Desktop App — Overview

CodeSCE ships a native desktop app (built on Electron) alongside the web version. It's the same marketplace and the same account, in a focused native window designed for a local, project-oriented workflow.

Why desktop exists

• A native, focused window. A dedicated app for browsing, buying, and downloading — with its own custom title bar and chrome, no browser tabs in the way.
• A local workflow. The desktop app is oriented around getting purchased modules onto your machine and into your projects.
• Trusted authentication. Sign-in happens in your real system browser, not inside the app window — see Authentication Flow.
• One account, everywhere. Your purchases, downloads, and profile are shared with the web; nothing is separate.

What it is

Under the hood, the app is a native window that loads the same CodeSCE web application and talks to the same backend as the website. Loading the app from the real origin (rather than local files) means your session and the API share one origin, so everything — auth cookies, purchases, downloads — behaves exactly as it does on the web.

A few things the native shell adds:

• Custom window chrome — a hidden native frame with CodeSCE's own title bar.
• Single-instance — launching the app again focuses the existing window rather than opening a duplicate (this also lets sign-in hand back cleanly; see below).
• Locked-down inspection — in packaged production builds, developer tools are disabled, so page and demo code can't be inspected in the shipped app.

Entry point

Production launches the app pointed at the CodeSCE cloud backend, so auth and the API live on the same origin. (A local/development mode can instead run a backend on your machine — an implementation detail you don't need to think about as a user.)

How it relates to the web

	Web	Desktop app
Where	Any browser	Native window (Windows/macOS)
Account	Shared	Shared
Sign-in	In the browser tab	Opens your system browser, returns to the app
Best for	Quick browsing & buying	Local, project-oriented workflow

Next step

See exactly how sign-in works in Authentication Flow →.