Building a native app with a Flutter module

.YAML Quick start guides Building a native app with a Flutter module

How to build a native iOS or Android app with a Flutter module using codemagic.yaml

Add-to-app

Flutter can be integrated into your existing application as a library to render a part of your app’s UI in Flutter. To add a Flutter module to an existing app, please refer to the official Flutter documentation.

The examples below show how to build apps containing Flutter modules using codemagic.yaml. The examples provided here are inspired by Flutter add-to-app samples where the Flutter module directory (referred to as my_flutter_module in templates) is on the same level as the host app directory (referred to as my_host_app).

Using a Flutter module (with dependencies) as a library

Using a Flutter module as a library means that it will be built from the source each time the host app builds.

  • In an Android app:
scripts:
  - echo "sdk.dir=$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT" > "$CM_BUILD_DIR/my_host_app/local.properties"
  - cd my_flutter_module && flutter pub get
  - cd my_host_app && ./gradlew assembleDebug
  • In an iOS app:
scripts:
  - echo 'previous step'
  - name: Build Flutter module from the source
    script: |
      cd my_flutter_module
      flutter pub get
      flutter build ios --release --no-codesign
      cd .ios
      pod install      
  - name: Build host application
    script: |
      cd my_host_app
      pod install
      xcodebuild build -workspace "MyXcodeProject.xcworkspace" -scheme "MyXcodeScheme" CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="" CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED=NO CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO

If you don’t have a workspace, use

-project "MyXcodeProject.xcodeproj" instead of the

-workspace "MyXcodeWorkspace.xcworkspace" option.

Using a prebuilt Flutter module

Using a prebuilt module means that you don’t need to build it every time the host app is built if there are no changes to the module. You may speed up your overall building time by precompiling your Flutter module once, committing it to the repository and reusing it afterwards without the need to build it from the source.

  • In an Android app:
scripts:
  - echo 'previous step'
  - echo "sdk.dir=$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT" > "$CM_BUILD_DIR/my_host_app/local.properties"
  - name: Precompile the Flutter module
    script: |
      cd my_flutter_module
      flutter pub get
      flutter build aar      
  - name: Build host application
    script: |
      cd my_host_app
      ./gradlew assembleDebug
  • In an iOS app:
scripts:
  - echo 'previous step'
  - name: Precompile the Flutter module
    script: |
      cd my_flutter_module
      flutter packages get
      flutter build ios-framework --output=$CM_BUILD_DIR/my_host_app/Flutter      
  - name: Build host application
    script: |
      cd my_host_app
      pod install
      xcodebuild build -project "MyXcodeProject.xcodeproj" -scheme "MyXcodeScheme" CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="" CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED=NO CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO