Building app fails when there are spaces in the APP_NAME field of the .env file

[funnyoldgames]

What were you trying to do?

Trying to build my app on an Apple Silicon Mac, targeting Apple Silicon Macs

What happened?

When there are spaces in the APP_NAME field in the .env file, the build fails. Error message:

electron-builder version=24.13.3 os=23.0.0
Invalid name: "Example Name 2025" failedTask=build stackTrace=Error: Invalid name: "Example Name 2025"

How to reproduce the bug

1. try to build after a fresh install, it works
2. run php artisan native:serve
3. app names with spaces from the .env are copied to the 2 package json files
4. try to build, fails with above message
5. remove the spaces from the app name in the 2 package json files, but not the .env file
6. try to build again, it works

Note:
Simon said on Discord:
3) is expected because we intentionally rewrite the app name in the package.json when we run native:serve as a way to show the correct app name in debug builds (which Electron doesn't support by default)
so the problem looks like electron-builder doesn't like the spaces in the name
i'll take a look at this later

Package Versions

{
    "installed": [
        {
            "name": "nativephp/electron",
            "direct-dependency": true,
            "homepage": "https://github.com/nativephp/electron",
            "source": "https://github.com/NativePHP/electron/tree/0.6.5",
            "version": "0.6.5",
            "description": "Electron wrapper for the NativePHP framework.",
            "abandoned": false
        },
        {
            "name": "nativephp/laravel",
            "direct-dependency": false,
            "homepage": "https://github.com/nativephp/laravel",
            "source": "https://github.com/NativePHP/laravel/tree/0.5.3",
            "version": "0.5.3",
            "description": "Laravel wrapper for the NativePHP framework.",
            "abandoned": false
        },
        {
            "name": "nativephp/php-bin",
            "direct-dependency": false,
            "homepage": "https://nativephp.com",
            "source": "https://github.com/NativePHP/php-bin/tree/0.4.0",
            "version": "0.4.0",
            "description": "PHP binaries used by the NativePHP framework",
            "abandoned": false
        }
    ]
}

PHP Version

8.3

Laravel Version

11.19.0

Node Version

22.5.1

Which operating systems have you seen this occur on?

macOS

OS version

14.0

Notes

No response

[Louxsdon]

I'm facing the same isssue here.
Were you able to resolve yours?

[funnyoldgames]

I'm facing the same isssue here. Were you able to resolve yours?

For now I’m just removing the spaces from the 2 package json files before building the app. It still takes the name from the .env file for the actual build (which can still have spaces in it), so it’s more of a pain than a real problem.

[Louxsdon]

I'm facing the same isssue here. Were you able to resolve yours?

For now I’m just removing the spaces from the 2 package json files before building the app. It still takes the name from the .env file for the actual build (which can still have spaces in it), so it’s more of a pain than a real problem.

Okay, I'm also doing the same before I was able to build.

[avazquez-bit]

Are you using double quotes???

I have spaces in my app name value with double quotes and work fine, here is my example

APP_NAME="Samva Tracking"

[simonhamp]

I've managed to reproduce this. A fix is coming in NativePHP/electron#106

[devpartap]

i have the same issue using ionic capacitor. removing the space does fixes it.