“Alfred” an express-like server framework written in Dart

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After Dart popularity skyrocketed in 2019 (indubitably thanks to Flutter)
I was surprised to see limited interest for its adoption on server side,
fast-forward to 2021 AngularDart is downgraded to internal project
and both angel and aqueduct are deprecated …

… what’s the future for Dart on server side?

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“Hello Alfred”

Already at first sight alfred got my attention:

• non-nullable by default from day 1
• “less is more” philosophy
• “express-like” framework

what’s not to like… enough talk let’s give it a spin!

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Get Started

follow along these simple steps to create an app really from the scratch

• Install Dart (don’t forget to update your path)
• Install Stagehand (run pub global activate stagehand)
• Create and Move to a folder (mkdir alfredo && cd alfredo)
• Create a Simple Console App (run stagehand console-simple)
• Update your pubspec.yaml

name: alfredo
description: A simple command-line application.
environment:
  sdk: ‘>=2.12.0 <3.0.0’
dependencies:
  alfred: ^0.0.3

• Update your bin/alfredo.dart

import 'package:alfred/alfred.dart';
void main() async {
  final app = Alfred();
  app.get('/example', (req, res) => 'Hello world');
  await app.listen();
  print('Listening on port 3000');
}

• Run the app (run dart run)
• Open it in your browser (http://localhost:3000/example)

disclosures:
- I’m not affiliated in any way with the alfred project
- It’s my first article on Medium, suggest me how to improve

Follow me on Twitter @yakforward