Unable to use keytar in main.js of electron project - electron

Question

I keep getting this error:
error in ./node_modules/keytar/build/Release/keytar.node
Module parse failed: Unexpected character '�' (1:2)
You may need an appropriate loader to handle this file type, currently no loaders are configured to process this file. See https://webpack.js.org/concepts#loaders
(Source code omitted for this binary file)
# ./node_modules/keytar/lib/keytar.js 1:13-52
# ./src/background.js
# multi ./src/background.js
I have background.js set as the main electron file in package.json because I'm using vue/vuetify with it which uses a main.js file as well.
{
"name": "project",
"version": "0.1.0",
"private": true,
"scripts": {
"serve": "vue-cli-service serve",
"build": "vue-cli-service build",
"lint": "vue-cli-service lint",
"electron:build": "vue-cli-service electron:build",
"electron:serve": "vue-cli-service electron:serve",
"postinstall": "electron-builder install-app-deps",
"postuninstall": "electron-builder install-app-deps"
},
"main": "background.js", // <------------------ see right here
"dependencies": {
"axios": "^0.19.0",
"core-js": "^3.4.3",
"jwt-decode": "^2.2.0",
"keytar": "^5.0.0",
"request": "^2.88.0",
"vue": "^2.6.10",
"vue-router": "^3.1.3",
"vuetify": "^2.1.0",
"vuex": "^3.1.2"
},
"devDependencies": {
"#vue/cli-plugin-babel": "^4.1.0",
"#vue/cli-plugin-eslint": "^4.1.0",
"#vue/cli-service": "^4.1.0",
"babel-eslint": "^10.0.3",
"electron": "^7.1.3",
"eslint": "^5.16.0",
"eslint-plugin-vue": "^5.0.0",
"node-loader": "^0.6.0",
"sass": "^1.19.0",
"sass-loader": "^8.0.0",
"vue-cli-plugin-electron-builder": "^1.4.3",
"vue-cli-plugin-vuetify": "^2.0.2",
"vue-template-compiler": "^2.6.10",
"vuetify-loader": "^1.3.0"
},
"eslintConfig": {
"root": true,
"env": {
"node": true
},
"extends": [
"plugin:vue/essential",
"eslint:recommended"
],
"rules": {},
"parserOptions": {
"parser": "babel-eslint"
}
},
"browserslist": [
"> 1%",
"last 2 versions"
]
}
Searching, it seems this happens when keytar is used in a renderer process. But background.js isn't a renderer process. Or am I missing something? I am completely new to electron.

Answer 1

I needed to mark keytar as external (as mentioned at https://nklayman.github.io/vue-cli-plugin-electron-builder/guide/guide.html#native-modules)
// vue.config.js
module.exports = {
pluginOptions: {
electronBuilder: {
// List native deps here if they don't work
externals: ['keytar']
}
}
}
Once I did that it worked properly.

Answer 2

Run appropriate loader (source).
yarn add node-loader -D
// vue.config.js
configureWebpack: {
devtool: 'source-map',
module: {
rules: [
{ test: /\.node$/, loader: 'node-loader' }
]
}
}