One command tells you. No install, no dependencies, no tracking — just a shell script that reads your /Applications folder.
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/macnative/electron-detector/main/electron-detector.sh | bash
Electron lets developers ship one app for every platform by bundling a full copy of Chromium and Node.js inside it. That's great for developers — and rough on your Mac. Every Electron app you run is, under the hood, its own private browser tab: its own renderer process, its own ~100–300MB of idle RAM, its own hit to battery life.
Most people have no idea how many of their everyday apps work this way. Electron Detector scans your installed apps and tells you, in a few seconds, exactly which ones are Electron — with sizes, versions, and a straight answer on whether it's worth switching to something native.
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/macnative/electron-detector/main/electron-detector.sh | bashThat's it — no install, no config, nothing left behind. It's a read-only scan of /Applications; it doesn't modify anything on your system.
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║ ⚡ Electron Detector for macOS ║
║ Find which apps are secretly Electron-based ║
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🔍 Scanning /Applications...
[▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓] Done!
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⚠️ Found 5 Electron app(s) out of 47 total apps
⚡ Electron Apps Detected:
App Name Size Version
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Slack 165M 4.35.0
Discord 156M 0.0.290
Visual Studio Code 387M 1.85.0
Postman 312M 10.20.0
Notion 198M 2.2.3
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
📦 Resource Impact:
⚠️ High Electron count detected!
Each Electron app runs a full Chromium browser
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🚀 Want native alternatives?
Check out: https://macnative.io
✓ Native apps are:
• Faster and more responsive
• Use less RAM and battery
• Better macOS integration
• Smaller app size
💡 Fun Fact:
Electron apps can use 100-300MB RAM even when idle
Native apps often use less than 50MB
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- 🔎 Scans
/Applications(and optionally~/Applications) for Electron apps - ⚡ Detects the Electron runtime via its framework bundle, not just an app name guess
- 📊 Reports app name, disk size, and version for every match
- 🎨 Clean, colorful terminal output — with a real progress bar, not a spinner
- 🤖
--jsonmode for scripting, dashboards, or piping intojq - 🧠 Zero dependencies: pure Bash, nothing to install
- 🔒 Read-only — it only inspects app bundles, it never modifies or deletes anything
electron-detector.sh [options]
Options:
-u, --user Also scan ~/Applications
-j, --json Output machine-readable JSON instead of the report
-q, --quiet Suppress the banner and tips, print results only
-v, --version Print the version number
-h, --help Show this help messageScan both system and user app directories:
./electron-detector.sh --userGet JSON for scripting:
./electron-detector.sh --json | jq '.electron_apps[].name'git clone https://github.com/macnative/electron-detector.git
cd electron-detector
chmod +x electron-detector.sh
./electron-detector.shElectron Detector doesn't guess from an app's name or icon — it looks inside the .app bundle for the actual Electron runtime:
- Electron Framework —
Contents/Frameworks/Electron Framework.framework - Electron binary —
Contents/MacOS/Electron
If either is present, the app is running on Electron — full stop. This is the same signal macOS itself uses internally to launch the app, so it's accurate even when an app hides its origins well.
| Electron apps | Native apps | |
|---|---|---|
| Idle RAM | 100–300MB per app | Often under 50MB |
| Battery impact | Higher — runs a full Chromium instance | Lower — uses native frameworks |
| Launch time | Slower — boots a browser engine | Near-instant |
| Disk footprint | Large (bundles Chromium + Node.js) | Small |
| macOS integration | Approximated | Native |
None of this means Electron apps are bad — it's a reasonable trade-off for developers shipping cross-platform software fast. But if you're stacking up a dozen of them, your battery and fans will notice. Once you know which apps are Electron, you can make that call for yourself.
Found some? Browse macnative.io for a curated directory of native macOS replacements.
- macOS with Bash (ships by default)
- Apps installed in
/Applicationsor~/Applications
"Permission denied" when running the script directly
chmod +x electron-detector.shNot finding an app you know is Electron Some apps rename or relocate their internals. Open an issue with the app name and version and we'll add a detection rule.
Apps in unusual locations aren't scanned
By design, only /Applications and (with --user) ~/Applications are scanned. This is deliberate — the script only reads standard, expected locations.
Contributions are very welcome — new detection rules, bug fixes, and general polish all help. See CONTRIBUTING.md to get started, or just open an issue or PR.
Electron Detector is built and maintained by macnative — a directory of fast, native, non-Electron alternatives to the apps cluttering your Mac. Visit macnative.io to find one for every Electron app this tool flags.
MIT — free to use, modify, and share.
Made with ❤️ by macnative for people who like their Macs fast and their RAM free.