diff --git a/apps/desktop/.swcrc b/apps/desktop/.swcrc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a2d5b04f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/.swcrc
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "jsc": {
+    "parser": {
+      "syntax": "typescript"
+    },
+    "target": "es2016"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/electron-main.ts b/apps/desktop/src/electron-main.ts
index 1ec06794a..1ded01e95 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/electron-main.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/electron-main.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,71 @@
 import { initializeTranslations } from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/i18n.js";
 
+import electron from "electron";
+import sqlInit from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/sql_init.js";
+import windowService from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/window.js";
+import tray from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/tray.js";
+import options from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/options.js";
+import electronDebug from "electron-debug";
+import electronDl from "electron-dl";
+
 async function main() {
+    // Prevent Trilium starting twice on first install and on uninstall for the Windows installer.
+    if ((require("electron-squirrel-startup")).default) {
+        process.exit(0);
+    }
+
+    // Adds debug features like hotkeys for triggering dev tools and reload
+    electronDebug();
+    electronDl({ saveAs: true });
+
+    // needed for excalidraw export https://github.com/zadam/trilium/issues/4271
+    electron.app.commandLine.appendSwitch("enable-experimental-web-platform-features");
+    electron.app.commandLine.appendSwitch("lang", options.getOptionOrNull("formattingLocale") ?? "en");
+
+    // Quit when all windows are closed, except on macOS. There, it's common
+    // for applications and their menu bar to stay active until the user quits
+    // explicitly with Cmd + Q.
+    electron.app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
+        if (process.platform !== "darwin") {
+            electron.app.quit();
+        }
+    });
+
+    electron.app.on("ready", async () => {
+        //    electron.app.setAppUserModelId('com.github.zadam.trilium');
+
+        // if db is not initialized -> setup process
+        // if db is initialized, then we need to wait until the migration process is finished
+        if (sqlInit.isDbInitialized()) {
+            await sqlInit.dbReady;
+
+            await windowService.createMainWindow(electron.app);
+
+            if (process.platform === "darwin") {
+                electron.app.on("activate", async () => {
+                    if (electron.BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
+                        await windowService.createMainWindow(electron.app);
+                    }
+                });
+            }
+
+            tray.createTray();
+        } else {
+            await windowService.createSetupWindow();
+        }
+
+        await windowService.registerGlobalShortcuts();
+    });
+
+    electron.app.on("will-quit", () => {
+        electron.globalShortcut.unregisterAll();
+    });
+
+    // this is to disable electron warning spam in the dev console (local development only)
+    process.env["ELECTRON_DISABLE_SECURITY_WARNINGS"] = "true";
+
     await initializeTranslations();
-    (await import("./electron.js")).default();
+    await import("@triliumnext/server/src/main.js");
 }
 
 main();
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/electron.ts b/apps/desktop/src/electron.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 39d509bd3..000000000
--- a/apps/desktop/src/electron.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,66 +0,0 @@
-"use strict";
-
-import electron from "electron";
-import sqlInit from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/sql_init.js";
-import windowService from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/window.js";
-import tray from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/tray.js";
-import options from "@triliumnext/server/src/services/options.js";
-
-export default async function start() {
-    // Prevent Trilium starting twice on first install and on uninstall for the Windows installer.
-    if ((await import("electron-squirrel-startup")).default) {
-        process.exit(0);
-    }
-
-    // Adds debug features like hotkeys for triggering dev tools and reload
-    (await import("electron-debug")).default();
-    (await import("electron-dl")).default({ saveAs: true });
-
-    // needed for excalidraw export https://github.com/zadam/trilium/issues/4271
-    electron.app.commandLine.appendSwitch("enable-experimental-web-platform-features");
-    electron.app.commandLine.appendSwitch("lang", options.getOptionOrNull("formattingLocale") ?? "en");
-
-    // Quit when all windows are closed, except on macOS. There, it's common
-    // for applications and their menu bar to stay active until the user quits
-    // explicitly with Cmd + Q.
-    electron.app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
-        if (process.platform !== "darwin") {
-            electron.app.quit();
-        }
-    });
-
-    electron.app.on("ready", async () => {
-        //    electron.app.setAppUserModelId('com.github.zadam.trilium');
-
-        // if db is not initialized -> setup process
-        // if db is initialized, then we need to wait until the migration process is finished
-        if (sqlInit.isDbInitialized()) {
-            await sqlInit.dbReady;
-
-            await windowService.createMainWindow(electron.app);
-
-            if (process.platform === "darwin") {
-                electron.app.on("activate", async () => {
-                    if (electron.BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
-                        await windowService.createMainWindow(electron.app);
-                    }
-                });
-            }
-
-            tray.createTray();
-        } else {
-            await windowService.createSetupWindow();
-        }
-
-        await windowService.registerGlobalShortcuts();
-    });
-
-    electron.app.on("will-quit", () => {
-        electron.globalShortcut.unregisterAll();
-    });
-
-    // this is to disable electron warning spam in the dev console (local development only)
-    process.env["ELECTRON_DISABLE_SECURITY_WARNINGS"] = "true";
-
-    await import("@triliumnext/server/src/main.js");
-}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/webpack.config.js b/apps/desktop/webpack.config.cjs
similarity index 79%
rename from apps/desktop/webpack.config.js
rename to apps/desktop/webpack.config.cjs
index 86b67ccfc..de4f922d2 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/webpack.config.js
+++ b/apps/desktop/webpack.config.cjs
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ const outputDir = join(__dirname, 'dist');
 
 module.exports = {
   output: {
-    path: outputDir,
+    path: outputDir
   },
+  target: [ "node" ],
   plugins: [
     new NxAppWebpackPlugin({
       target: 'node',
@@ -21,18 +22,15 @@ module.exports = {
       externalDependencies: [
         "electron/main",
         "electron",
-        "@electron/remote"
+        "@electron/remote",        
+        "better-sqlite3"
       ],
       assets: [
 
       ]
     }),
     new CopyPlugin({
-        patterns: [
-            {
-                from: "node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release",
-                to: join(outputDir, "Release")
-            },
+        patterns: [            
             {
                 from: "../client/dist",
                 to: join(outputDir, "public")
@@ -44,8 +42,12 @@ module.exports = {
             {
                 from: "../server/dist/assets",
                 to: join(outputDir, "assets")
-            }
+            },
+            {
+              from: "node_modules/better-sqlite3",
+              to: join(outputDir, "node_modules/better-sqlite3")
+            },
         ]
     })
-  ],
+  ]
 };
diff --git a/apps/server/tsconfig.app.json b/apps/server/tsconfig.app.json
index bfdaf3cbf..a468dfc28 100644
--- a/apps/server/tsconfig.app.json
+++ b/apps/server/tsconfig.app.json
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 {
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.base.json",
   "compilerOptions": {
-    "module": "NodeNext",
+    "module": "ESNext",
     "moduleResolution": "nodenext",
+    "target": "ES2020",
     "outDir": "dist",
     "types": [
       "node",