Quick Start

This guide walks you through installing Shorebird and integrating it into your Flutter app.

Prerequisites

Flutter 3.24.0 or later (install Flutter)
git installed locally

Installation

Sign up for a free Shorebird account.

CREATE AN ACCOUNT
Install Shorebird.
Paste the following into any AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.) for guided installation:
```
Install Shorebird on my machine. Shorebird is a Flutter code push tool.

Mac/Linux:
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shorebirdtech/install/main/install.sh -sSf | bash

Windows:
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -scope CurrentUser
iwr -UseBasicParsing 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shorebirdtech/install/main/install.ps1' | iex

After installing, run `shorebird doctor` to verify and help me fix any issues.
```
Run the install script for your platform:
Mac/Linux
Windows
Mac/Linux
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shorebirdtech/install/main/install.sh -sSf | bash
This installs shorebird into ~/.shorebird/bin and adds it to your PATH. It also installs a bundled copy of Flutter at ~/.shorebird/bin/cache/flutter — modified to support code push and separate from your existing Flutter install.
Clone the repository into the directory where you want Shorebird installed:
```
git clone -b stable https://github.com/shorebirdtech/shorebird.git
```
Add the bin folder to your PATH, for example:
Bash/Zsh
Windows PowerShell
Bash/Zsh
# Add to shell profile (e.g., ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc) export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/cloned/shorebird/bin"
Run shorebird --help to see all available commands.

Verify your setup.

Restart your terminal to reload your PATH, then verify your setup by running the following command:

shorebird doctor

Example output:

$ shorebird doctor
Shorebird 1.5.1 • git@github.com:shorebirdtech/shorebird.git
Flutter 3.27.0 • revision 1e0e5760eeaf534c280cf59ee0504d0e2ba12a7b
Engine • revision 59571a1190752bc1740bff652ce5f0ba7c9413f8

URL Reachability
✓ https://api.shorebird.dev OK (0.1s)
✓ https://console.shorebird.dev OK (0.1s)
✓ https://oauth2.googleapis.com OK (60ms)
✓ https://storage.googleapis.com OK (0.2s)
✓ https://cdn.shorebird.cloud OK (0.1s)

✓ Shorebird is up-to-date (1.4s)
✓ Flutter install is correct (0.4s)

No issues detected!

Log in to your Shorebird account.

shorebird login opens a browser window for authentication. Return to your terminal after logging in.
```
shorebird login
```
Integrate Shorebird into your Flutter app.
- New app
- Existing app
Create a new Flutter app with Shorebird:
```
shorebird create my_shorebird_app
cd my_shorebird_app
```
In your Flutter app’s root directory, run:
```
shorebird init
```
This creates a shorebird.yaml file containing your app_id. Your app_id is not secret and can be committed to source control.
Shorebird supports Flutter 3.24.0 and later. See Flutter Version Management to configure an older version.

Keeping Shorebird up to date

To update your local Shorebird CLI to the latest version, run:

shorebird upgrade

This checks for new commits on the stable branch of Shorebird and updates your local installation if a newer version is available. If you are already up to date, it will tell you so.

Sample apps

If you want to see Shorebird in action in a production-like application, check out these samples:

Fintech Wallet DemoA professional, enterprise-grade Flutter architecture designed for Logic-Level Hotfixes.

Next steps

Create a ReleaseBuild and submit your app to Shorebird.

Create a PatchPush over-the-air updates to your users.

Preview LocallyTest your release on a local device before publishing.