How to setup Flutter environment

🕒 Estimated Reading: 2 Minutes

🪟Setup Flutter Environment for Your System

To install and set up Flutter, follow the steps below based on your operating system (Windows, macOS, Linux).

Step 1: Install Flutter SDK

1. Download the Flutter SDK based on your operating system.
2. Extract the downloaded ZIP file.

💡 TIP: To manage multiple Flutter versions easily, follow these steps:

• Create a folder named flutter_sdk
• Extract the ZIP into the flutter_sdk folder
• Rename the extracted folder to something like flutter_3_27_0
• Copy the path to the bin directory (Right-click on bin > Properties or Info to get full path)

Step 2: Add SDK Path to Your Environment

For Windows:

1. Open Start Menu → Search “Edit Environment variables for your account”.
2. Find the Path variable → Click “Edit” (or create a new one named Path).
3. Paste the path to your Flutter bin directory.
4. Click “OK” on all windows to save changes.
5. Open Command Prompt and run:

flutter doctor

This verifies if Flutter is now accessible globally.

For macOS/Linux:

1. Open Terminal: Launch the Terminal application on your macOS or Linux system.

2. Navigate to Home Directory: You can navigate to your home directory by typing “cd ~” and pressing Enter.

3. Open or Create the Configuration File: Use a text editor like “Nano” or “Vim” to open or create the .bashrc or .zshrc file. For example:

nano ~/.bashrc  # For Bash

nano ~/.zshrc   # For Z shell (zsh)

4. Add Flutter to PATH: Add the following line at the end of the file, replacing [PATH_TO_FLUTTER_BIN] with the actual path to the Flutter bin directory:

export PATH="$PATH:[PATH_TO_FLUTTER_BIN]"

For example, if Flutter is located in your home directory under a folder named flutter_3_27_0, the line would look like this:

export PATH=”$PATH:$HOME/flutter_sdk/flutter_3_27_0/bin”

5. Save Changes: Save the changes you made to the file. In Nano, you can do this by pressing Ctrl + X, then Y to confirm, and finally Enter to save.

6. Apply Changes: To apply the changes to the current Terminal session, run:

source ~/.bashrc  # For Bash

source ~/.zshrc   # For Z shell (zsh)

7. Open a new terminal and run:

flutter doctor

This checks whether Flutter is working globally on your system.