Nextron vs Next.js '--example with-electron'

Question

I'm tempted to create a desktop app with Electron!
Since I have experience with Next.js (React), but haven't worked with Electron.js before (just tested it a long ago), I want to bootstrap my project with a boilerplate/starter/template. However, I'm a bit confused about which option to choose:

• Nextron https://github.com/saltyshiomix/nextron
• Official Next.js Electron Example: https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/with-electron
  • electron-next: https://github.com/leo/electron-next (mentioned in the above link as a blog post!)

I understand that this question seems opinion-based, but I searched and found no technical comparison between them. I also tried comparing npm downloads, GitHub stars, Last commit date & other similar things by myself, but since they're different things (one is an --example & one is a whole repository) I had no luck.

The only thing I found reliable is Strapi! In one of their Tutorials (How to Build a Quiz App with NextJS and Electron, powered by a Strapi backend), they use Nextron to create a desktop app with next.js.

What do you think? Which option is a better choice?

P.S. I use Next.js for many powerful things it has: built-in configurations, out-of-the-box optimizations, easy routing & ... not for the SSR you may think of.

Answer 1

electron-next is used in the Official Next.js Electron Example, so it feels more official to me: https://github.com/vercel/next.js/blob/canary/examples/with-electron/package.json#L28

nextron introduces a 3rd-party dependency to a npm package maintained by @saltyshiomix.

They're both like plugin packages for Next.js that you can add to your project and use to get Electron out-of-the-box, but you will need put a lot of faith in the maintainers.

You can go through the process of configuration of Electron + Next.js yourself, or copy the configs and replicate what these packages do in your own project without introducing a dependency, or simply use one as a dependency and hope the maintainers will be active in keeping these packages up-to-date.