Set up a Flock contribution

The original Nest-based workflow, with a preparation checklist for reading the tooling before using it.

Start with a separate checkout, identify the exact repository revision, and read each script before running it. Keep a baseline and a minimal reproduction. Use the patch review worksheet to prepare evidence.

The project text below is preserved from the January 2025 source snapshot. Its original publication date is not recorded. Repository automation and supported targets must be checked against the current source. History-changing Git commands alter your branch: do not run them against shared work without understanding the effect.

Thanks for your interest in contributing to Flock. Flock is a community fork of Flutter, which means it's a place to add Flutter bug fixes, features, and tool changes that can't get into Flutter, itself.

This guide walks you through the steps to setup your machine to contribute changes to Flock.

Install dependencies

Flutter uses gclient to manage its dependencies, which means that Flock also uses gclient. Ensure that you have gclient installed.

Check to see if it's already installed:

which gclient

If it's not installed on your system, install Google's "depot tools" to get it: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chrome-infra-docs/flat/depot_tools/docs/html/depot_tools_tutorial.html#_setting_up

Fork the Nest repository

When you're working on Flock, you do so by using the Nest repository. The Nest repository includes tools for creating the latest version of Flock, and generating a patch file from your changes.

Visit https://github.com/join-the-flock/nest and fork the repository with your account so that you can submit pull requests from your repository to the main Nest repository.

Clone the Nest repository

Using your fork of the Nest repository, clone the repository locally so that you can work on Flock.

Clone the Nest repository at a location of your choice:

git clone git@github.com:[your-account]/nest.git

Setup Flutter within Nest

Flock is an adjustment on top of Flutter. Therefore, you first need to download the latest Flutter version into the nest/flock/ directory.

Run the following command from your nest directory:

# Run the setup script.
tools/setup.sh

The setup script runs a gclient sync to download all Flutter dependencies. This will take a while.

Create Flock within Nest

Now that you have the latest Flutter version, you need to play back all the Flock patches, to turn Flutter into Flock.

Run the following command from your nest/ directory:

# Run the patch import script with all patches in the nest/patches/ directory.
tools/git-import-patches patches

Once this command completes, your nest/flock/ directory contains the latest version of Flock, and it's ready for development.

Submit your changes

When you're ready to submit your changes to Flock, follow the steps in contribute a change.