serverpod/serverpod-create

Serverpod Create

Creating Serverpod projects and modules is done with the serverpod create command.

Prerequisites

• Dart installed (dart --version should be 3.10.3+).
• Flutter installed (flutter --version should be 3.38.4+).
• Docker installed (docker --version).
• Serverpod CLI installed (dart install serverpod_cli).

Using the serverpod create command

When invoked by the user, the serverpod create command will present options on a TUI to tweak the resources of the project/module. For programmatic usage, the command can be invoked with the --no-interactive flag.

serverpod create <project_name> --no-interactive            # Full project (server, client, Flutter)
serverpod create --mini <project_name> --no-interactive     # Minimal project without database
serverpod create --template module <name> --no-interactive  # Module (server + client)

Project name must be lowercase with underscores (valid Dart package name).

After creating the project, fetch dependencies: dart pub get from project root (workspace).

If creating a Serverpod module, refer to the Serverpod Modules skill for more details.

Project structure

Considering a project named my_project, the structure will be:

my_project/
├── my_project_server/
│   ├── lib/                # Endpoints, models, business logic
│   ├── src/generated/      # Generated code (do not edit)
│   ├── config/             # development.yaml, production.yaml, passwords.yaml
│   ├── bin/main.dart       # Entry point
│   └── docker-compose.yaml # Local PostgreSQL and Redis (if enabled)
├── my_project_client/      # Generated client
│   ├── src/protocol/       # Generated protocol (do not edit)
└── my_project_flutter/     # Flutter app (only for projects, not modules)

NEVER edit the generated code, as it will be overwritten by the next generation.

Upgrading a mini server directory to full Serverpod

Any project created with the --mini flag can be upgraded to a full Serverpod project by running serverpod create . with the default/server template (without the --mini flag). Always ensure that the working tree is clean before upgrading.