Breaking Down Flutter Project File/Folders

In this post we will be breaking down flutter project file/folders. We learn about the use for each of them in Flutter app.

Introduction

When you first create a Flutter app with the flutter create project_name command, you will see quite a lot of files and folders generated out for you.

For a beginner, it might be confusing what these files are. So, in this post we are breaking down flutter project files/folders for you.

Flutter Project Structure

• .idea
  • The .idea folder contains your code editor’s project related settings specific files.
  • No need to make any manual changes here.
• android
  • The android folder inside the Flutter project contains the Android platform specific settings, resources and code.
  • If you need to write any platform specific code, you will be making changes in here.
• build
  • The build folder contains the output generated when you build or run the flutter project.
  • You will find all the the release related files/folders like apks and app bundles in here.
• ios
  • Similar to android folder, the ios folder contains iOs specific settings, resources and code.
  • You will make the platform specific code or changes in here.
• lib
  • The lib folder is main folder where you will write all the Flutter app related codes.
  • Initially it will contain just one single file main.dart which has the entry point for a Flutter app.
• test
  • The test folder is set to contain any testing related codes that you write.
  • If you decide to write tests/test cases, you will be adding code in here.
• .gitignore
  • This is a git specific file.
  • You can adjust the .gitignore file to include/exclude any files/folders as your need.
• .metadata
  • As name suggests, the .metadata file contains Flutter project related metadata that Flutter tool uses.
  • You should not make any manual changes to this file.
• .packages
  • A Flutter project code is composed of numerous libraries and packages.
  • Some packages are pre-installed with Flutter while others are downloaded during development.
  • The .packages holds the paths to each of the libraries/packages in your local computer.
  • You do not need to make any manual changes to this file.
• expense_manager.iml
  • The .iml file is again android project specific file that contains information about JAVA module.
  • No need to make any changes here.
• pubspec.lock
  • The pubspec.lock file is a helper file created next to puspec.yaml file.
  • It lists the specific versions of each dependency that packages use in your app and ensures the version stays consistent across different developers machine.
  • No need to make any changes here.
• pubspec.yaml
  • The pubspec.yaml contains Flutter app specific metadata and configurations.
  • You can configure dependencies such as external packages, image assets, font files, app versions etc. with the help of this file.
  • You will often make changes to the pubspec.yaml file to add external dependencies.
• README.md
  • The readme.md is a markdown format file which is primarily used to describe your project in git repo.
  • You can write project specific things like what your project does or how to use certain libraries in the README.md file.

Learn More:Flutter Tutorials