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Building on Windows

Notes:
  • The following steps are verified on
    • Windows 10 X86_64
    • Windows 10 arm64
    • Windows 11 X86_64
    • Windows 11 arm64
  • Both Windows cmd and powershell can be used for running commands.
  • If you encounter any issues, please 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 patches. You'll find information on that in Setting Up Your Repositories​
git clone https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/appflowy.git

Step 2: Install your build environment

  • Install Visual Studio 2022 build tools. Download from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/​
    • In section "All Downloads" => "Tools for Visual Studio 2022" => "Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022".
    • Launch vs_BuildTools.exe to install.
      • Choose "Desktop Development with C++"
  • Install vcpkg according to this page. Make sure to add vcpkg installation folder to your PATH environment variable.
  • Install flutter according to this page.
  • Make sure to enable the flutter stable channel
flutter channel stable
  • Enable the specified platform first if you don't enable it before and then select the desktop device.
flutter config --enable-windows-desktop
  • Fix any problems reported by flutter doctor
flutter doctor
.\rustup-init.exe --default-toolchain stable --default-host x86_64-pc-windows-msvc -y
  • Install cargo make
You probably need to re-open your terminal to get the cargo command in your PATH
cd AppFlowy/frontend
cargo install --force cargo-make
  • Install duckscript
cargo install --force duckscript_cli
  • Add Powershell to the PATH
Add C:\Windows\System32 to the PATH to prevent Powershell build commands crashing.
  • Install openssl
    • Download openssl_1.1.1n_win32_complete.zip from https://sockettools.com/kb/openssl-installation-packages-windows/​
    • Run installer and install Openssl where you want
    • Add bin folder to the PATH (ie: G:\Compilation\OpenSSL\bin)
    • Create a new User variable (using the same window as the PATH editor): Name it OPENSSL_DIR with same value as bin folder (ie G:\Compilation\OpenSSL\bin)
  • Install perl
    • Download Perl for Windows (called Strawberry perl) from https://strawberryperl.com/ (choose x64 installer)
    • Run installer
    • Check Perl is installed with following command
perl --version
  • Install Dart extension for Visual Studio Code
  • For Windows 11: Activate Developer Mode
    • Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > switch ON Developer Mode

Step 3: Edit and run the application

[VS Code]
  1. 1.
    Open the frontend folder located at xx/AppFlowy/frontend with VS Code.
  2. 2.
    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. 1.
    Go to the AppFlowy/frontend/ directory.
  2. 2.
    Run the following command to create the binary.
cargo make --profile production-windows-x86 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/Windows/Release/AppFlowy/.
If using a virtual machine
  • Run Linux GUI application through x11 on windows (use MobaXterm) for instance:
export DISPLAY=localhost:10
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