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Using PGlite or DuckDB-Wasm in the main process breaks building the main target #4149
Description
Pre-flight checklist
- I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
- I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project uses.
- I have searched the issue tracker for a bug that matches the one I want to file, without success.
Forge version
7.11.1
Electron version
40.6.1
Operating system
Windows 10
Last known working Forge version
No response
Expected behavior
Requiring and using PGlite or DuckDB-Wasm in the main process of Electron should not hang on Building src/main.ts target forever.
Using PGlite or DuckDB-Wasm databases in the main process should be possible.
Actual behavior
The Building src/main.ts target never ends:
✔ Checking your system
✔ Locating application
✔ Loading configuration
✔ Preparing native dependencies [1s]
✔ Running generateAssets hook
❯ Running preStart hook
❯ [plugin-vite] Preparing Vite bundles
✔ Launched Vite dev servers for renderer process code [0.1s]
✔ Target main_window
› ➜ Local: http://localhost:5173/
➜ Network: use --host to expose
❯ Built main process and preload bundles
⠇ Building src/main.ts target
✔ Building src/preload.ts target
Steps to reproduce
Create a fresh Electron Forge project with
npx create-electron-app@latest my-app --template=vite-typescript
Make the following changes in project configs to allow for top-level await:
// In package.json
"type": "module"// In tsconfig.json
"compilerOptions": {
"target": "esnext",
"module": "esnext",
...
}Install PGlite:
npm install @electric-sql/pglite
Add the following code from PGlite quickstart:
//In main.ts
import { PGlite } from '@electric-sql/pglite'
const db = new PGlite()
await db.exec(`
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS todo (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
task TEXT,
done BOOLEAN DEFAULT false
);
INSERT INTO todo (task, done) VALUES ('Install PGlite from NPM', true);
INSERT INTO todo (task, done) VALUES ('Load PGlite', true);
INSERT INTO todo (task, done) VALUES ('Create a table', true);
INSERT INTO todo (task, done) VALUES ('Insert some data', true);
INSERT INTO todo (task) VALUES ('Update a task');
`)
const ret = await db.query(`
SELECT * from todo WHERE id = 1;
`)
console.log(ret.rows)Run
npm run start
Witness the process hanging forever on ⠼ Building src/main.ts target.
The same problem can be repeted for DuckDB-Wasm, but they have more ways of configuring the DB in their quickstart, I won't copy them here, but I tried all of them.
Additional information
Debug output:
PS D:\path\project> npm run start
> project@1.0.0 start
> electron-forge start
❯ Checking your system
electron-forge:check-system checking system, create ~/.skip-forge-system-check to stop doing this +0ms
❯ Checking package manager version
electron-forge:package-manager Resolved package manager to npm. (Derived from NODE_INSTALLER: undefined, npm_config_user_agent: npm/11.4.1 node/v22.14.0 win32 x64 workspaces/false, lockfile: npm) +0ms
✔ Found npm@11.4.1
✔ Checking your system
❯ Locating application
electron-forge:project-resolver searching for project in: D:\path\project +0ms
electron-forge:project-resolver package.json with forge dependency found in D:\path\project\package.json +2ms
✔ Locating application
❯ Loading configuration
electron-forge:plugin:vite hooking process events +0ms
✔ Loading configuration
❯ Preparing native dependencies
✔ Preparing native dependencies
❯ Running generateAssets hook
✔ Running generateAssets hook
❯ Running preStart hook
❯ [plugin-vite] Preparing Vite bundles
electron-forge:plugin:vite preStart: removing old content from D:\path\project\.vite +1s
❯ Launching Vite dev servers for renderer process code...
❯ Target main_window
Port 5173 is in use, trying another one...
› ➜ Local: http://localhost:5174/
➜ Network: use --host to expose
✔ Target main_window
✔ Launched Vite dev servers for renderer process code
❯ Building main process and preload bundles...
❯ Building src/main.ts target
❯ Building src/preload.ts target
Generated an empty chunk: "preload".
16:33:26 [@electron-forge/plugin-vite] target built src/preload.ts
electron-forge:plugin:vite no error in buildEnd and reached closeBundle so build succeeded +519ms
✔ Building src/preload.ts target
node_modules/@electric-sql/pglite/dist/index.js (1:11906070): Use of eval in "node_modules/@electric-sql/pglite/dist/index.js" is strongly discouraged as it poses security risks and may cause issues with minification.
node_modules/@electric-sql/pglite/dist/index.js (1:11906548): Use of eval in "node_modules/@electric-sql/pglite/dist/index.js" is strongly discouraged as it poses security risks and may cause issues with minification.
16:33:28 Module format "cjs" does not support top-level await. Use the "es" or "system" output formats rather.
file: D:/path/project/src/main.ts
Activity
noncom commentedon Feb 26, 2026
I just realized that there's probably two problems at once. I'm new to this ecosystem, so I got confused a bit.
The problem that Electron debug prints out,
Module format "cjs" does not support top-level await. Use the "es" or "system" output formats ratherin the log above seems to be #3943. I haven't seen this message prior to enabling debug which was suggested when I was already creating the ticket.But also there's another problem covered by it. If I remove all the added code, and only keep this:
then it does start with debug enabled, but there are different errors in the log, see at the bottom:
noncom commentedon Mar 8, 2026
For anyone interested, there's a solution now, kindly provided by @UmbrellaCrow612. The PR fully explains it and fixes the problem.
Long story short, using Vite on the backend side of Electron complicates things more than it does any good, it seems.
I don't know if this can be considered solved and closed, as yes there's a way to use PGlite and Wasm in the backend, but the
electron-vitetemplate is still broken in the sense that it doesn't allow doing that. All my prior searches for any issues in using Wasm with Vite revealed a lot of various cases, but in different circumstanes, and none of the solutions worked in this case. So I would say that from my observation it is simply impossible to use theelectron-vitetemplate for apps with Wasm in the backend.