Step 1: Create the project

This step makes a new Dox project, points it at SQLite, starts the dev server and calls the first route.

1. Install the CLI and make the project

dart pub global activate dox
dox create blog
cd blog
dart pub get

dox create downloads the dox-sample template from GitHub and names the package blog. So every import in this tutorial starts with package:blog/.

2. Use SQLite

dox create already made .env with a new random APP_KEY. The template already uses SQLite:

.env

APP_PORT=3000
APP_KEY=<your new random key>

DB_CONNECTION=sqlite
DB_NAME=db/dox.sqlite

Dox makes the file db/dox.sqlite at the first start. SQLite does not read the other DB_* lines. The app reads these keys through the typed class in lib/config/env.dart. See Environment variables.

The folder must exist

Dox makes the database file when it is missing, but not its folder. If you set DB_NAME=storage/blog.sqlite, run mkdir storage first.

3. Start the server

dox s

dox s runs the code generator and the server. It restarts the server when you save a .dart file. The first start is slower, because it compiles the SQLite library. At the first start it also runs the migrations of the template. The last line is a JSON log line with this message:

Server started at http://[::]:3000 with 8 isolate (native)

Open it at http://localhost:3000. The number of isolates is the number of CPU cores.

Check it

In a second terminal:

curl -i http://localhost:3000/api/ping

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
...

pong

The route is in lib/routes/api.dart. The ApiRouter has the prefix api, so /ping is served at /api/ping.