Fasttrack #

The fasttrack tool is a command line tool for controlling the release of app versions in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. It was designed to simplify the tasks of creating app versions, setting the release properties and controlling the rollout of app versions in multi-app Flutter projects.

It is heavily inspired by fastlane, but only supports the core aspects of fastlane to control the app release process.

Installation #

Install the fasttrack tool to be globally available in your favorite CLI:

flutter pub global activate --source git https://github.com/lotum/fasttrack

Add the bin cache of the pub tool to global path to your favorite CLI startup script (e.g. .zshrc):

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin:$HOME/<path-to-flutter-sdk>/.pub-cache/bin"

Fix the dart executable shell entry point:

vi <path-to-flutter-sdk>/.pub-cache/bin/fasttrack
flutter pub global run fasttrack:fasttrack "$@"

Configuration #

fasttrack expects its configuration in a config.yaml file located in the fasttrack directory in the project root directory.

metadata:
  dir: . # the directory where the project metadata like release notes are located
appStore: # this section defines the App Store related configuration 
  credentials:
    keyFile: auth_key.pem # the private authentication key in pem format
    keyId: # the id of the provided authentication key
    issuerId: # the issuer id of the publisher
  release: # the default release settings for all app configurations. Can be overridden for each app
    phased: false # whether to do a phased release for the app by default
    manual: false # whether to manually release the app after review
  apps: # this section defines the app specific release configurations
    id: 111111111 # either you can only the define the app id and use the common release settings
    id2: # or you can override the release settings for each app individually
      appId: 22222222
      phased: true
      manual: true
playStore: # this section defines the Play Store related configuration
  keyFile: auth_key.json # the authentication for the Google Play Store service user in json format
  rollout: 0.1 # the initial rollout fraction when promoting an app version to the release track 
  apps: # the app specific release configurations
    id: application.id # either you can specify the application id directly and use the default release configuration
    id2: # or you can override the rollout fraction per app
      appId: application2.id
      rollout: 0.2

Play Store commands #

fasttrack provides a set of commands to control the release of apps against the Google Play Store. These commands can be addressed by calling fasttrack with the playstore or ps sub command. To get a list of all sub commands available on the playstore command, call the command with the --help option.

fastrack playstore --help

--no-check #

All modifying commands will show a prompt to the user, that they have to acknowledge to execute the operation. For a CI/CD system you can suppress this prompt by running the command with the --no-check option.

--dry-run

All Play Store commands provide the --dry-run flag, which can be used to validate the command against the Play Store API without actually performing a change.

Release Status #

Get the release status of all configured apps from Play Store:

fastrack playstore status [--help] [--app] [--track] [--version] [--dry-run]

--app

By default, the status command will get the release status for all defined Play Store apps. You can specify to get the release status for only one or a set of apps by specifying the --app option.

fastrack playstore status --app id
fastrack ps status -a id -a id2

--version

When running the command without parameters, fasttrack will get the release status for the version currently found in the pubsepc.yaml file of the project. When providing the --version or -v option, you can lookup the release status for a specific version. When specifying the --version option with live, you can lookup the release status of the version currently live or in rollout.

fasttrack playstore status --version 3.16.1
fasttrack ps status -v live

--track

By default, fasttrack will get the status of the apps on the release track. When you want to get the status on the internal, alpha or beta track, specify the specific track with the --track option.

fasttrack playstore status --track internal

Release Promotion #

Promote a release from one track to another. Optionally define a fraction at which the release will be rolled out after the promotion/review on the other track completed.

fasttrack playstore promote [--help] [--app] [--track=internal] [--to=production] [--version] [--rollout] [--no-check] [--dry-run]

--app

By default, the promote command will promote all defined apps from one track to another. You can specify to promote only one or a set of apps by specifying the app ids the --app option.

fastrack playstore promote --app id
fastrack ps promote -a id -a id2

--track

By default, fasttrack will promote the apps on the internal to the production track. When you want to promote an app from the alpha or beta track, specify the desired track with the --track option.

fasttrack playstore promote --track beta

--to

Defines the track, where the app version should be promoted to. By default, fasttrack will promote the app from the internal to the production track. To define alpha or beta track as destination for the promotion, specify the desired track with the --to option.

fastrack playstore promote --to alpha

--version

When running the promote command without parameters, fasttrack will promote the version currently found in the pubsepc.yaml file of the project. When providing the --version or -v option, you can promote a specific version to another track.

--rollout

By default, fasttrack will release the app to the user fraction defined in the rollout parameter in the configuration file. You can override the configured rollout fraction by specifying the desired fraction with the --rollout option. A fraction of 0 will promote the app version as draft. A fraction of 1 will completely release the app version after promotion. A fraction between 0 and 1 will release the app version to the corresponding percentage of users. The fraction can also be defined as percentage between 0% and 100%.

fasttrack playstore promote --rollout 0.2
fasttrack ps promote --r 100%

Release Update #

Updates, pauses or completes an app version currently in rollout.

update

Updates the app version with a new rollout fraction.

fastrack playstore rollout update 0.5
fasttrack ps rollout update 50%

pause

Halts the app version currently in rollout. A halted app version can be resumed later on.

fasttrack playstore rollout halt

complete

Completes the rollout of the app version.

fasttrack playstore rollout complete