How to access application menus / devtools once packaged?

[ericsoco]

Why are application menus removed when packaged? This appears to break electron-debug functionality, but I'm not clear if the problem lies within electron-debug or electron-packager (and/or configuration of either). Filed a complementary question on electron-debug here.

Console output when you run electron-packager with the environment variable DEBUG=electron-packager. Please include the stack trace if one exists.

> DEBUG=${DEBUG:=electron-packager} electron-packager ./ --arch=x64 --overwrite

  electron-packager Electron Packager 8.4.0 +0ms
  electron-packager Node v6.9.2 +4ms
  electron-packager Host Operating system: darwin (x64) +2ms
  electron-packager Packager Options: {"_":["./"],"all":false,"deref-symlinks":true,"download":{"strictSSL":true},"overwrite":true,"prune":true,"quiet":false,"arch":"x64","dir":"./","protocols":[]} +0ms
  electron-packager Target Platforms: darwin +0ms
  electron-packager Target Architectures: x64 +0ms
  electron-packager Inferring application name from productName in /<myproject>/package.json +12ms
  electron-packager Inferring app-version from version in /<myproject>/package.json +0ms
  electron-packager Inferring target Electron version from electron in /<myproject>/package.json +3ms
  electron-packager Application name: MyProjectName +0ms
  electron-packager Target Electron version: 1.4.13 +0ms
  electron-packager Ignored path regular expressions: [ '/node_modules/electron($|/)',
  '/node_modules/electron-prebuilt($|/)',
  '/node_modules/electron-packager($|/)',
  '/\\.git($|/)',
  '/node_modules/\\.bin($|/)',
  '\\.o(bj)?$' ] +0ms
  electron-packager Downloading Electron with options {"strictSSL":true,"platform":"darwin","arch":"x64","version":"1.4.13"} +7ms
Packaging app for platform darwin x64 using electron v1.4.13
  electron-packager Creating /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64-template +801ms
  electron-packager Extracting /Users/ericsocolofsky/.electron/electron-v1.4.13-darwin-x64.zip to /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64-template +1ms
  electron-packager Initializing app in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64 from /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64-template template +1s
  electron-packager Ignored paths based on the out param: [ '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-darwin-ia32',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-darwin-x64',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-darwin-armv7l',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-linux-ia32',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-linux-x64',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-linux-armv7l',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-mas-ia32',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-mas-x64',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-mas-armv7l',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-win32-ia32',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-win32-x64',
  '/<myproject>/MyProjectName-win32-armv7l' ] +2ms
  electron-packager Running npm prune --production +12s
  electron-packager Renaming Electron to MyProjectName in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64/Electron.app/Contents/MacOS +6s
  electron-packager Renaming Electron Helper to MyProjectName Helper in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64/Electron.app/Contents/Frameworks/Electron Helper.app/Contents/MacOS +1ms
  electron-packager Renaming Electron Helper.app to MyProjectName Helper.app in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64/Electron.app/Contents/Frameworks +0ms
  electron-packager Renaming Electron Helper EH to MyProjectName Helper EH in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64/Electron.app/Contents/Frameworks/Electron Helper EH.app/Contents/MacOS +0ms
  electron-packager Renaming Electron Helper EH.app to MyProjectName Helper EH.app in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64/Electron.app/Contents/Frameworks +0ms
  electron-packager Renaming Electron Helper NP to MyProjectName Helper NP in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64/Electron.app/Contents/Frameworks/Electron Helper NP.app/Contents/MacOS +1ms
  electron-packager Renaming Electron Helper NP.app to MyProjectName Helper NP.app in /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64/Electron.app/Contents/Frameworks +0ms
  electron-packager Moving /var/folders/jk/r2j1844n4x32zf96sq_tdpt80000gn/T/electron-packager/darwin-x64/MyProjectName-darwin-x64 to /<myproject>/MyProjectName-darwin-x64 +0ms
Wrote new app to /<myproject>/MyProjectName-darwin-x64

What command line arguments are you passing? Alternatively, if you are using the API, what
parameters are you passing to the packager() function?

DEBUG=${DEBUG:=electron-packager} electron-packager ./ --arch=x64 --overwrite

Please provide either a failing minimal testcase (with a link to the code) or detailed steps to
reproduce your problem. Using electron-quick-start
is a good starting point.

I'm guessing this is a configuration issue and not specific to my codebase/application. I can provide a minimal testcase if it appears helpful.

[MarshallOfSound]

Why are application menus removed when packaged?

They are not, when you are running in "development" mode you are using the default_app from Electron which then simply requires your app's main entry point.

When packaged Electron is launching your entry point directly. The menu that you see before you package the app is provided by the default_app.

You need to provide your own menu if you want a menu to appear once your app is packaged.