Install Flutter in Linux without Android Studio

Here I will show you how we can set up Flutter in Linux without installing Android Studio. This is very useful if your PC runs slow or don’t like the android studio and you want to code in some other editor.

Reminder: Guys, This all process is tested in arch based distros. Please install the packages accordingly with your package installer.

Use the terminal for this tutorial.

I am using java 17. You can use other version too.

Install JavaPermalink to “Install Java”

sudo pacman -S openjdk-17-jdk

Install GitPermalink to “Install Git”

sudo pacman -S git

Setting Up FolderPermalink to “Setting Up Folder”

I am keeping everything in a single directory. Use a terminal or you can make a folder inside the “home” directory.

cd ~/
mkdir Android && cd Android
mkdir cmdline-tools

Install Flutter SDKPermalink to “Install Flutter SDK”

Download Flutter

Go to the folder where you downloaded the zip file and unzip the file. You can unzip it by right click on the file and click on extract here or using the terminal by the following code.

unzip flutter_linux_3.3.10-stable.tar.xz

Now move the flutter folder to the ~/Android/ directory

sudo mv flutter/ ~/Android/

Now the full path looks like this

~/Android/flutter

Install Android Command Line Tools

Download Android command-line tools for Linux

Got to the folder where you downloaded the file and unzip the file.

sudo tar -xvf commandlinetools-linux-11076708_latest.zip

Now move the tools folder to the ~/Android/cmdline-tools directory

sudo mv tools/ ~/Android/cmdline-tools/

Now the full path looks like this

~/Android/cmdline-tools/tools

Set Some ENV VariablesPermalink to “Set Some ENV Variables”

cd ~
sudo nano .zshrc

export ANDROID=$HOME/Android
export PATH=$ANDROID/cmdline-tools/tools:$PATH
export PATH=$ANDROID/cmdline-tools/tools/bin:$PATH
export PATH=$ANDROID/platform-tools:$PATH # Android SDK
export PATH=$ANDROID/emulator:$PATH
export ANDROID_SDK=$HOME/ANDROID

export PATH=$ANDROID_SDK:$PATH # Flutter
export FLUTTER=$ANDROID/flutter
export PATH=$FLUTTER/bin:$PATH

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk
export

Download Android SDKPermalink to “Download Android SDK”

So for Flutter to run we need to install system-image, platform-tools,builde-tools,platforms:android,cmdline-tools;latest.

I am using android-31, you can use the version which is compatible with your Android device. If you want to see all available versionsfor system-image, platform-tools, build-tools, and platforms; android type the following in the terminal.

sdkmanager --list

for version 31 type the following command in terminal

sdkmanager “system-images;android-31;default;x86_64”
sdkmanager "platforms;android-31"
sdkmanager “platform-tools”
sdkmanager "build-tools;31.0.0"

Now accept the licenses.

sdkmanager --licenses

Install Android EmulatorPermalink to “Install Android Emulator”

sdkmanager "emulator"

Setup Android EmulatorPermalink to “Setup Android Emulator”

sdkmanager "system-images;android-31;default;x86_64"
avdmanager create avd -n pixel -k "system-images;android-31;default;x86_64" --device "pixel"

In my case the .android folder is located in ~/.config to make flutter recognize it.

ln -sf ~/.config/android/ ~/

Configure SDK path for FlutterPermalink to “Configure SDK path for Flutter”

flutter config --android-sdk ~/Android

Call flutter doctorPermalink to “Call flutter doctor”

flutter doctor -v

This command gives you all green tick, ignore [!] at android studio because we are not using it.

if it ask for Accept Licenses with flutter doctor use below command to accept licenses

flutter doctor --android-licenses

your phone show a popup click on allow

If you don’t want to use your phone then do following.

emulator -avd pixel

Test flutter code

cd Desktop/
flutter create hello_world
cd hello_world
flutter run

Happy Coding!