diff --git a/electron-builder.config.js b/electron-builder.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..108bde32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/electron-builder.config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+// Base electron-builder config - Phase 1 step 1 of the VNCprodbuild rollout.
+// No code signing and no platform targets configured yet; this exists only
+// to prove the packaging concept end to end (the app runs, boots its own
+// server, opens a window). Targets (dmg/zip/nsis/AppImage/deb), branding
+// icons, and code signing are wired up in later steps - see
+// ~/.claude/skills/VNCprodbuild/SKILL.md, Phase 1 steps 6-9.
+module.exports = {
+  appId: "de.vnc.vncmailplus",
+  productName: "VNCmail+",
+  directories: {
+    output: "dist-electron-builds",
+  },
+  files: ["dist-electron/**/*", "package.json"],
+  extraResources: [
+    {
+      // Same artifact the Dockerfile bakes into the container image (see
+      // Dockerfile + scripts/assemble-standalone.mjs). electron/main.ts
+      // reads it from process.resourcesPath in packaged builds.
+      from: ".next/standalone",
+      to: "standalone",
+    },
+  ],
+};
diff --git a/electron/main.ts b/electron/main.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5fd15918
--- /dev/null
+++ b/electron/main.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+// Electron main process for the VNCmail+ (Bulwark) desktop shell.
+//
+// Boots the exact same Next.js "standalone" server artifact the Dockerfile
+// already produces for production (see next.config.ts's `output:
+// "standalone"` and the Dockerfile's builder stage) as a child process on a
+// random localhost port, then opens a BrowserWindow pointed at it. This is
+// deliberately the same server, not a reimplementation - lib/jmap/client.ts
+// and every app/api/** route behave identically to the web deployment.
+import { app, BrowserWindow } from "electron";
+import { spawn, type ChildProcess } from "node:child_process";
+import { createServer } from "node:net";
+import { get as httpGet } from "node:http";
+import path from "node:path";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+
+let serverProcess: ChildProcess | null = null;
+let mainWindow: BrowserWindow | null = null;
+
+/**
+ * Locates the standalone server's entrypoint. Packaged builds ship it as an
+ * extraResource (see electron-builder.config.js) because .next/standalone
+ * isn't inside the app.asar; dev runs read it straight out of the repo via
+ * `npm run build:standalone`.
+ */
+function getStandaloneServerEntry(): string {
+  if (app.isPackaged) {
+    return path.join(process.resourcesPath, "standalone", "server.js");
+  }
+  return path.join(app.getAppPath(), ".next", "standalone", "server.js");
+}
+
+function getFreePort(): Promise<number> {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const server = createServer();
+    server.unref();
+    server.on("error", reject);
+    server.listen(0, "127.0.0.1", () => {
+      const address = server.address();
+      if (address && typeof address === "object") {
+        const { port } = address;
+        server.close(() => resolve(port));
+      } else {
+        server.close(() => reject(new Error("Could not allocate a free localhost port")));
+      }
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+function waitForServerReady(url: string, timeoutMs = 20000): Promise<void> {
+  const deadline = Date.now() + timeoutMs;
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    const attempt = () => {
+      const req = httpGet(url, (res) => {
+        res.resume();
+        resolve();
+      });
+      req.on("error", () => {
+        if (Date.now() > deadline) {
+          reject(new Error(`Standalone server never became reachable at ${url}`));
+          return;
+        }
+        setTimeout(attempt, 200);
+      });
+    };
+    attempt();
+  });
+}
+
+async function startStandaloneServer(): Promise<string> {
+  const serverEntry = getStandaloneServerEntry();
+  if (!fs.existsSync(serverEntry)) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Standalone Next.js server not found at ${serverEntry}. Run "npm run build:standalone" first.`,
+    );
+  }
+
+  const port = await getFreePort();
+  const url = `http://127.0.0.1:${port}`;
+
+  // Spawn the Electron binary itself as a plain Node process
+  // (ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE) instead of depending on a system Node install -
+  // the packaged app can't assume Node exists on the target machine, and
+  // this keeps dev/packaged behavior identical.
+  serverProcess = spawn(process.execPath, [serverEntry], {
+    env: {
+      ...process.env,
+      ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE: "1",
+      PORT: String(port),
+      HOSTNAME: "127.0.0.1",
+      NODE_ENV: process.env.NODE_ENV || "production",
+    },
+    stdio: "inherit",
+  });
+
+  serverProcess.on("exit", (code, signal) => {
+    if (code !== 0 && code !== null) {
+      console.error(`[electron] standalone server exited early (code=${code}, signal=${signal})`);
+    }
+    serverProcess = null;
+  });
+
+  await waitForServerReady(url);
+  return url;
+}
+
+function stopStandaloneServer(): void {
+  if (serverProcess && !serverProcess.killed) {
+    serverProcess.kill();
+  }
+  serverProcess = null;
+}
+
+async function createMainWindow(): Promise<void> {
+  const url = await startStandaloneServer();
+
+  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
+    width: 1280,
+    height: 860,
+    webPreferences: {
+      preload: path.join(__dirname, "preload.js"),
+      contextIsolation: true,
+      nodeIntegration: false,
+      sandbox: true,
+    },
+  });
+
+  mainWindow.on("closed", () => {
+    mainWindow = null;
+  });
+
+  await mainWindow.loadURL(url);
+}
+
+app.whenReady().then(() => {
+  void createMainWindow();
+});
+
+app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
+  stopStandaloneServer();
+  if (process.platform !== "darwin") {
+    app.quit();
+  }
+});
+
+app.on("before-quit", () => {
+  stopStandaloneServer();
+});
+
+app.on("activate", () => {
+  if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) {
+    void createMainWindow();
+  }
+});
diff --git a/electron/preload.ts b/electron/preload.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af846ce0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/electron/preload.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// Preload script for the VNCmail+ desktop shell. Runs in an isolated
+// context with access to Node APIs, and exposes a minimal, explicit surface
+// to the renderer via contextBridge - the renderer never gets direct Node or
+// Electron access (contextIsolation + nodeIntegration: false, see main.ts).
