Simply, a pipeline which builds, test, and maybe even release your app when you push code. That’s where CI/CD with GitHub Actions comes in.
In this article, i’ll walk you through how i setup CI/CD for a Flutter project using GitHub Actions. It’s not super complicated, but there are few things that can trip you if you are new.
Why CI/CD for Flutter?
Flutter is cross-platform. That means you probably want to build for Android, iOS, Web, maybe Desktop. Doing it manually is boring and error prone. CI/CD helps with:
Running unit/widget tests automatically.
Making sure your app builds on every push.
Generating release APKs or IPA files.
Catching bugs early instead of when client shouts at you.
Getting Started
All GitHub Actions needs is a workflow file inside .github/workflows/
Let’s create one:
.github/
└── workflows/
└── flutter_ci.yml
Inside flutter_ci.yml, we define jobs. Here is a simple example:
name: Flutter CI
on:
push:
branches: [ "main" ]
pull_request:
branches: [ "main" ]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v3
- uses: subosito/flutter-action@v2
with:
flutter-version: "3.19.0"
- name: Install dependencies
run: flutter pub get
- name: Analyze
run: flutter analyze
- name: Run tests
run: flutter test
- name: Build APK
run: flutter build apk --release
iOS Builds
For Android, GitHub Actions is smooth. For iOS it’s tricky because you need a MacOS runner. You can change runs-on: macos-latest and then add:
- name: Build iOS
run: flutter build ios --release --no-codesign
If you want to sign and upload to TestFlight, you’ll need to setup certificates, provisioning profiles and use fastlane.
Secrets & Keystores
Don’t push your keystore or API keys to GitHub repo. Use GitHub Secrets instead. Go to:
Repo Settings → Secrets → Actions → New repository secret
Then in workflow:
- name: Decode keystore
run: echo "${{ secrets.ANDROID_KEYSTORE }}" | base64 --decode > android/app/key.jks
Deployments
You can go further and deploy automatically. Example:
- Upload APK to Firebase App Distribution.
- Push Web build to GitHub Pages.
- Send IPA to TestFlight.
For Firebase distribution, add:
- name: Upload to Firebase
uses: wzieba/Firebase-Distribution-Github-Action@v1
with:
appId: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_APP_ID }}
token: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_TOKEN }}
groups: testers
file: build/app/outputs/flutter-apk/app-release.apk
Wrap Up
Setting up CI/CD for Flutter using GitHub Actions is not rocket science, but you need to play with configs until it works for your case. Start simple — just run tests and build. Then later add deployments.
Once setup, you never have to worry “did i forget to run tests?” or “is my build broken?” GitHub Actions will tell you before your client does.
