Electron Plugin

RxStorage Electron IpcRenderer & IpcMain

To use RxDB in electron, it is recommended to run the RxStorage in the main process and the RxDatabase in the renderer processes. With the rxdb electron plugin you can create a remote RxStorage and consume it from the renderer process.

To do this in a convenient way, the RxDB electron plugin provides the helper functions exposeIpcMainRxStorage and getRxStorageIpcRenderer. Similar to the Worker RxStorage, these wrap any other RxStorage once in the main process and once in each renderer process. In the renderer you can then use the storage to create a RxDatabase which communicates with the storage of the main process to store and query data.

note

nodeIntegration must be enabled in Electron.

//  main.js
const { exposeIpcMainRxStorage } = require('rxdb/plugins/electron');
const { getRxStorageMemory } = require('rxdb/plugins/storage-memory');
app.on('ready', async function () {
    exposeIpcMainRxStorage({
        key: 'main-storage',
        storage: getRxStorageMemory(),
        ipcMain: electron.ipcMain
    });
});

//  renderer.js
const { getRxStorageIpcRenderer } = require('rxdb/plugins/electron');
const { getRxStorageMemory } = require('rxdb/plugins/storage-memory');
 
const db = await createRxDatabase({
    name,
    storage: getRxStorageIpcRenderer({
        key: 'main-storage',
        ipcRenderer: electron.ipcRenderer
    })
});
/* ... */

FAQ

How to securely create an offline-first desktop app with Electron.js?

You securely create an offline-first Electron application by maintaining strict process isolation: the primary database connection runs securely within the hidden Node.js main process, while the vulnerable DOM execution runs in the heavily-restricted renderer process. RxDB automates this architecture precisely via its dedicated Electron IPC plugin (exposeIpcMainRxStorage), enabling seamless, non-blocking data synchronization across the IPC boundary while mitigating direct local filesystem exposure to malicious client payloads.

Related

• Comparison of Electron Databases