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app_starter 🚀

A package that helps you start a flutter application from a specific template

Getting Started

Simply activate the package:

flutter pub global activate app_starter

How to use it ?

Place yourself where you want to create your app and then simply run:

app_starter --name <package_identifier> --org <organisation> --template <template_git_repository>

For example:

app_starter --name toto --org io.example --template https://github.com/ThomasEcalle/flappy_template

Or, more concise, using abbreviations:

app_starter -n toto -o io.example -t https://github.com/ThomasEcalle/flappy_template

Showing configuration file store values:

app_starter --config

Showing help:

app_starter --help

Arguments

Here are the list of arguments you could use :

key abbreviation description example
name n the dart package identifier example
org o the organisation identifier com.example
template t the git repository of your template https://github.com/ThomasEcalle/flappy_template
config c shows values stored in configuration file --config
save s save values in configuration file --save
help h shows help --help

How does it works ?

  1. This tool creates a fresh new flutter application using the basic flutter create command from the flutter version installed on your computer.

  2. It will get your model repository and clone it.

  3. Then, it will copy and paste the lib and test folders, as well as the pubspec.yaml file from your model repository to your new app.

  4. Fourth step: it will change all imports in these directories (and in pubspec.yaml) in order to put the right new dart package identifier.

  5. Finally, the tool will delete temporary cloned repository and...

    you are good to go !

Motivation

As a Flutter developper, you may have to create new apps very often.
Each time you create an application, you usually have to do the same things:

  • create the app with the right name and organization
  • put on the architecture you are used to work with
  • put all the dependencies you are used to work with
  • (depending on your needs): create several flavors
  • etc.

Being a freelance developer and having multiple customers or being a tech lead in a company always creating new apps, this kind of scenario may happen a lot in your life.

This package is here to make you save some time on these processes.

Several philosophies

Now that you want to automate these processes, you have to choose how to do it.

Using an already existing "starter"❓

You could use an already existing starter as the famous one from very good ventures : very_good_cli

Let's be honest : this is a good starter !

But you can't really customize it depending on your needs.. and developers often have different needs !

Different philosophies on architecture, on dependencies, etc.

Cloning a repository and "change the name"❓

An other option that I previously used was to create a model repository.
This repository would implement all I need for a "basic" app.
Then, I just had to clone it and change the app's name.

But... that was never so simple.

Creating a flutter app with the command line automate a bunch of things for you.
From putting the right packages on Android & iOS to the right names in configurations files, and a lot of other things.

So, to "just change the name of your app" is never simple.
Without mentioning the fact that the number of configuration files which need to be update may evolve as Flutter evolves itself !

Using app_starter 🚀

I wanted to create a way to reunite the best of the 2 worlds:

  • creating the app using flutter's command-line flutter create prevents developer from putting his hands in all configuration files

  • cloning architecture from a model repository enables developer to build his own architecture and template

Flutter evolves ?

No problem, you will still be able to create a new app cloning your base architecture without any effort 🎉

About app flavors

Flavors are really important in app develoment.
Most of the time, apps have at least a dev and a prod flavor, some times more.
But creating flavors is not really simple (see the official doc)

On Android, it is quite simple.

On iOS ... well... it is not "hard", but it takes you a little bit of time to be sure everything is ok.

I didn't want to force app_starter users to use flavors.
At first because app_starter should be really generic to fit with every developer needs.
Also because automating flavors creation is not really easy.

BUT, app_starter can still help you handling flavors easily in your templates 🔥

For example, in the default template, I use the great package flutter_flavorizr.

Thanks to this package, I just have to say which flavors I would like to create in the pubspec.yaml.

Then, after app_starter run, I can generate these flavors using the flutter_flavorizr command-line 🎉
As you can see, the way app_starter works enable each developer to make its own starter easily, without the constraint to base itself on someone else "template".

Feel free to create your own templates and to play with it !