Flutter Docker Builders

This repository provides Docker images for building Flutter applications across multiple platforms. These pre-configured images allow developers to build Flutter projects without installing Flutter and its dependencies locally.

Available Images

Image	Purpose	GitHub Package
flutter-web-builder	Build Flutter web applications	View on GHCR
flutter-android-builder	Build Flutter Android applications	View on GHCR

Using the Docker Images

Prerequisites

• Docker installed on your machine
• A Flutter project you want to build

Building Flutter Web Applications

Pull the image:

docker pull ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest
# Or specify a version
# docker pull ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:v3.29.0

Run the container to build your web app (make sure you're in your Flutter project directory):

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest

This will:

1. Mount your current directory to /app in the container
2. Run the default command which executes flutter clean && flutter pub get && flutter build web --release

The output web build will be available in your project at:

build/web/

If you want to run a different Flutter command:

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest flutter analyze

To serve the built web app on your host machine:

# Using Nginx for production-like serving
docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd)/build/web:/usr/share/nginx/html -p 8080:80 nginx:alpine

Then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Building Flutter Android Applications

Pull the image:

docker pull ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-android-builder:latest
# Or specify a version
# docker pull ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-android-builder:v3.29.0

Run the container to build your Android app (make sure you're in your Flutter project directory):

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-android-builder:latest

This will:

1. Mount your current directory to /app in the container
2. Run the default command which executes flutter clean && flutter pub get && flutter build apk --release

The output APK will be available in your project at:

build/app/outputs/flutter-apk/app-release.apk

To build an App Bundle instead:

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-android-builder:latest flutter build appbundle --release

After the build completes, you'll find the APK or AAB in:

• APK: build/app/outputs/flutter-apk/app-release.apk
• App Bundle: build/app/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab

Using an Interactive Shell

If you need to run multiple commands or debug your build:

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest bash

or for Android:

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-android-builder:latest bash

Then you can run Flutter commands interactively:

flutter pub get
flutter test
flutter build web  # or flutter build apk

Building iOS Applications

Building for iOS requires macOS and cannot be done inside a Docker container due to Apple's platform restrictions. For iOS builds, developers typically use:

• A Mac with Xcode installed
• macOS-based CI/CD runners (GitHub Actions, CircleCI, etc.)
• Specialized Flutter CI/CD services

Cloning and Building Locally

If you want to build these Docker images locally:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/iarunsaragadam/flutter-docker.git
cd flutter-docker

# Build the web image
docker build -t flutter-web-builder:local .

# Build the Android image
docker build -f Dockerfile.android -t flutter-android-builder:local .

To build with a specific Flutter version:

docker build --build-arg FLUTTER_VERSION=3.29.0 -t flutter-web-builder:local .

Image Details

Web Builder

Built from ubuntu:22.04 with:

• Flutter SDK
• Web dependencies
• Web port exposed on 5000

Android Builder

Built from ubuntu:22.04 with:

• Flutter SDK
• Java 17
• Android SDK
• Build tools
• NDK

Architecture Support

Both images are built for:

• linux/amd64 - For Intel/AMD-based systems (Windows, Intel Macs)
• linux/arm64 - For ARM-based systems (Apple Silicon Macs)

Versioning

Images are tagged with the Flutter version they contain:

• latest - Points to the most recent release
• v3.29.0 - Specific Flutter version

License

MIT License

Quick Start Example

Here's a complete example to create a new Flutter app and build it using these Docker images:

Creating a Sample Flutter App and Building for Web

# Create a directory for your app
mkdir my_flutter_app
cd my_flutter_app

# Create a sample Flutter app using the web builder
docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest flutter create .

# Build the web app (will run automatically with the default command)
docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest

# Your web build is now available in build/web/
# You can serve it with Nginx:
docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd)/build/web:/usr/share/nginx/html -p 8080:80 nginx:alpine

Then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Building the Same App for Android

# From the same app directory
docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-android-builder:latest

# Your APK is now available at build/app/outputs/flutter-apk/app-release.apk

Development Workflow

For a typical development workflow:

1. Create your app:

   docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest flutter create .

2. Work on your code locally using your favorite editor

3. Run tests:

   docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest flutter test

4. Build for Web:

   docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-web-builder:latest flutter build web

5. Build for Android:

   docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/app ghcr.io/iarunsaragadam/flutter-android-builder:latest