Desktop App — Overview

Code SCE 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 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 project 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 Code SCE 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 Code SCE's own title bar.
• Local workflow bridge — native OS file/directory pickers for direct project extraction.
• 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.

Cloud-Only Native Client

Production packages ship the app pointed directly at the Code SCE Cloud backend (auth.codesce.com). No local backend or database runs on user devices, eliminating offline sync complexity and port conflicts.

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 →.