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Electron Desktop App

Process security bridges, window managers, and local SQLite data connection configurations.

3 min read•Edit on GitHub

The LeadForge OS desktop application (apps/desktop) compiles into a native installer, providing local-first user interfaces, scrapers, and local database storage.

Folder Structure

The desktop application conforms to the following layout:

text
apps/desktop/
├── src/
│   ├── main/                  # Electron Main Process (Node.js runtime)
│   │   ├── database/          # SQLite connections, models, and migrations
│   │   ├── ipc/               # IPC handlers (observability, database, jobs)
│   │   ├── lib/               # Event bus, AppLogger, telemetry
│   │   ├── services/          # JobScheduler, SyncEngine, UpdateManager
│   │   └── workers/           # worker-host and scraper/outreach plugins
│   ├── preload/               # Electron Preload Script (contextBridge)
│   └── renderer/              # React UI Renderer (Chromium runtime)
│       ├── src/
│       │   ├── components/    # Reusable shadcn/ui React components
│       │   ├── hooks/         # React Query hooks calling window.ipc
│       │   ├── pages/         # Dashboard, CRM lists, Cockpit, Settings
│       │   └── App.tsx        # React Router routes and provider context
└── package.json               # Desktop scripts, dependencies, build targets

IPC contextBridge Security

To comply with Electron security guidelines, the Renderer process has no direct access to Node.js APIs (such as fs, child_process, or raw SQLite packages). It communicates exclusively through the preload script context bridge.

The diagram below details the sequence of a secured database query initiated from the UI:

Rendering Outline

Bridge API

The preload script exposes the window.ipc interface containing three methods:

  • window.ipc.invoke(channel, payload): Sends a request to the Main process and returns a Promise.
  • window.ipc.on(channel, callback): Listens for events sent from the Main process.
  • window.ipc.removeAllListeners(channel): Cleans up listeners when components unmount.

All channel strings are validated against a whitelist in preload/index.ts to prevent unauthorized execution.

Local SQLite Database Connections

The desktop application manages local CRM records using SQLite through the better-sqlite3 driver.

WAL Mode & Connection Pools

  • Database connections are initialized in WAL (Write-Ahead Logging) mode using connection.ts to support high-concurrency writes during crawler runs.
  • PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL is enabled to improve write performance while preserving database durability.
  • Workspaces are physically isolated. Each workspace has its own database file named leadforge_${workspaceId}.db located in the OS appData directory.
  • On boot, the migration runner applies schema statements sequentially, validating tables (companies, contacts, jobs, sync_queue, automation_locks).

Constraints and Trade-offs

  • Process Memory Overhead: Running Chromium (Renderer), Node.js (Main), and spawned Node workers consumes significant system memory.
  • Strict IPC Mapping: Any data needed by the UI must be serialized across the IPC boundary, requiring schemas for all transaction payloads.
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