🍎Building on macOS

Note:

• If you encounter any issues, have a look at Troubleshooting first. If your issue is not included in the page, please create an issue or ask on Discord.

Step 1: Get the source code

You should fork the code instead if you wish to submit code to AppFlowy. You'll find information on that in Setting Up Your Repositories

git clone https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/appflowy.git

Step 2: Install Flutter

Skip this if flutter is already installed on your system.

• Follow the instructions here to install Flutter.

  • It will ask you to run flutter doctor to check any dependencies you need to install to complete the setup.

    • It is not necessary to install Android toolchain and Android studio to run AppFlowy.

    • However, CocoaPods and VS Code are required.

• Make sure you also install the Flutter & Dart extensions in VS Code.

Step 3: Install your build environment

• Run the setup script from the base directory

  • It will guide you through to install Rust, which is required by AppFlowy

./frontend/scripts/install_dev_env/install_macos.sh

FYI, AppFlowy uses https://github.com/sagiegurari/cargo-make to construct the build scripts. It is important that you add (dart) pub to $PATH, otherwise VS Code may error out. Add the following to your .bashrc or .zshrc in $HOME:

export PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"

Make sure to restart your terminal and VS Code

Step 4: Edit and run the application

1. Open the frontend folder located at xx/AppFlowy/frontend with VS Code. It is important not to open the root folder, as that will not give access to the appropriate debug commands.

2. Open xx/AppFlowy/frontend/app_flowy/lib/main.dart and then check the device selection:
3. Go to the Run and Debug tab and then click AF-desktop: Clean + Rebuild All for the first time running.

img.png

If you encounter any issues, have a look at Troubleshooting first. If your issue is not included in the page, please create an issue or ask on Discord.

Building in release mode

1. Go to the AppFlowy/frontend/ directory.

2. Run the following command to build the binary depending on your architecture.

x86

cargo make --profile production-mac-x86_64 appflowy

arm64

cargo make --profile production-mac-arm64 appflowy

The scripts are located in the AppFlowy/frontend/Makefile.toml file.

The resulting binary file is located in AppFlowy/frontend/app_flowy/product/x.x.x/[OS]/Release/AppFlowy/.