2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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# Electron FAQ
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2017-07-18 23:23:03 +03:00
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## Why am I having trouble installing Electron?
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2017-11-20 09:18:24 +03:00
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When running `npm install electron`, some users occasionally encounter
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2017-07-18 23:23:03 +03:00
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installation errors.
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2017-11-20 09:18:24 +03:00
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In almost all cases, these errors are the result of network problems and not
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actual issues with the `electron` npm package. Errors like `ELIFECYCLE`,
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`EAI_AGAIN`, `ECONNRESET`, and `ETIMEDOUT` are all indications of such
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2017-11-29 13:58:24 +03:00
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network problems. The best resolution is to try switching networks, or
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2018-05-08 08:16:09 +03:00
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wait a bit and try installing again.
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2017-07-18 23:23:03 +03:00
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2017-11-20 09:18:24 +03:00
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You can also attempt to download Electron directly from
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[electron/electron/releases](https://github.com/electron/electron/releases)
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2017-07-18 23:23:03 +03:00
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if installing via `npm` is failing.
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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## When will Electron upgrade to latest Chrome?
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The Chrome version of Electron is usually bumped within one or two weeks after
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2016-05-06 13:23:18 +03:00
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a new stable Chrome version gets released. This estimate is not guaranteed and
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depends on the amount of work involved with upgrading.
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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2016-05-06 13:23:18 +03:00
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Only the stable channel of Chrome is used. If an important fix is in beta or dev
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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channel, we will back-port it.
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2016-07-17 04:22:53 +03:00
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For more information, please see the [security introduction](tutorial/security.md).
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2016-05-06 13:23:18 +03:00
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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## When will Electron upgrade to latest Node.js?
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When a new version of Node.js gets released, we usually wait for about a month
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before upgrading the one in Electron. So we can avoid getting affected by bugs
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introduced in new Node.js versions, which happens very often.
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New features of Node.js are usually brought by V8 upgrades, since Electron is
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using the V8 shipped by Chrome browser, the shiny new JavaScript feature of a
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new Node.js version is usually already in Electron.
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2016-02-16 06:52:47 +03:00
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## How to share data between web pages?
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To share data between web pages (the renderer processes) the simplest way is to
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use HTML5 APIs which are already available in browsers. Good candidates are
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[Storage API][storage], [`localStorage`][local-storage],
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[`sessionStorage`][session-storage], and [IndexedDB][indexed-db].
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2016-03-16 19:37:04 +03:00
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Or you can use the IPC system, which is specific to Electron, to store objects
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2016-02-16 06:52:47 +03:00
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in the main process as a global variable, and then to access them from the
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2016-06-05 13:39:10 +03:00
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renderers through the `remote` property of `electron` module:
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2016-02-06 21:57:21 +03:00
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```javascript
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2016-02-16 06:52:47 +03:00
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// In the main process.
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global.sharedObject = {
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someProperty: 'default value'
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2016-07-26 04:39:25 +03:00
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}
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2016-02-06 21:57:21 +03:00
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```
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```javascript
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// In page 1.
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require('electron').remote.getGlobal('sharedObject').someProperty = 'new value'
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2016-02-06 21:57:21 +03:00
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```
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```javascript
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// In page 2.
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console.log(require('electron').remote.getGlobal('sharedObject').someProperty)
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```
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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## My app's window/tray disappeared after a few minutes.
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This happens when the variable which is used to store the window/tray gets
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garbage collected.
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2016-03-16 19:37:04 +03:00
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If you encounter this problem, the following articles may prove helpful:
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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* [Memory Management][memory-management]
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* [Variable Scope][variable-scope]
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If you want a quick fix, you can make the variables global by changing your
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code from this:
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```javascript
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2018-09-13 19:10:51 +03:00
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const { app, Tray } = require('electron')
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2016-05-04 21:02:24 +03:00
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app.on('ready', () => {
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const tray = new Tray('/path/to/icon.png')
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tray.setTitle('hello world')
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})
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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```
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to this:
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```javascript
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2018-09-13 19:10:51 +03:00
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const { app, Tray } = require('electron')
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let tray = null
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app.on('ready', () => {
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tray = new Tray('/path/to/icon.png')
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tray.setTitle('hello world')
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})
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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```
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## I can not use jQuery/RequireJS/Meteor/AngularJS in Electron.
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Due to the Node.js integration of Electron, there are some extra symbols
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2016-04-22 16:53:26 +03:00
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inserted into the DOM like `module`, `exports`, `require`. This causes problems
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for some libraries since they want to insert the symbols with the same names.
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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To solve this, you can turn off node integration in Electron:
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```javascript
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// In the main process.
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2018-09-13 19:10:51 +03:00
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const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
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2016-05-10 20:38:42 +03:00
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let win = new BrowserWindow({
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webPreferences: {
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nodeIntegration: false
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}
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2016-07-26 04:39:25 +03:00
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})
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win.show()
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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```
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But if you want to keep the abilities of using Node.js and Electron APIs, you
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have to rename the symbols in the page before including other libraries:
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```html
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<head>
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<script>
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window.nodeRequire = require;
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delete window.require;
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delete window.exports;
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delete window.module;
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</script>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
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</head>
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```
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2016-01-25 13:41:34 +03:00
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## `require('electron').xxx` is undefined.
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When using Electron's built-in module you might encounter an error like this:
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2017-11-20 09:18:24 +03:00
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```sh
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> require('electron').webFrame.setZoomFactor(1.0)
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2016-01-25 13:41:34 +03:00
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Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'setZoomLevel' of undefined
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```
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2016-01-26 12:00:12 +03:00
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This is because you have the [npm `electron` module][electron-module] installed
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either locally or globally, which overrides Electron's built-in module.
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To verify whether you are using the correct built-in module, you can print the
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path of the `electron` module:
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```javascript
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console.log(require.resolve('electron'))
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```
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and then check if it is in the following form:
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2017-11-20 09:18:24 +03:00
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```sh
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"/path/to/Electron.app/Contents/Resources/atom.asar/renderer/api/lib/exports/electron.js"
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```
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If it is something like `node_modules/electron/index.js`, then you have to
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either remove the npm `electron` module, or rename it.
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2017-11-24 13:13:57 +03:00
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```sh
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npm uninstall electron
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npm uninstall -g electron
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```
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2017-04-23 06:11:04 +03:00
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However if you are using the built-in module but still getting this error, it
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2016-03-16 19:37:04 +03:00
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is very likely you are using the module in the wrong process. For example
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2016-01-26 12:00:12 +03:00
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`electron.app` can only be used in the main process, while `electron.webFrame`
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is only available in renderer processes.
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2016-01-25 13:41:34 +03:00
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2016-01-05 14:52:57 +03:00
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[memory-management]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Memory_Management
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[variable-scope]: https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/bzt2dkta(v=vs.94).aspx
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2016-01-26 12:00:12 +03:00
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[electron-module]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/electron
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2016-02-16 06:52:47 +03:00
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[storage]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Storage
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[local-storage]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/localStorage
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[session-storage]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/sessionStorage
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[indexed-db]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/IndexedDB_API
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