Install fastlane with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• fastlane

Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in December 2014. By May 2015, founder Felix Krause announced fastlane 1.0 and described work toward semantic versioning, multi-platform support, terminal-visible action documentation, and a refactored configuration system for built-in integrations.

In October 2015, Krause announced that fastlane had become part of Fabric at Twitter. That post framed fastlane as a side project that had grown into a full-time maintenance effort and promised that it would remain open source while expanding beyond iOS toward Android.

In January 2017, Krause announced that fastlane, along with Fabric, was joining Google and working with Firebase. The same post says the intervening Fabric period added a configuration web app, prepackaged fastlane distribution, plugins, two-factor Apple ID support, a monorepo migration, and the docs.fastlane.tools site.

Adoption history

fastlane's adoption came from collapsing many fragile mobile-release scripts into a shared vocabulary of lanes and actions. The project README and docs continue to position it as automation for beta deployments and App Store/Google Play releases, and the repository's large contributor table, tens of thousands of GitHub stars, and package-manager presence reflect durable use across mobile teams.

Its adoption also tracks platform pain: Apple code signing, provisioning profiles, localized screenshots, TestFlight uploads, App Store metadata, Google Play uploads, and CI setup all changed often enough that a maintained shared tool was cheaper than every team owning its own scripts.

How it is used

A fastlane project usually defines lanes in a Fastfile. The docs show lanes that run tests, build an app, upload to beta services, capture screenshots, upload to the App Store, and notify teammates, then invoke them with commands such as fastlane release.

The action catalog is the operational heart of fastlane: build_app/gym builds and signs apps, match syncs signing materials, snapshot and screengrab automate localized screenshots, pilot uploads to TestFlight, deliver uploads to App Store Connect, and supply works with Google Play. CI actions help prepare Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, and other automated environments.

Why package nerds care

fastlane matters to package nerds because it made mobile release automation feel like a packageable CLI rather than a pile of per-company shell scripts. Homebrew and RubyGems installs put a large, fast-moving mobile deployment stack behind one command, while the Fastfile gave teams a versioned, reviewable release recipe.

It is also a classic packaging challenge: fastlane has to bridge Ruby, native mobile toolchains, Xcode, Android tooling, Apple/Google APIs, stored credentials, and CI keychains. That messy boundary is exactly why users prefer installing one maintained tool.

Timeline

• 2014: GitHub repository created for fastlane.
• 2015: fastlane 1.0 announced.
• 2015: fastlane became part of Fabric.
• 2017: fastlane joined Google with Fabric and Firebase.
• 2026: The repository remains active with more than 40,000 GitHub stars.

Related projects

• spaceship provides Apple developer portal and App Store Connect communication used by fastlane tools.
• gym/build_app, match, snapshot, screengrab, pilot, deliver, and supply are the major fastlane actions/package names users associate with the suite.
• Firebase and Fabric are part of fastlane's organizational history after the 2017 Google transition.

Sources

• https://github.com/fastlane/fastlane
• https://docs.fastlane.tools/
• https://docs.fastlane.tools/actions/
• https://krausefx.com/blog/fastlane-10
• https://krausefx.com/blog/fastlane-is-now-part-of-fabric
• https://krausefx.com/blog/fastlane-is-joining-google
• https://api.github.com/repos/fastlane/fastlane