# Notarize your Electron App with Electron Forge

DevFeed: [Notarize your Electron App with Electron Forge](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/notarize-your-electron-app-with-electron-forge-19088.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://httptoolkit.com/blog/notarizing-electron-apps-with-electron-forge/>)

Author: HTTP Toolkit; Tim Perry

Published: 2019-08-06T13:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [HTTP Toolkit](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/http-toolkit.md>)

Topics: [Electron](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/electron.md>), [macOS](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/macos.md>), [Application Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/application-security.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [Xcode](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/xcode.md>)

Tags: [apple](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/apple.md>), [application-security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/application-security.md>), [audit-trail](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/audit-trail.md>), [build](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/build.md>), [certificates](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/certificates.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [electron](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/electron.md>), [javascript](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/javascript.md>), [macos](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/macos.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [signing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/signing.md>), [xcode](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/xcode.md>)

## AI overview

A tutorial on notarizing Electron applications for macOS using Electron Forge. It explains Apple's automated notarization process, ticket stapling, revocation, and build requirements including Xcode, macOS SDK, Developer ID signing, and secure timestamps.

## Source excerpt

In the next release of macOS (10.15), if your app isn't notarized, your users can't run it. If you're distributing Mac apps, you need to deal with this. Fortunately, for Electron apps the process is fairly easy. The final release date for 10.15 isn't yet announced, but there are many betas available to developers for testing. It's planned for fall 2019, and the hard requirement for notarization is already the reality in 10.14.5 for all new developer accounts (i.e. anybody who has never distributed software associated with their Apple developer id). What is notarization? Notarization is designed to allow Apple to quickly ensure that your software is safe to run on users' computers. The full details are available in Apple's own developer documentation. In short, it's a process where: You upload your new app build to Apple's notary service, The notary service automatically checks it for malicious content and other issues The notary service returns you a ticket showing that this check has been done on this build You attach ('staple') this ticket to the software When the app is installed, the Gatekeeper software on your users' Macs can check the stapled ticket, and thereby know that the software has already been examined by Apple. In addition this means that every distributable version of your software comes with an attached ticket, which can be revoked later if necessary. If you discover that malicious code has somehow entered your application, or that your signing key has been leaked and other people are distributing unauthorized versions, you can remotely revoke the tickets and make that software uninstallable. In addition the requirements for notarization are stricter than the existing code signing restrictions. Since notarization is now mandatory, this effectively represents Apple tightening their application security rules. Note that this is not app review: there's no human process here, it's an automated scanning of your distributable app versions, and a audit tra