start to this epic idea

packages/desktop-client/src/browser-preload.browser.js

@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ global.Actual = {
   openURLInBrowser: url => {
     window.open(url, '_blank');
   },
+  downloadActualServer: () => {},
   onEventFromMain: () => {},
   applyAppUpdate: () => {},
   updateAppMenu: () => {},

packages/desktop-electron/index.ts

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import {
 } from './window-state';
 
 import './security';
+import AdmZip from 'adm-zip';
 
 const isDev = !app.isPackaged; // dev mode if not packaged
 
@@ -373,6 +374,33 @@ ipcMain.handle('open-external-url', (event, url) => {
   shell.openExternal(url);
 });
 
+ipcMain.handle(
+  'download-actual-server',
+  async (_event, payload: { releaseVersion: string }) => {
+    console.info({ payload });
+    const downloadUrl = `https://github.com/MikesGlitch/actual-server/releases/download/${payload.releaseVersion}/${payload.releaseVersion}-server-sync-dist.zip`;
+
+    try {
+      const res = await fetch(downloadUrl);
+      const arrBuffer = await res.arrayBuffer();
+      const zipped = new AdmZip(Buffer.from(arrBuffer));
+      console.info(
+        'actual-server will be installed here:',
+        process.env.ACTUAL_DATA_DIR,
+      );
+      zipped.extractAllTo(
+        process.env.ACTUAL_DATA_DIR + '/actual-server-releases',
+        true,
+        false,
+      );
+      return { error: undefined };
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.error('Error retrieving actual-server:', error);
+      return { error };
+    }
+  },
+);
+
 ipcMain.on('message', (_event, msg) => {
   if (!serverProcess) {
     return;

packages/desktop-electron/package.json

@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
     "npmRebuild": false
   },
   "dependencies": {
+    "adm-zip": "^0.5.10",
     "better-sqlite3": "^9.6.0",
     "fs-extra": "^11.2.0",
     "node-fetch": "^2.7.0",

packages/desktop-electron/preload.ts

@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('Actual', {
     ipcRenderer.invoke('open-external-url', url);
   },
 
+  downloadActualServer: async (releaseVersion: string) => {
+    await ipcRenderer.invoke('download-actual-server', {
+      releaseVersion,
+    });
+  },
+
   onEventFromMain: (type: string, handler: (...args: unknown[]) => void) => {
     ipcRenderer.on(type, handler);
   },

packages/loot-core/typings/window.d.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ declare global {
       IS_FAKE_WEB: boolean;
       ACTUAL_VERSION: string;
       openURLInBrowser: (url: string) => void;
+      downloadActualServer: (releaseVersion: string) => Promise<void>;
       saveFile: (
         contents: string | Buffer,
         filename: string,

yarn.lock

@@ -8432,6 +8432,7 @@ __metadata:
     "@electron/rebuild": "npm:3.6.0"
     "@types/copyfiles": "npm:^2"
     "@types/fs-extra": "npm:^11"
+    adm-zip: "npm:^0.5.10"
     better-sqlite3: "npm:^9.6.0"
     copyfiles: "npm:^2.4.1"
     cross-env: "npm:^7.0.3"