DocsHow Dartform works
How Dartform works
Dartform is a desktop app for building Dart backends with Serverpod, Dart Frog or Shelf. It takes a project from its first model to a live server with an admin dashboard. It does the heavy lifting, and your code, your database and your GitHub stay in your hands.
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Who does what
Dartform automates what's repetitive and checks what's easy to get wrong. Anything that touches your production data or your repository stays with you.
Dartform does
- Writes models, endpoints, routes and dashboard code in your framework's own style
- Runs generate and migrations on your local database
- Checks your project is ready to deploy, and explains each fix
- Creates API and dashboard keys, and changes them when you need to
- Tests the database connection, the live backend and the dashboard
- Shows what hasn't reached GitHub yet, with the commands to fix it
You do
- Commit and push your code
- Create the services on your host and paste in the settings
- Run migrations on your production database
- Decide who gets the dashboard key
- Send the API key to the app developer
These stay with you on purpose: nothing touches your production data or your repository unless you do it yourself.
What each framework gets
Everything Dartform writes is ordinary framework code, so your project still runs without Dartform.
| Serverpod | Dart Frog | Shelf | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Modeling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Export and import models | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Endpoints and tester | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data Browser & SQL | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dashboard Generator | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deployment | Yes · Serverpod 4 and later | Yes | Yes |
| Flutter data layer | Yes · into its Flutter app | Yes · in a zip | Yes · in a zip |
| API spec for the app developer | Yes | Yes · with OpenAPI | Yes · with OpenAPI |
| Server Monitor & Environments | Yes | Not yet | Not yet |
Every project uses PostgreSQL.