flutter_distribute_manager 2.1.1

Ship Flutter apps to QA in one command: build the Android APK and iOS IPA, then upload to Google Drive (via rclone) and Diawi with shareable install links.

🚀 flutter_distribute_manager

Build your Flutter app and hand QA a working link — in one command. Android APK + iOS IPA → uploaded to Google Drive and Diawi automatically. No OAuth app to register. No manual Xcode archiving. No dragging files into shared folders.

$ flutter_distribute_manager
━━ flutter_distribute_manager ━━
  Project : my_app v1.4.2

? Which platform do you want to build?
  1) Android (APK)
  2) iOS (IPA)
  3) Android + iOS

✔ Built   my_app_UAT_2026_06_19_0930_arm64-v8a.apk  (24 MB)
✔ Uploaded to Google Drive
🔗 https://drive.google.com/…

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🤔 What it replaces

Shipping a build to QA by hand is seven boring steps every time:

Doing it by hand	With flutter_distribute_manager
flutter build apk → wait → find the file in build/…	One command builds it for you
Drag the APK into a Google Drive folder	Uploaded automatically
Right-click → Get shareable link → copy	Link printed in your terminal
Flat Drive folder — chaos after 10 builds	Organised App/Year/Month/ENV/ folders
"Which build is this — DEV or PROD?"	Environment stamped into every filename
Android and iOS are two separate chores	Both in a single run
Paste the link into Slack yourself	Optional auto-notification to Slack/Discord

cd your_flutter_app
flutter_distribute_manager

That's the whole workflow.

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✅ What you'll need

Requirement	What it's for	How to get it
Flutter & Dart (Dart ≥ 3.5)	Building the app	flutter.dev/get-started
rclone	Uploading to Google Drive	Installed for you by init
Xcode (macOS only)	Building iOS IPAs	Mac App Store, then xcode-select --install
Diawi token (optional)	iOS one-tap install links	diawi.com → Account → API

You do not need a Google Cloud project, an OAuth client ID, or a service-account key. rclone signs you in through your browser.

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📥 Install

dart pub global activate flutter_distribute_manager

Make sure the global bin directory is on your PATH (add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"

Verify:

flutter_distribute_manager --version
flutter_distribute_manager --help

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⚡ Quick start (3 steps)

# 1️⃣  One-time setup — installs rclone, connects Google Drive, saves your Diawi token
flutter_distribute_manager init

# 2️⃣  Check everything is wired up correctly
flutter_distribute_manager doctor

# 3️⃣  From inside your Flutter project — build & ship
cd path/to/your/flutter_app
flutter_distribute_manager

That's it. The tool detects your project, asks for platform + environment, builds, uploads, and prints the share links.

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🧭 Commands

Command	What it does
flutter_distribute_manager	Build & ship (default, interactive).
flutter_distribute_manager init	One-time setup: rclone, Google Drive auth, Diawi token, webhook.
flutter_distribute_manager doctor	Health check: tools, config, Drive connectivity (+ macOS Gatekeeper).
flutter_distribute_manager config	View or edit saved configuration.
flutter_distribute_manager reset	Remove saved configuration and start over.

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🚩 Build flags

Every prompt has a flag, so any build is scriptable.

Flag	Alias	Description
--platform	-p	android, ios, or both.
--app-dir	-d	Flutter project path (default: current dir).
--app-name	-n	Label used in artifact file names.
--environment	-e	DEV, UAT, or PROD.
--team-id	-t	Apple Developer Team ID (iOS).
--scheme		Xcode scheme (default Runner).
--flavor		Build flavor passed through to flutter build.
--flutter-path		Explicit Flutter executable (overrides PATH/fvm detection).
--clean		Run flutter clean before building.
--export-method		development, release-testing, or app-store.
--diawi-token		Diawi API token (overrides saved).
--upload-drive		Upload artifacts to Google Drive.
--upload-diawi		Upload the iOS IPA to Diawi.
--notify-url		Slack / Discord / generic webhook to notify after a ship.
--retry		Upload attempts before giving up (default 3).
--[no-]split-per-abi		Split Android APKs per ABI (default on).
--skip-build / --upload-only		Reuse the last build instead of rebuilding.
--dry-run		Print the plan without building or uploading.
--json		Emit a machine-readable JSON result on stdout.
--yes	-y	Assume defaults; never prompt (CI/CD).
--quiet	-q	Silence non-essential output (build chatter, detail lines).
--verbose	-v	Verbose logging.
--version		Print version.

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🔄 Reset flags

reset clears saved configuration so you can start fresh.

Flag	Alias	Description
(no flag)		Soft reset — deletes machine + project config. Drive stays connected.
--all		Full reset — also deletes the rclone remote (disconnects Google Drive).
--app-dir	-d	Project whose config to remove (default: current dir).
--yes	-y	Skip the confirmation prompt (for CI).

# Clear settings but keep the Google Drive sign-in:
flutter_distribute_manager reset

# Wipe everything, including the Drive connection:
flutter_distribute_manager reset --all

Interactively, reset lists exactly what it will remove and asks you to type reset to confirm — nothing is deleted by accident.

