---
title: Getting Started
description: Learn how to start using Melos in your project
---

# Getting Started

Melos requires a few one-off steps to be completed before you can start using it.

## Installation

Melos can be installed as a global package via [pub.dev](https://pub.dev/):

```bash
dart pub global activate melos
```

### Setup

To set up your project to use Melos, create a `melos.yaml` file in the root of the project.

Within the `melos.yaml` file, add `name` and `packages` fields:

```yaml
name: my_project

packages:
  - packages/**
```

The `packages` list should contain paths to the individual packages within your project. Each path
can be defined using the [glob](https://docs.python.org/3/library/glob.html) pattern expansion format.

## Bootstrapping

Once installed & setup, Melos needs to be bootstrapped. Bootstrapping has 2 primary roles:

1. Installing all package dependencies (internally using `pub get`).
2. Locally linking any packages together.

### Why do I need to bootstrap?

In normal projects, packages can be linked by providing a `path` within the `pubspec.yaml`. This works for small
projects however presents a problem at scale. Packages cannot be published with a locally defined path, meaning
once you're ready to publish your packages you'll need to manually update all the packages `pubspec.yaml` files
with the versions. If your packages are also tightly coupled (dependencies of each other), you'll also have to manually
check which versions should be updated. Even with a few packages this can become a long and error-prone task.

Melos solves this problem by overriding local files which the Dart analyzer uses to read packages from. If a local package
exists (defined in the `melos.yaml` file) and a different local package has it listed as a dependency, it will be linked
regardless of whether a version has been specified.

## Next steps

Once successfully bootstrapped, you can develop your packages side-by-side with changes to a single package immediately reflecting
across other dependent packages.

Melos also provides other helpful features such as running scripts across all packages. For example, to run dart analyzer in each package, add a new `script` item in your `melos.yaml`:

```yaml
name: my_project

packages:
  - packages/**

scripts:
  analyze: melos exec -- "dart analyze ."
```

Then execute the command by running `melos run analyze`.

If you're looking for some inspiration as to what scripts can help with, check out the
[FlutterFire repository](https://github.com/FirebaseExtended/flutterfire/blob/master/melos.yaml).

If you are using VS Code, there is an [extension](/ide-support#vs-code) available, to integrate Melos with VS Code.