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Felt: The fastest way to build Flutter apps in Python

55 points by samwillis 4y ago

ac130kz 4y ago
Sounded cool as a title, but then looking closer one will find "it's built on top of a web app". Yikes, Flutter is horrible as a web platform: poor performance, poor js compatibility
LarsDu88 4y ago
Honestly I do python in my day job and made two flutter apps for fun. Just learn Dart. No need to shim another language in there
- potatoman22 4y ago
  This seems like it'd be slightly better for quick and dirty UIs. Plus if you can use python libraries this would be awesome for ML applications
samwillis 4y ago
I think Flet looks super interesting as an app framework that combines Flutter with Python. I'm not in general convinced that Flutter solves everything, or that there is any "one size fits all" framework. However this is a really compelling framework for some apps! Interestingly it looks like, for the web app version, they have a permanent web socket to Python on the server, a bit like Phoenix Liveview. I wander if that could be removed by using PyScript to run the Python layer in browser. I wander if the desktop version (and planed mobile apps) is the same, with a web-socket back to a Python server. (Just noticed my typo in the title, it should be Flet, could a mod change it? It well passed the edit window)
- indispuesto 4y ago
  Awesome!. Would love to see mobile apps soon available to start using it.
- appveyor 4y ago
  In the beginning, for mobile it's going to be a websocket to a Python server - kind of server-driven UI (SDUI) approach. Then we'll look into packaging everything into a standalone mobile app: https://flet.dev/blog/flet-mobile-strategy https://flet.dev/blog/flet-mobile-strategy For desktop using WebSockets within localhost doesn't really add a noticable overhead.
potatoman22 4y ago
Are these bindings for Dart? Or does it somehow compile directly to the various platform targets?
- xmzx 4y ago
  Since half the code on the GitHub is in Dart, I'm guessing the latter.
joezydeco 4y ago
Felt or Flet?
- appveyor 4y ago
  Flet! :) Creator of Flet is here. Could you fix the title please? I've been told that there is a discussion about Flet on HN, tried searching by "Flet", found only an old thread and thought "oh, well, OK then - must be a mistake". Anyway, if you have any questions let me know.
bitinerant 4y ago
The author of Flet was interviewed on Talk Python To Me podcast: https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/378/flet-flutter-apps-in-python https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/378/flet-flutter-apps-in...
resoluteteeth 4y ago
Finally a way to use flutter without having to actually write code in dart. I suspect a lot of people will be interested in this.
ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago
> Install it on mobile as PWA or view via Flet app for iOS and Android. Is there no way of building an actual native app for production?
- appveyor 4y ago
  Building native mobile apps is on our roadmap.
gkhartman 4y ago
Happy to see that golang support is on the roadmap. I felt compelled to look for golang app frameworks a little while ago and didn't find anything really competitive. This might be the answer. Looking forward to giving this a try if I find some free cycles.
hestefisk 4y ago
The headline is wrong :) it’s Flet, not Felt…
hestefisk 4y ago
I really like this. Plus the pages loads really fast. Is it hosted on Flet?

55 points by samwillis 4y ago

Sounded cool as a title, but then looking closer one will find "it's built on top of a web app". Yikes, Flutter is horrible as a web platform: poor performance, poor js compatibility

LarsDu88 4y ago

Honestly I do python in my day job and made two flutter apps for fun. Just learn Dart. No need to shim another language in there

potatoman22 4y ago
This seems like it'd be slightly better for quick and dirty UIs. Plus if you can use python libraries this would be awesome for ML applications

samwillis 4y ago

I think Flet looks super interesting as an app framework that combines Flutter with Python. I'm not in general convinced that Flutter solves everything, or that there is any "one size fits all" framework. However this is a really compelling framework for some apps! Interestingly it looks like, for the web app version, they have a permanent web socket to Python on the server, a bit like Phoenix Liveview. I wander if that could be removed by using PyScript to run the Python layer in browser. I wander if the desktop version (and planed mobile apps) is the same, with a web-socket back to a Python server. (Just noticed my typo in the title, it should be Flet, could a mod change it? It well passed the edit window)

indispuesto 4y ago
Awesome!. Would love to see mobile apps soon available to start using it.
appveyor 4y ago
In the beginning, for mobile it's going to be a websocket to a Python server - kind of server-driven UI (SDUI) approach. Then we'll look into packaging everything into a standalone mobile app: https://flet.dev/blog/flet-mobile-strategy https://flet.dev/blog/flet-mobile-strategy For desktop using WebSockets within localhost doesn't really add a noticable overhead.

potatoman22 4y ago

Are these bindings for Dart? Or does it somehow compile directly to the various platform targets?

xmzx 4y ago
Since half the code on the GitHub is in Dart, I'm guessing the latter.

joezydeco 4y ago

Felt or Flet?

appveyor 4y ago
Flet! :) Creator of Flet is here. Could you fix the title please? I've been told that there is a discussion about Flet on HN, tried searching by "Flet", found only an old thread and thought "oh, well, OK then - must be a mistake". Anyway, if you have any questions let me know.

bitinerant 4y ago

The author of Flet was interviewed on Talk Python To Me podcast: https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/378/flet-flutter-apps-in-python https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/378/flet-flutter-apps-in...

resoluteteeth 4y ago

Finally a way to use flutter without having to actually write code in dart. I suspect a lot of people will be interested in this.

ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago

> Install it on mobile as PWA or view via Flet app for iOS and Android. Is there no way of building an actual native app for production?

appveyor 4y ago
Building native mobile apps is on our roadmap.

gkhartman 4y ago

Happy to see that golang support is on the roadmap. I felt compelled to look for golang app frameworks a little while ago and didn't find anything really competitive. This might be the answer. Looking forward to giving this a try if I find some free cycles.

hestefisk 4y ago

The headline is wrong :) it’s Flet, not Felt…

hestefisk 4y ago

I really like this. Plus the pages loads really fast. Is it hosted on Flet?