This repository contains code that implements basic embedders for Flutter on desktop platforms, as starting points for building native desktop applications that embed Flutter. Currently macOS and Linux are supported, and the goal is to support Windows in the future as well.
It contains shared libraries that implement Flutter's embedding API, handling drawing, mouse event handling, and keyboard support. It also includes optional plugins to access other native platform functionality.
The tooling and build infrastructure for this project requires that you have a Flutter tree in the same parent directory as the clone of this project:
<parent dir>
├─ flutter (from http://github.com/flutter/flutter)
└─ flutter-desktop-embedding (from https://github.com/google/flutter-desktop-embedding)
Alternately, you can place a .flutter_location_config file in the directory
containing flutter-desktop-embedding, containng a path to the Flutter tree to
use, if you prefer not to have the Flutter tree next to
flutter-desktop-emebbing.
Each supported platform has a top-level directory named for the platform.
Within that directory is a library directory containing the core embedding
library, and an example directory containing an example application using it.
See the README file in the directory corresponding to your platform for more
details.
In addition, there is:
example_flutter: The Flutter application loaded by the example application provided for each platform.plugins: Plugins which provide access to additional platform functionality. These follow a similar structure to Flutter plugins. See the README for details.third_party: Dependencies used by this repository, beyond Flutter itself.tools: Tools used in the development process. Currently these are used by the build systems, but in the future developer utilities providing some functionality similar to thefluttertool may be added.
For bug reports and specific feature requests, you can file GitHub issues. For general discussion and questions there's a project mailing list.
When submitting issues related to build errors or other bugs, please make sure to include the git hash of the Flutter checkout you are using. This will help speed up the debugging process.
- This is not an officially supported Google product.
- This is an exploratory effort, and is not part of the Flutter project. See the Flutter FAQ for Flutter's official stance on desktop development.
- Currently the development workflow assumes you are starting from an existing
native application shell, and provides the pieces to add Flutter support. This
is very different from the Flutter model, where the native application
projects are created automatically. This may change in the future, but for now
there is no equivalent to
flutter create. - Many features that would be useful for desktop development do not exist yet.
Check the
pluginsdirectory for support for native features beyond drawing and event processing. If the feature you need isn't there, file a feature request, or write a plugin!