel transform, proper toPNG/toJPEG

contextBridge

~50%

Works: exposeInMainWorld with deep freeze

Missing: No real world isolation, no proxy serialization

webContents

~50%

Works: loadURL, loadFile, send, executeJavaScript, reload, session stub

Missing: Navigation history, DevTools CDP, zoom, print, capturePage

ipcRenderer

~70%

Works: invoke, send, sendSync, on, once, removeListener

Missing: Bridge not always wired, sendSync returns undefined

net

~30%

Works: fetch delegates to globalThis.fetch

Missing: No net.request(), no ClientRequest API

process (polyfill)

~30%

Works: pid, argv, env, platform, versions, cwd, nextTick

Missing: memoryUsage, cpuUsage, uptime, kill

autoUpdater

~70%

Works: setFeedURL, checkForUpdates, downloadUpdate, quitAndInstall, checkForAndNotifyIfAvailable; events (update-available, download-progress, update-downloaded, error, before-quit-for-update); sha512-verified download, staged atomic apply on relaunch

Missing: Packaged-mode only (native binary + launcher), needs a hosted latest.yml feed; no differential updates, no-op in dev/Node fallback

○

Stubs Only

The API exists but does nothing useful.

Tray

API surface present, no native system tray

safeStorage

Base64 encoding, not real encryption

session

defaultSession + fromPartition stubs, all no-ops

systemPreferences

Hardcoded dark mode / accent color

powerMonitor

getSystemIdleState returns 'active', no real monitoring

globalShortcut

—

Missing Entirely

These 36 modules have not been started.

BaseWindow BrowserView contentTracing crashReporter desktopCapturer ImageView inAppPurchase MessageChannelMain netLog powerSaveBlocker protocol pushNotifications ServiceWorkerMain sharedTexture ShareMenu TouchBar utilityProcess View WebContentsView webFrameMain crashReporter (renderer) sharedTexture (renderer) webFrame webUtils remote webviewTag navigation-history parent-port web-request web-socket window-open local-ai-handler

Known Gaps in Existing Modules

Features that are missing from modules listed above.

BrowserWindow DevTools, navigation, capturePage, print, printToPDF

Menu Native click events not wired back to JS, no role-based predefined items (copy/paste/undo)

MenuItem Role auto-behavior (copy/paste/undo etc.)

webContents Navigation history, DevTools CDP, zoom, print, capturePage

nativeImage resize/crop pixel transform, proper toPNG/toJPEG

Want to help?

Gelectron is a non-commercial, community-driven open source project. Every contribution helps close the gap.

Contribute on GitHub → Read the Docs