English | 中文

This is the npm installer for electerm, not the electerm app itself. The app source lives in electerm/electerm. This repo (electerm/electerm-npm) only contains the npm installer and its publish workflow.

What is this?

npm i -g electerm installs a small installer that detects your OS / CPU architecture, downloads the matching prebuilt electerm binary from electerm releases, and launches it via the electerm command.

The package version always tracks the electerm release version, so [email protected] installs the v5.5.16 binaries.

Install

Requirements: Node.js >= 16.

npm i -g electerm

This runs postinstall (node npm/install.js), which downloads the binary for your platform. No manual download needed.

If the download fails (network / proxy), you can retry without reinstalling the package:

node "$(npm root -g)/electerm/npm/install.js"

Use a GitHub proxy (optional)

If github.com is slow or blocked, set GITHUB_PROXY before installing:

GITHUB_PROXY=https://your-proxy.example npm i -g electerm

Only github.com URLs are proxied.

Usage

electerm

• macOS: installs electerm.app into /Applications, then launches /Applications/electerm.app/Contents/MacOS/electerm.
• Windows: launches <global-node-modules>/electerm/electerm/electerm.exe.
• Linux: launches <global-node-modules>/electerm/electerm/electerm (adds --no-sandbox automatically unless chrome-sandbox is root-owned with mode 4755).

Extra CLI args are passed through to the app, e.g. electerm --help.

Upgrade / reinstall / uninstall

# upgrade to latest
npm i -g electerm@latest

# install a specific version (matches electerm release tag vX.Y.Z)
npm i -g [email protected]

# force re-download the binary for the current version
node "$(npm root -g)/electerm/npm/install.js"

# uninstall
npm rm -g electerm

On macOS, uninstalling the npm package does not remove /Applications/electerm.app — delete it manually if needed.

Supported platforms

| OS | Arch | Asset installed | | --- | --- | --- | | Windows 10+ | x64, ia32 | electerm-<ver>-win-x64.tar.gz | | Windows 10+ | arm64 | electerm-<ver>-win-arm64.tar.gz | | Windows 7 | x64 | electerm-<ver>-win7.tar.gz | | macOS 11+ | x64 | electerm-<ver>-mac-x64.dmg | | macOS 11+ | arm64 | electerm-<ver>-mac-arm64.dmg | | macOS 10.x | x64 | electerm-<ver>-mac10-x64.dmg | | Linux | x64, arm64, armv7l, loong64 | electerm-<ver>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz | | Linux (glibc < 2.34) | x64, arm64, armv7l, loong64 | electerm-<ver>-linux-<arch>-legacy.tar.gz | | Linux | riscv64, ppc64le | electerm-<ver>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz (no legacy variant) |

Notes:

• 32-bit Node (ia32) on a 64-bit host installs the 64-bit build.
• On Linux with glibc < 2.34 (e.g. UOS / Kylin / Ubuntu 18.04), the -legacy (glibc 2.17+) build is picked automatically where published.
• riscv64 / ppc64le (little-endian only) have no -legacy build; the standard build is used even on old glibc.
• On Linux you may optionally enable the Electron sandbox: sudo chown root:root <pkg>/electerm/chrome-sandbox && sudo chmod 4755 <pkg>/electerm/chrome-sandbox.

How it works

1. postinstall reads the latest version from https://electerm.org/version.html and the release asset list from https://electerm.org/data/electerm-github-release.json.
2. It resolves the asset for os.platform() / os.arch() (plus win7 / mac10 / linux-legacy detection).
3. It downloads and extracts it to <package>/electerm/ (Linux/Windows) or installs the .app to /Applications (macOS).
4. The electerm bin script (npm/electerm) finds and launches that binary.

Publishing is driven by the electerm release itself via npm.yml — see CONTRIBUTING.md.

About electerm

Electerm is an open-sourced terminal / ssh / sftp / telnet / serialport / RDP / VNC / Spice / ftp client for Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, HarmonyOS and iOS.

It also supports older / special systems: Ubuntu 18, Windows 7, macOS 10+, UOS / Kylin / LoongArch (old-world and new-world), riscv64 and ppc64le Linux.

Highlights (full docs in the main repo):

• Terminal + file manager, ssh/sftp/ftp/telnet/serialport/RDP/VNC/Spice
• Global hotkey to toggle window (ctrl + 2 by default)
• Multi-language support (electerm-locales)
• Public key / password / ssh-agent / certificate / OTP auth, tunnels, jump hosts
• Zmodem (rz/sz) and trzsz (trz/tsz)
• Themes, transparency, background image
• Global / session proxy, quick commands, sync via gist / webdav / electerm cloud
• AI assistant, MCP widget, deep links (ssh://, telnet://), CLI usage

Related links / projects:

• Homepage / downloads · Releases · Videos
• Theme · Docker · Online demo
• Android · HarmonyOS · Web version
• electerm online · electerm AI
• Apple App Store · Huawei AppGallery · Microsoft Store · Snap Store
• deb repo · rpm repo

Issues / support

• Installer problems (npm i -g electerm fails, wrong binary, launch failure): open an issue in electerm-npm.
• App bugs / feature requests: open an issue in electerm/electerm or start a discussion.
• Language files: electerm-locales.

Contributing

This repo only holds the installer (npm/) and the publish workflow. See CONTRIBUTING.md for layout, tests (npm test, npm run test-network, npm run pack-check) and the release-driven publishing flow.

Change log

See electerm releases — the npm version tracks it 1:1.

License

MIT