Installation & Prerequisites

To develop apps with the Neon Framework, your workstation must be configured with the Dart SDK and the development tools for your target platforms (Android and/or iOS).

1. System Requirements

2. Install the Dart SDK

Neon requires Dart 3.0 or higher.

macOS (via Homebrew)

brew tap dart-lang/dart
brew install dart

Linux (via APT)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https
wget -qO- https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/dart.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/dart.gpg arch=amd64] https://storage.googleapis.com/download.dartlang.org/linux/debian stable main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dart_stable.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dart

Windows (via Chocolatey or Winget)

choco install dart-sdk
# OR
winget install Dart.Dart

Verify Dart Installation

Run the following command in your terminal to ensure Dart is available in your $PATH:

dart --version
# Output should show: Dart SDK version: 3.x.x

3. Platform Setup: Android

To compile the Android native shell and launch Android emulators:

Install Android Studio: Download and install Android Studio (Giraffe, Hedgehog, or newer).
Install Android SDK Components:
- Open Android Studio → Settings/Preferences → Languages & Frameworks → Android SDK.
- Under SDK Platforms, install Android 14.0 (API 34) or Android 13.0 (API 33).
- Under SDK Tools, ensure the following are installed:
  - Android SDK Build-Tools
  - Android SDK Command-line Tools
  - Android Emulator

Configure Environment Variables: Add Android SDK paths to your shell configuration (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin

Java Development Kit (JDK): Neon Android projects target Java 17. Android Studio bundles a compatible JDK located at: /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home

4. Platform Setup: iOS (macOS Only)

To compile the iOS native shell and launch the iOS Simulator:

Install Xcode: Download Xcode 15 or higher from the Mac App Store.

Install Xcode Command Line Tools:

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch

Verify Simulator Availability:
```
xcrun simctl list devices
```

5. Install the Neon CLI

The neon command-line interface automates project creation, hot reload, and production builds.

Activate Globally

dart pub global activate neon_framework

Ensure your global Dart pub cache bin directory is in your $PATH:

# In ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:
export PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"

Run Environment Diagnostics (`neon doctor`)

Run the diagnostics command to verify your workstation setup:

neon doctor

Expected Output:

[✓] Dart SDK: version 3.2.0 installed
[✓] Android Studio: version 2023.3 detected
[✓] Android SDK: API 34 installed (JAVA_HOME set to Java 17)
[✓] Xcode: version 15.2 detected with iOS 17.2 Simulator
[✓] Connected Devices: 1 Android Emulator, 1 iOS Simulator available

• No issues found! You are ready to develop with Neon Framework.

Next Steps

Now that your workstation is verified, proceed to the Quick Start Guide to create your first Neon project!