auto-update supported only for installed applications. In the dev mode you should not use it. Please use https://github.com/sindresorhus/electron-is-dev to check.

Anyway — PR will be accepted.

Ok, I was able to get it to work by adding this to my code:

if (isDev) {
    autoUpdater.updateConfigPath = path.join(APP_PATH, 'app-update.yml');
}

The reason I need to run it in dev is because my application allows the user to trigger the update check manually, so I need to make sure that everything is working. Thanks for the great work on this project.

@mikecao How does it work on macOS where code sign is required?

Ah, I see that your error about windows (where code sign will be required later ;) if exe is signed).

@develar I haven't tested macOS yet but plan to soon. I'll let you know if I run into any issues.

It is fine if the install part doesn't work because I can always build an installer and test that. But during dev I need to make sure I can at least trigger the update check and perform the download. So far it's working on Windows. When I exit my dev application, it installs the application update externally, so dev doesn't actually get the update, but that's ok.

Too many complains. Reconsidered to be fixed.

@develar You're right, code signing does cause a problem. I tested macOS and got the error, Could not get code signature for running application. I assume the same thing will happen when Windows signing is required.

I think my workaround is good enough for now since it allows me to at least test the update request. This probably doesn't need a fix. But It might be helpful to update the wiki to tell people they need to manually copy the app-update.yml after building if they want to test in dev. Or load it themselves using updateConfigPath.

Maybe something like this will work?

autoUpdater.setConfig({
  provider: 'generic',
  url: 'https://website.com/download',
  channel: 'latest'
});

Production can still use the app-update.yml file while in dev you will have to configure it manually.

In the next version file dev-app-update.yml will be searched in the app path in a dev mode. Prefix dev- is used to make it clear, that file only for a dev mode.