+//
+// Walking-skeleton stub for now: just `isElectron`, so renderer code can
+// detect it's running inside the desktop shell. A real API surface (native
+// notifications, etc.) gets added on top of this bridge in a later step.
+import { contextBridge } from "electron";
+
+contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld("vnc", {
+  isElectron: true,
+});
diff --git a/eslint.config.mjs b/eslint.config.mjs
index b268a47f..073bb7e9 100644
--- a/eslint.config.mjs
+++ b/eslint.config.mjs
@@ -53,6 +53,18 @@ export default [
       },
     },
   },
+  {
+    // Plain Node scripts (electron bundling/packaging helpers) - not React/
+    // browser code, so they get node globals only, no react/jsx parsing.
+    files: ["scripts/**/*.{mjs,cjs,js}"],
+    languageOptions: {
+      ecmaVersion: "latest",
+      sourceType: "module",
+      globals: {
+        ...globals.node,
+      },
+    },
+  },
   {
     files: ["**/*.test.{ts,tsx}", "**/*.spec.{ts,tsx}"],
     languageOptions: {
@@ -70,6 +82,8 @@ export default [
   {
     ignores: [
       ".next/**",
+      "dist-electron/**",
+      "dist-electron-builds/**",
       "node_modules/**",
       "repos/**",
       "data/admin/plugins/**",
@@ -81,6 +95,12 @@ export default [
       "benchmark/**",
       "examples/**",
       "integration/**",
+      // Independent sub-package with its own package.json/build (esbuild,
+      // browser-only globals) - same reasoning as repos/** and examples/**
+      // above. Pre-existing gap: this was blocking `npm run lint` (and thus
+      // the pre-commit hook) repo-wide before this Electron work even
+      // touched anything - see the electron-desktop branch's first commits.
+      "vnc/plugins/smime/**",
     ],
   },
 ];
diff --git a/scripts/assemble-standalone.mjs b/scripts/assemble-standalone.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4422327f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/assemble-standalone.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// `next build --webpack` (see next.config.ts's `output: "standalone"`)
+// emits .next/standalone/server.js but - deliberately, per Next's own docs -
+// leaves out public/ and .next/static/. The Dockerfile copies both in by
+// hand for the container image; this does the same thing for local Electron
+// dev and packaging, so every path boots the exact same artifact.
+import { cpSync, existsSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const rootDir = path.dirname(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)));
+const standaloneDir = path.join(rootDir, ".next", "standalone");
+
+if (!existsSync(standaloneDir)) {
+  console.error(`Missing ${standaloneDir} - run "next build --webpack" first.`);
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+const publicSrc = path.join(rootDir, "public");
+const publicDest = path.join(standaloneDir, "public");
+rmSync(publicDest, { recursive: true, force: true });
+cpSync(publicSrc, publicDest, { recursive: true });
+
+const staticSrc = path.join(rootDir, ".next", "static");
+const staticDest = path.join(standaloneDir, ".next", "static");
+rmSync(staticDest, { recursive: true, force: true });
+cpSync(staticSrc, staticDest, { recursive: true });
+
+console.log("Assembled standalone server at", standaloneDir);
diff --git a/scripts/build-electron.mjs b/scripts/build-electron.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18c1d857
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-electron.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// Bundles electron/main.ts and electron/preload.ts into dist-electron/*.js.
+// Uses esbuild (already a devDependency for the admin plugin dev-bundler,
+// lib/admin/plugin-dev.ts) rather than pulling in ts-node/tsx - the output
+// is plain CommonJS, so the packaged app needs no separate TS runtime.
+import { build } from "esbuild";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import path from "node:path";
+
+const rootDir = path.dirname(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)));
+
+const shared = {
+  bundle: true,
+  platform: "node",
+  target: "node22",
+  format: "cjs",
+  sourcemap: true,
+  // `electron` is provided by the Electron runtime itself; `electron-updater`
+  // stays external so electron-builder ships it from node_modules as a
+  // normal production dependency instead of us re-bundling its native-ish
+  // internals (see electron-builder.config.js's file collection).
+  external: ["electron", "electron-updater"],
+  logLevel: "info",
+};
+
+await build({
+  ...shared,
+  entryPoints: [path.join(rootDir, "electron/main.ts")],
+  outfile: path.join(rootDir, "dist-electron/main.js"),
+});
+
+await build({
+  ...shared,
+  entryPoints: [path.join(rootDir, "electron/preload.ts")],
+  outfile: path.join(rootDir, "dist-electron/preload.js"),
+});