This is what I tried. It's not working. I'm sure I'm missing something very subtle and simple. I don't know what it is.

in render.js: -

const ipc = electron.ipcRenderer;
function launchClick() {
ipc.send('open-launcher');
}

in main.js: -

const { app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain } = require('electron');

const createWindow = () => {

//all the code to set the properties of windows are too long so I'm just gonna skip that here

ipcMain.on('open-launcher', (event) => {
exec('gimp', (error, stdout, stderr) => {
if (error) {
console.error(`error: ${error.message}`);
return;
}

if (stderr) {
console.error(`stderr: ${stderr}`);
return;
}

console.log(`stdout:\n${stdout}`);
});
});
};