Electron Forge - Can't use ipcRenderer in the renderer file

Question

I just created a new application using the following command:

npx create-electron-app my-new-app --template=typescript-webpack

Inside the renderer.ts I added the following code

import "./index.css";
import { ipcRenderer } from "electron";

But when I run npm run start I have the following error in Browser Console

Uncaught ReferenceError: require is not defined

Update What I've tried:

webpack.plugins.js

const ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin = require("fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin");
const webpack = require("webpack");
module.exports = [
  new ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin(),
  new webpack.ExternalsPlugin("commonjs", ["electron"]),
];

But it still doesn't work.

Answer 1

Found Solution

The solution is to use ipcRenderer in a preload script.

preload.ts

import { ipcRenderer } from "electron";

index.ts

declare const MAIN_WINDOW_PRELOAD_WEBPACK_ENTRY: any;

const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
  height: 600,
  width: 800,
  webPreferences: {
    preload: MAIN_WINDOW_PRELOAD_WEBPACK_ENTRY,
  },
});

package.json

  "plugins": [
    [
      "@electron-forge/plugin-webpack",
      {
        "mainConfig": "./webpack.main.config.js",
        "renderer": {
          "config": "./webpack.renderer.config.js",
          "entryPoints": [
            {
              "html": "./src/index.html",
              "js": "./src/renderer.ts",
              "name": "main_window",
              "preload": {
                "js": "./src/preload.ts"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  ]

Answer 2

The solution is using the ContextBridge API from electron for electron-forge react+webpack template

preload.js

import { ipcRenderer, contextBridge } from "electron";

contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("electron", {
  notificationApi: {
    sendNotification(message) {
      ipcRenderer.send("notify", message);
    },
  },
  batteryApi: {},
  fileApi: {},
});

main.js

const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
    webPreferences: {
      nodeIntegration: false,
      contextIsolation: true,
      worldSafeExecuteJavaScript: true,
      preload: MAIN_WINDOW_PRELOAD_WEBPACK_ENTRY,
    },
 });

ipcMain.on("notify", (_, message) => {
   new Notification({ title: "Notification", body: message }).show();
});

package.json

 "plugins": [
    [
      "@electron-forge/plugin-webpack",
      {
        "mainConfig": "./webpack.main.config.js",
        "renderer": {
          "config": "./webpack.renderer.config.js",
          "entryPoints": [
            {
              "html": "./src/index.html",
              "js": "./src/renderer.js",
              "name": "main_window",
              "preload": {
                "js": "./src/preload.js"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  ]

app.jsx

import * as React from "react";
import * as ReactDOM from "react-dom";

class App extends React.Component {
  componentDidMount() {
    electron.notificationApi.sendNotification("Finally!");
  }
  render() {
    return <h1>contextBridge</h1>;
  }
}

ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.body);