Flutter for Mac: From Installation to Your First App

Flutter is an open-source UI software development kit created by Google, which has gained immense popularity for enabling developers to build natively compiled mobile, web, and desktop applications from a single codebase. In this blog, we will guide you through installing the Flutter SDK on macOS, ensuring you have all the necessary tools and configurations to start building your first Flutter app.

Before we dive into the installation process, let's understand why the Flutter SDK is a game-changer. Flutter allows you to develop Flutter apps with a rich set of pre-designed widgets that follow specific design languages, such as Material Design for Android devices and Cupertino for iOS devices.

The Flutter tool uses the Dart SDK for its development, which is optimized for building UIs that run smoothly at 60 frames per second. With Flutter, you can compile your code to ARM or x86 machine code and JavaScript for high performance on any platform.

Setting Up the macOS Environment for Flutter

To develop Flutter apps on a Mac, you need to set up your macOS environment properly. This involves installing Xcode and the command line tools essential for iOS development and configuring your shell environment to use the Flutter SDK and its associated tools effectively.

Installing Xcode and Command Line Tools

The first step in setting up your macOS environment for Flutter development is to install Xcode, which is the IDE for building apps on Apple's platforms, including iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Xcode includes everything you need to create unique applications and installs the necessary iOS simulators and tools to build your iOS app.

You can visit the Mac App Store and search for Xcode to install it. Click "Get" and "Install" to download and install Xcode on your Mac. Once Xcode is installed, you must install the Xcode command line tools, including compilers and other necessary tools for building and debugging your apps.

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xcode-select --install

Running the above command in the terminal window will prompt you to install the command line tools. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Installing Flutter SDK on macOS

Once your macOS environment is prepared, installing the Flutter SDK is next. The Flutter SDK is the core set of tools and libraries we will use to develop Flutter apps. This process involves downloading the Flutter SDK from the official website and adding it to your system's path.

Downloading the Flutter SDK

To download the Flutter SDK, visit the Flutter official website and find the latest stable release for macOS. The Flutter SDK is packaged as a zip file, which you can download via your web browser or the command line using curl.

Extracting and Setting Up the Flutter Path

After downloading the Flutter SDK, the next step is to extract the zip file to a directory on your system. You can use the unzip command to extract the contents of the downloaded file.

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unzip flutter_macos_<version>-stable.zip

This will create a flutter directory containing the Flutter SDK in your current working directory.

Now, you need to add the Flutter SDK to your path. This is a critical step because it allows you to run the Flutter SDK and Flutter tool commands from anywhere in your terminal.

To add the Flutter SDK to your path temporarily (for the current terminal session only), you can use the following command:

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export PATH="$PATH:`pwd`/flutter/bin"

However, you must permanently add it to your path to ensure the Flutter SDK is available in all terminal sessions. You can add the export command to your shell's configuration file (e.g., .bash_profile, .bashrc, .zshrc, etc.).

For example, if you are using the Z shell (zsh), you can add the following line to your .zshrc file:

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echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/development/flutter/bin"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

After setting up the path, you can verify that the Flutter SDK has been installed correctly by running the flutter --version command, which should output the version of the Flutter SDK that you have just installed.

Verifying the Flutter Installation

After installing the Flutter SDK on your macOS system, it's important to verify everything is set up correctly. The Flutter SDK provides a handy command called Flutter Doctor that checks your environment and displays a report to the terminal window. This command is essential for ensuring your development environment is ready to build Flutter apps.

Running Flutter Doctor

The flutter doctor command reviews your environment and displays a report of the status of your Flutter installation. It checks for things like the presence of the Android and iOS toolchain, the correct Flutter SDK and Dart SDK versions, and whether you have all the necessary plugins installed in your IDE.

To run the Flutter doctor command, open your terminal and execute:

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flutter doctor

The output will tell you if there are any dependencies you need to address. The Flutter Doctor command will also check if any connected devices are available or if any virtual devices are set up and ready to use.

If everything is set up correctly, you will see a message stating that no issues were found. If the Flutter Doctor command finds problems, it will provide information about what is missing or misconfigured and instructions on fixing the issues.

Troubleshooting Common Installation Issues

While running the Flutter Doctor command, you might encounter some common issues. Here are a few troubleshooting steps for typical problems:

• Missing Command Line Tools: If Flutter Doctor indicates that the Xcode command line tools are missing, you can install them by running:

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  xcode-select --install
  

• Android SDK Issues: If there are issues with the Android SDK, make sure you have accepted the Android licenses by running:

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  flutter doctor --android-licenses
  

  And ensure that the Android SDK path is correctly set in your environment.

• Connected Device Not Recognized: If your connected Android device or iOS device is not recognized, ensure that USB debugging is enabled on your Android device and that your Mac trusts your iOS device.

• Flutter Plugin for IDE: If Flutter Doctor reports that the Flutter plugin is not installed in Android Studio or VS Code, you can install it by opening the IDE, navigating to the plugin marketplace, and searching for the Flutter plugin.

• Intel Apple Silicon (Rosetta) Issues: If you use an Apple Silicon Mac and encounter issues, you might need to run Android Studio or the terminal under the Rosetta translation environment. You can set this up by getting info on the application in Finder and checking the "Open using Rosetta" option.

Creating Your First Flutter Project on macOS

You can create your first Flutter project with the Flutter SDK installed and your environment configured. This is an exciting step where you'll initialize a new project and then run it to see Flutter in action.

Initializing a New Flutter Project

To start a new Flutter project, you'll use the Flutter create command followed by the name of your project. This command creates a new Flutter project with all the necessary boilerplate code. Here's how to do it:

Open your terminal and navigate to the directory where you want to create your Flutter project. Then, run the following command:

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flutter create my_flutter_app

Replace my_flutter_app with whatever project name you choose. The Flutter tool will generate a new Flutter project directory with all the files and folders for a simple Flutter app.

Once the process is complete, navigate into your new project directory:

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cd my_flutter_app

Inside the project directory, you'll find a lib folder where you can start writing your Flutter app's code, and a test folder for writing tests. The pubspec.yaml file is where you can manage the dependencies for your Flutter project.

Running the Flutter Application on an Emulator or Physical Device

Before running your Flutter app, you must have an emulator or a physical device connected to your Mac. To start an Android emulator, you can use the Android Virtual Device Manager from Android Studio or run the following command:

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flutter emulators --launch <emulator_id>

Replace <emulator_id> with the ID of your emulator, which you can find by running flutter emulators.

To ensure your physical device is connected and recognized, run:

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flutter devices

This command will show you a list of devices to run your Flutter app. If you're using an iOS simulator, you can start it via Xcode or by running the following command in the terminal:

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open -a Simulator

Once you have your emulator or physical device ready, you can run your Flutter app with the following command:

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flutter run

The flutter run command compiles your app and installs it on the emulator or connected device. You'll see the default Flutter starter app, which includes a counter that increments each time you press the floating action button.

Congratulations! You've set up your development environment and created and launched your first Flutter app on macOS. From here, you can begin exploring Flutter's capabilities, start building your custom Flutter apps, and join the vibrant community of Flutter developers.