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Flutter News App Toolkit

Local Setup

This guide will walk you through setting up the API server in a local development environment.

  1. Prerequisites

    Ensure you have the following software installed on your system:

    • Dart SDK: Version 3.0.0 or higher.
    • MongoDB: Version 5.0 or higher is recommended.
    • Dart Frog CLI: Install it globally by running:
      Terminal window
      dart pub global activate dart_frog_cli

  2. Clone the Repository

    If you haven’t already, clone the repository to your local machine.

    Terminal window
    git clone https://github.com/flutter-news-app-full-source-code/flutter-news-app-api-server-full-source-code.git
    cd flutter-news-app-api-server-full-source-code

  3. Configure Environment Variables

    The server requires a .env file for configuration. Copy the example file to create your own:

    Terminal window
    cp .env.example .env

    Next, open the new .env file and update the variables with your local configuration values. At a minimum, you must set the DATABASE_URL to point to your local MongoDB instance.

  4. Install Dependencies

    Navigate to the server’s root directory and fetch the required Dart packages:

    Terminal window
    dart pub get

  5. Run the Development Server

    Start the Dart Frog development server:

    Terminal window
    dart_frog dev

    The API will now be running and available at http://localhost:8080.

    On its first startup, the server will automatically connect to your MongoDB database and seed it with initial data (countries, topics, users, etc.). This seeding process is idempotent, meaning you can safely restart the server multiple times without creating duplicate data.