Streamline Your Flutter Development with Fastlane CI/CD!

Step 1: Add Fastlane to Your Flutter Project

1. Navigate to your project root and run the following commands to install Fastlane for both iOS and Android:

   cd android
   fastlane init
   cd ../ios
   fastlane init

2. Define the lanes in the Fastfile for both Android and iOS. Here’s a sample setup to deploy to Firebase App Distribution.

1. Define the lanes in the Fastfile for both Android and iOS. Here’s a sample setup to deploy to Firebase App Distribution.

   android/fastlane/Fastfile:

   default_platform(:android)
   
   platform :android do
     desc "Deploy Android app to Firebase"
     lane :deploy do
       gradle(task: "clean assembleRelease")
       firebase_app_distribution(
         app: "YOUR_ANDROID_APP_ID",
         groups: "testers",
         release_notes: "Automated deployment"
       )
     end
   end
   

   default_platform(:ios)
   
   platform :ios do
     desc "Deploy iOS app to Firebase"
     lane :deploy do
       build_app(scheme: "Runner")
       firebase_app_distribution(
         app: "YOUR_IOS_APP_ID",
         groups: "testers",
         release_notes: "Automated deployment"
       )
     end
   end

2. Replace YOUR_ANDROID_APP_ID and YOUR_IOS_APP_ID with your Firebase App IDs, which you can find in the Firebase Console under Project Settings.

Step 2: Set Up GitHub Actions Workflow

1. Create a GitHub Actions workflow file in your project by navigating to .github/workflows and creating flutter_ci.yml:

   mkdir -p .github/workflows
   touch .github/workflows/flutter_ci.yml

2. Define the workflow by adding the following configuration to flutter_ci.yml:

   name: Flutter CI/CD
   
   on:
     push:
       branches:
         - main
     pull_request:
       branches:
         - main
   
   jobs:
     build:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
   
       steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
   
       - name: Set up Java
         uses: actions/setup-java@v3
         with:
           distribution: 'zulu'
           java-version: '11'
   
       - name: Set up Flutter
         uses: subosito/flutter-action@v2
         with:
           flutter-version: 'stable'
   
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: flutter pub get
   
       - name: Run tests
         run: flutter test
   
       - name: Build APK (Android)
         run: flutter build apk --release
   
       - name: Build IPA (iOS) [Optional]
         if: runner.os == 'macOS'
         run: flutter build ios --release --no-codesign
   
       - name: Deploy Android to Firebase using Fastlane
         env:
           FIREBASE_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_TOKEN }}
         run: |
           cd android
           fastlane deploy
   
       - name: Deploy iOS to Firebase using Fastlane [Optional]
         if: runner.os == 'macOS'
         env:
           FIREBASE_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_TOKEN }}
         run: |
           cd ios
           fastlane deploy

Step 3: Set Up Secrets for Firebase Deployment

1. Add FIREBASE_TOKEN to your GitHub repository secrets to allow GitHub Actions to authenticate with Firebase:

   • In your Firebase CLI, run:

     firebase login:ci

   • Copy the generated token and go to GitHub Repository Settings > Secrets > Actions, and add it as FIREBASE_TOKEN.

Step 4: Commit and Push Your Workflow File

After setting everything up, commit your changes and push to GitHub:

git add .
git commit -m "Add Fastlane CI/CD workflow"
git push origin main

Once you push to the main branch, GitHub Actions will automatically trigger the workflow, running tests, building the APK/IPA, and deploying the release to Firebase.

Final Workflow Structure Recap

Your Fastlane CI/CD setup with Flutter Flash Template is now complete! Here’s what we’ve achieved:

• Automated Testing: Ensures code stability before deployment.

• Automated Build & Deployment: Saves time by building and distributing your app instantly with Firebase.

• Streamlined CI/CD Workflow: With Fastlane and GitHub Actions, your Flutter project is always deployment-ready!

And a little self-promotion at the end. 

For daily posts around being a freelancer and Flutter in general you can follow me on LinkedIn: Parmendra Singh's LinkedIn

I’m also starting to post on Twitter/X and would love a like or even follow there. 
And here is a link to my Twitter: Parmendra Tomer on Twitter

Check it out if you want to release your next Flutter app super quick. Flutter Flash Template: Flutter Flash Template

And finally. Thanks for reading.
I really appreciate it.