Install

Download the Monarch binaries

macOS

1. Make sure you have Xcode installed.

2. Download the following bundle to get the latest release of the Monarch binaries, which include the Monarch CLI and desktop app.

cd ~/development
curl -O https://d148mrbia1nlbw.cloudfront.net/macos/monarch_macos_2.1.8.zip

3. Extract the file:

unzip monarch_macos_2.1.8.zip

4. Add the monarch binaries to your path:

export PATH="$PATH:`pwd`/monarch/bin"

This command sets your PATH variable for the current terminal window only. To permanently add Monarch to your path, see Update your path.

Windows

1. Make sure you have Visual Studio 2022  with the “Desktop development with C++” workload installed, including all of its default components. (Note: Visual Studio is different than Visual Studio Code).

2. Download the following bundle to get the latest release of the Monarch binaries, which include the Monarch CLI and desktop app.

monarch_windows_2.1.8.zip

3. Extract the file in the desired location, for example:

cd development
tar -x -f monarch_windows_2.1.8.zip

You can now run Monarch using the monarch.exe located in the monarch\bin directory. To permanently add Monarch to your path, see Update your path.

Linux

Monarch Linux works on Flutter 3.9 or above.

1. Monarch relies on Flutter desktop which has its own Linux requirements. To install those requirements run the following command:

sudo apt-get install clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev liblzma-dev

For more details see  Flutter additional Linux requirements.

2. Also install this requirement missing from the Flutter documentation:

sudo apt install lib32stdc++-12-dev

For more details see this  Flutter documentation issue.

3. Download the following bundle to get the latest release of the Monarch binaries, which include the Monarch CLI and desktop app.

cd ~/development
curl -O https://d148mrbia1nlbw.cloudfront.net/linux/monarch_linux_2.1.8.tar.xz

4. Extract the file:

tar xf monarch_linux_2.1.8.tar.xz

5. Add the monarch binaries to your path:

export PATH="$PATH:`pwd`/monarch/bin"

This command sets your PATH variable for the current terminal window only. To permanently add Monarch to your path, see Update your path.

Run Monarch

1. Go to one of your Flutter projects and then run monarch init. Run it inside your existing project’s root directory:

   monarch init

   The monarch init command sets up all the dependencies needed to run monarch. It also creates a few sample stories in your project.

2. Run monarch using monarch run:

   monarch run

   The monarch run command prepares the stories in your project so they can be used by Monarch. It then launches the Monarch app where you can preview your stories.

Building from source

If you prefer to build Monarch from source, you can follow this guide which will help you set up your local and build the Monarch source code.

Update your path

Follow these instructions to update your path variable permanently, which will let you run monarch from any terminal window.

macOS

1. Open your rc file, which may be  ~/.bash_profile,  ~/.bashrc or  ~/.zshrc.

2. Add the following line and change [PATH_TO_MONARCH] to be the path where you unzipped Monarch:

export PATH="$PATH:[PATH_TO_MONARCH]/monarch/bin"

3. Run source ~/. <rc file> to refresh the current window, or open a new terminal window to automatically source the file.

4. Verify that the monarch/bin directory is now in your PATH by running:

echo $PATH

5. Verify that the monarch command is available by running:

monarch --version

Windows

1. From the Start search bar, enter ‘env’ and select Edit environment variables for your account.

2. Under User variables, look for an entry called Path, then append the full path of monarch\bin using ; as a separator from existing values.

Linux

1. Open (or create) the rc file for your shell. For example, Linux uses the Bash shell by default, so edit $HOME/.bashrc. If you are using a different shell, the file path and filename will be different on your machine.

2. Add the following line and change [PATH_TO_MONARCH] to be the path where you unzipped Monarch:

export PATH="$PATH:[PATH_TO_MONARCH]/monarch/bin"

3. Run source ~/. <rc file> to refresh the current window, or open a new terminal window to automatically source the file.

4. Verify that the monarch/bin directory is now in your PATH by running:

echo $PATH

5. Verify that the monarch command is available by running:

monarch --version