Project Structure

Why Project Structure Matters

Before writing your first line of code, it's important to understand how the FTC SDK is organized.

The project contains many folders, but you'll only interact with a handful of them on a regular basis. Knowing where everything lives will make it much easier to navigate the codebase and understand tutorials.

Top-Level Structure

When you first open the project, you'll see something similar to this:

FtcRobotController/
├── FtcRobotController/
├── TeamCode/
├── gradle/
├── build.gradle
├── settings.gradle
├── gradlew
└── README.md

Let's look at the most important parts.

TeamCode

The TeamCode module is where you'll spend almost all of your time.

This is where you'll write:

• TeleOp programs
• Autonomous programs
• Subsystems
• Commands
• Utility classes
• Robot configuration code

Think of TeamCode as your team's workspace.

Inside TeamCode, you'll find:

TeamCode/
└── src/
    └── main/
        ├── java/
        └── res/

java

The java folder contains all of your robot code.

Inside, you'll eventually create packages to organize your project.

For example:

java/
└── org.firstinspires.ftc.teamcode/
    ├── opmodes/
    ├── subsystems/
    ├── commands/
    ├── drive/
    ├── vision/
    └── util/

Don't worry about creating all of these yet. We'll build this structure throughout the course.

res

The res folder contains Android resources such as layouts and images.

Most FTC teams rarely need to modify anything here.

FtcRobotController

The FtcRobotController module contains the official FTC app provided by FIRST.

It includes:

• The Robot Controller app
• SDK infrastructure
• Sample OpModes
• Internal FTC libraries

Most teams should avoid modifying files in this module. Instead, place your own code inside TeamCode.

Gradle Files

You'll also notice several files related to Gradle, Android Studio's build system.

Some important ones include:

• build.gradle
• settings.gradle
• gradle.properties

These files tell Android Studio how to build your project and manage dependencies.

Most of the time, you won't need to edit them unless you're adding a library or changing project settings.

External Libraries

As your robot becomes more advanced, you'll likely add external libraries such as Road Runner or FTCLib.

These libraries are downloaded automatically by Gradle and become available throughout your project.

We'll cover how to add libraries in a later lesson.

Which Files Should I Edit?

When you're just starting out, you'll mainly work inside:

TeamCode/
└── src/
    └── main/
        └── java/
            └── org.firstinspires.ftc.teamcode/

Everything else can generally be left alone unless you know exactly why you're changing it.

What to do next

Now that you know where everything is, it's time to create your first Java class and start writing code.