Hosting a web server in a local enviroment using only Flutter - flutter

Question

Is it possible to host a Flutter web app on a local environment using a Flutter desktop-based app?

Answer 1

The google-search for a solution like this can be difficult, since it involves many keywords that lead to similar situations (online hosting when you need a local solution, command-line only solution, and so on).
After some digging, I ended up using the shelf package to deploy my own Flutter web app on a local network. I developed this for Windows only, so I can't guarantee it will work on other platforms.
First thing to do is obviously adding the shelf package in your pubspec.yaml: after that, this is how my main method looks like
import 'package:shelf/shelf_io.dart' as shelf_io;
import 'package:shelf/shelf.dart' as shelf;
import 'package:shelf_router/shelf_router.dart' as shelf_router;
[...]
void main() async{
[...]
var secureContext = SecurityContext();
try {
//privKey and cert are the String names of the two files for the SSL connection,
//placed in the root directory of the flutter project or along with the .exe file (when released)
secureContext.usePrivateKey(privKey);
secureContext.useCertificateChain(cert);
} catch (error) {
logger.e("Error on init SecurityContext");
}
try {
//this is the handler that deploys the files contained in 'webAppFolder': I just simply pasted the result of
//the flutter webapp building inside (the index.html file is the default one for flutter web)
//and put the folder in the root of the flutter project (or, again, in the same folder with the .exe file when released)
final _staticHandler = createStaticHandler("webAppFolder", defaultDocument: 'index.html');
//this I kept just for a reminder on how to deploy a static page, if needed
final _router = shelf_router.Router()
..get(
'/time',
(request) => shelf.Response.ok(DateTime.now().toUtc().toIso8601String()),
);
final cascade = shelf.Cascade()
.add(_staticHandler)
.add(_router);
try {
var server = await shelf_io.serve(
cascade.handler,
InternetAddress.anyIPv4,
mainPort, //this is the number of the port on which the webapp is deployed (I load this from a .ini file beforehand
securityContext: secureContext,
);
// Enable content compression
server.autoCompress = true;
logger.i("Serving at https://${server.address.host}:${server.port}");
} catch (err) {
logger.e("Error while serving");
logger.e(err.toString());
}
} catch (err) {
logger.e("Error while creating handler");
logger.e(err.toString());
}
runApp(MaterialApp(
[...]
This is the part related to the deploy of a web app: since the flutter desktop app already provides a GUI, I used that to add some maintenance and testing utilities to check if everything is working fine.
For more details regarding shelf, refer to their API on their pub.dev page.