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🤖 CI/CD example

Run fully non-interactive — perfect for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Codemagic, etc.:

flutter_distribute_manager \
  --platform both \
  --environment UAT \
  --app-name MyApp \
  --upload-drive \
  --yes

Add --json to capture the result programmatically (all human output goes to stderr, so stdout carries only clean JSON):

flutter_distribute_manager --platform android -e UAT --upload-drive --yes --json

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🎬 A realistic end-to-end run

# Once, on your machine:
dart pub global activate flutter_distribute_manager
flutter_distribute_manager init        # installs rclone, opens the browser to sign into Drive
flutter_distribute_manager doctor      # ✔ Flutter ✔ rclone ✔ Google Drive reachable

# Every time you want QA to get the latest build:
cd ~/apps/acme
flutter_distribute_manager -p both -e UAT --upload-drive --upload-diawi --notify-url "$SLACK_HOOK" -y
# → builds APK + IPA
# → uploads APK to Drive: AcmeApp/2026/June/UAT/AcmeApp_UAT_2026_06_19_0930_arm64-v8a.apk
# → uploads IPA to Diawi and prints a one-tap install link
# → posts a summary to your Slack channel

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🗂 How files land on Google Drive

Flutter Builds/
└── MyApp/
    └── 2026/
        └── June/
            ├── DEV/
            ├── UAT/
            │   └── MyApp_UAT_2026_06_19_0930_arm64-v8a.apk
            └── PROD/

Folder matching is case-insensitive, so re-runs reuse the same folders instead of piling up duplicates.

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⚙️ Configuration

Scope	Location	Stores
Machine	~/.config/flutter_distribute_manager/config.json (%APPDATA%\flutter_distribute_manager\config.json on Windows)	rclone remote, Drive folder, Diawi token, notify webhook.
Project	.flutter_distribute_manager.json in the project root	last platform, app name, Team ID, scheme, export method, environment.

The machine config holds API tokens, so on macOS/Linux it is written user-only (chmod 600).

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🎯 fvm-pinned projects

If your app is pinned with fvm, you don't need a global flutter on your PATH. The tool detects fvm (.fvmrc, .fvm/, or .fvm/fvm_config.json) and runs the project's pinned SDK via fvm flutter … automatically — so builds use the exact version your project expects.

• doctor reports Flutter (fvm 3.x.x) ✔ when it resolves via fvm.
• Override detection anytime with --flutter-path /path/to/flutter.

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🔢 Exit codes (for CI)

Code	Meaning
0	Success.
64	Bad command-line usage.
69	Upload failed (rclone / Diawi), or a build is already running.
70	The build itself failed.
78	Missing/invalid configuration (Flutter not found, Drive not set up).

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🛠 Troubleshooting

command not found: flutter_distribute_manager after installing The global bin directory isn't on your PATH. Add it and reload your shell:

export PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"   # add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
source ~/.zshrc

macOS shows a security popup for flutter / dart / rclone (Gatekeeper) Run flutter_distribute_manager doctor — it lists any quarantined binaries and prints the exact xattr -d com.apple.quarantine <path> command to clear each one.

rclone remote … not found / Google Drive not reachable Your sign-in expired or the remote was removed. Re-run:

flutter_distribute_manager init
# or, to just refresh the token:
rclone config reconnect <remote>:

iOS build fails immediately with an export-method error Pass a value Flutter accepts: --export-method development (default), release-testing, or app-store. For signed builds also pass --team-id.

"Xcode command-line tools" but the iOS build still can't archive Command Line Tools alone aren't enough — install the full Xcode from the App Store, then run xcode-select --install.

Noisy FINE: / SLVR: / IO : lines on the very first run That's pub recompiling its snapshot right after dart pub global activate, not this tool. It disappears on the next run. Use --quiet to trim build chatter, or --json for clean machine-readable stdout.

A build "hangs" Almost always a signing prompt, an SDK licence question, or a CocoaPods/Gradle prompt waiting on input. Run once interactively to answer it; the tool closes child stdin and bounds output draining so daemons can't wedge the run.

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❓ FAQ

Do I need a Google Cloud project or OAuth credentials? No. rclone handles Google Drive sign-in in your browser during init.

Where is my Diawi token stored, and is it safe? In the machine config file, written user-only (chmod 600) on macOS/Linux. It is never echoed back to the terminal and is redacted from logs and errors.

Can I upload to Drive without rebuilding? Yes — --skip-build (alias --upload-only) reuses the last build.

Does it work on Windows / Linux? Yes for Android builds and Drive uploads. iOS builds require macOS + Xcode.

How do I change a saved setting? flutter_distribute_manager config (interactive), or override per-run with the matching flag. To wipe everything, use reset (or reset --all to also disconnect Drive).

Is this safe to run in CI? Yes. Pass every value as a flag plus --yes for zero prompts, and --json for a parseable result. Distinct exit codes (see above) let a pipeline react.

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🧩 Programmatic use

The building blocks are also exported as a library:

import 'package:flutter_distribute_manager/flutter_distribute_manager.dart';

final project = FlutterProject.detect(Directory.current.path);
final artifacts = await AndroidBuilder(const ProcessRunner(), Logger())
    .build(project!, environment: ReleaseEnvironment.uat);

See example/ for a full walkthrough.

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📄 License

MIT © 2026 Ashutosh Tripathi. See LICENSE.