Pre-flight Desktop Auditor

Audits desktop application builds for resource usage, window management, and platform compliance before deployment.

When to Use This Hook

Attach this hook when you need to:

• Validate Electron, Tauri, or native desktop app builds meet resource budgets before release
• Check that window dimensions, menu structures, and tray icons conform to OS guidelines
• Audit memory footprint and startup time metrics against defined thresholds

Consider alternatives when:

• Your application is purely web-based with no desktop packaging
• You already run comprehensive platform-specific CI pipelines for desktop validation

Quick Start

Configuration

Copy
name: pre-flight-desktop-auditor
type: hook
trigger: PostToolUse
category: monitoring

Example Trigger

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# Hook triggers after a desktop app build command completes
npm run build:electron
# Hook output:

Example Output

Desktop Audit: Analyzing build artifacts...
  Binary size: 84MB (budget: 120MB) ............. PASS
  Startup time estimate: 1.8s (budget: 3s) ...... PASS
  Window min dimensions: 800x600 ................ PASS
  Code signing: valid signature detected ......... PASS
  Native module audit: 3 modules, all compatible . PASS
Desktop pre-flight audit completed: 5/5 checks passed

Core Concepts

Audit Dimensions Overview

Aspect	Details
Binary Size	Measures packaged app size against platform budgets
Startup Performance	Estimates cold-start time from main process initialization
Platform Compliance	Validates menu bar, dock icon, and tray requirements per OS
Native Modules	Checks N-API compatibility and architecture matching
Code Signing	Verifies signatures for macOS notarization and Windows SmartScreen

Audit Workflow

Build Completes
      |
  Locate Artifacts
      |
  ┌───┴───┐
  |       |
Size   Signing
Check   Check
  |       |
  └───┬───┘
      |
  Platform Compliance
      |
  Native Module Scan
      |
  Generate Report

Configuration

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
max_binary_size_mb	number	120	Maximum allowed binary size in megabytes
max_startup_ms	number	3000	Maximum acceptable startup time in milliseconds
platforms	string[]	["darwin","win32","linux"]	Target platforms to validate against
require_signing	boolean	true	Whether code signing is mandatory
native_module_check	boolean	true	Scan for native module compatibility issues

Best Practices

1. Set Platform-Specific Budgets - macOS, Windows, and Linux have different user expectations for app size and startup time. Configure separate budgets per platform rather than using a single global threshold.

2. Audit Before Notarization - Run the desktop auditor before submitting to Apple notarization or Windows Store. Catching issues pre-submission saves hours of waiting for rejection feedback.

3. Track Binary Size Trends - Log binary sizes over time to detect gradual bloat. A 2MB increase per release compounds quickly into a sluggish download experience.

4. Validate Auto-Update Payloads - If your app uses delta updates, audit the update payload size separately from the full installer to keep update times reasonable.

5. Test Minimum Window Sizes - Ensure your UI remains functional at the declared minimum window dimensions. The auditor checks declarations but manual smoke testing validates real behavior.

Common Issues

1. Architecture Mismatch on Native Modules - Building on x64 but targeting arm64 causes native module failures. Ensure your build matrix matches your audit targets and use cross-compilation flags.

2. False Code Signing Failures - Expired or self-signed certificates trigger audit failures. Keep certificates rotated and use environment variables for signing credentials in CI.

3. Inflated Size from Dev Dependencies - Development dependencies bundled into production builds inflate binary size. Verify your bundler config excludes devDependencies and test fixtures.