Flutter Genui

Flutter GenUI SDK — Conversational AI-Driven UI

Tech Stack: Flutter 3.41.x / Dart 3.10.9, genui package (experimental/alpha), A2UI Protocol v0.8+, Riverpod 3.x

What is GenUI?

GenUI is Flutter's official SDK for generative UI — it turns text-based LLM conversations into interactive native Flutter widgets at runtime. Instead of receiving walls of text from an AI agent, users interact with dynamically rendered graphical interfaces composed from a developer-defined widget catalog.

Key principle: The AI agent generates structured JSON (A2UI protocol); the Flutter client validates against an approved catalog and renders native widgets. Agents never generate Dart code — they describe intent via JSON, the client renders it safely.

Status: Highly experimental / alpha. API will change. Pin to a specific commit or version.

Iron Law

GENUI PAYLOADS ARE UNTRUSTED. VALIDATE COMPONENT TYPES AGAINST THE CATALOG BEFORE RENDERING. NEVER EXECUTE AGENT-PROVIDED CODE. NEVER RENDER UNREGISTERED WIDGET TYPES.

Core Concepts (6 Pillars)

Package Structure

Prerequisites

• Flutter >= 3.35.7 (3.41.x recommended)
• Add to pubspec.yaml in the package that uses GenUI (e.g., packages/shared_ui/):

  dependencies:
    genui:
      git:
        url: https://github.com/flutter/genui.git
        path: packages/genui
    genui_a2a:
      git:
        url: https://github.com/flutter/genui.git
        path: packages/genui_a2a
  

Before Writing Any GenUI Code

1. Read reference/genui-catalog-design.md — how to define Catalog, CatalogItem, JSON schemas, builder functions
2. Read reference/genui-conversation-orchestration.md — Conversation lifecycle, model adapters, streaming loop
3. Read reference/genui-state-binding.md — DataModel, SurfaceController, reactive state, surface rendering
4. Read reference/genui-a2ui-transport.md — A2uiTransportAdapter, A2uiMessage, SSE streaming, JSONL parsing
5. Read reference/genui-functions.md — A2UIFunctionEvaluator, declarative functions (formatCurrency, required, email, and/or/not), integration pattern
6. Read reference/genui-custom-widgets.md — custom widget integration, Slider/AudioPlayer/Video, custom triage widgets
7. Read reference/genui-security.md — catalog allowlist enforcement, input sanitization, payload limits
8. Verify Flutter/Dart APIs — Use dart-mcp-server or Context7 MCP before using any API

Process

1. Define the Catalog — Register all allowed widget types as CatalogItem objects with JSON schemas and builder functions
2. Configure Transport — Set up A2uiTransportAdapter to connect to your AI agent backend (ADK SSE endpoint)
3. Create Conversation — Initialize Conversation with the catalog, transport adapter, and model configuration
4. Build Surface Rendering — Use SurfaceController to process incoming A2UI messages and render surfaces
5. Implement DataModel Binding — Bind widget state to DataModel for reactive updates
6. Handle User Input — Wire user interactions back to the Conversation as structured events
7. Add Custom Widgets — Register app-specific widgets (photo_upload, dropdown, rating, etc.)
8. Write Tests — Unit tests for catalog validation, surface building, input handling
9. Verify Build — Run melos run test and flutter analyze

Reference Files

Detailed patterns are in reference/:

Core SDK

• genui-catalog-design.md — Catalog, CatalogItem, JSON schema definition, builder patterns, widget registration
• genui-conversation-orchestration.md — Conversation lifecycle, model adapter setup, message history, streaming loop
• genui-state-binding.md — DataModel observable state, SurfaceController, surface management, reactive rendering
• genui-a2ui-transport.md — A2uiTransportAdapter, A2uiMessage types, SSE/JSONL streaming, backend integration
• genui-functions.md — A2UIFunctionEvaluator: validation (required, regex, email), formatting (formatCurrency, formatDate, pluralize), logical (and, or, not), navigation (openUrl) — full Dart implementation

Integration

• genui-custom-widgets.md — Custom widget registration, extended A2UI catalog (Slider, AudioPlayer, Video), custom triage widgets (photo_upload, dropdown, free_text, rating, confirmation)
• genui-security.md — Catalog allowlist enforcement, untrusted payload handling, input sanitization, size limits

A2UI Protocol (shared with Angular skill)

• See ../a2ui-angular/reference/a2ui-protocol.md for the full A2UI protocol spec (5 message types, JSONL format)
• See ../a2ui-angular/reference/a2ui-protocol-advanced.md for streaming, action model, Gemini quirks

Example Integration: Conversational Triage Flow

GenUI can power a triage flow — the conversational UI that replaces static request forms.

Flow:

1. User describes issue (voice/text) -> POST /triage/start returns { job_id }
2. Flutter opens GET /triage/{job_id}/stream SSE
3. Agent streams { response, category, widgets[] } via A2UI protocol
4. GenUIRenderer renders widgets as native Flutter widgets
5. User interacts -> next question streams -> repeat until triage complete

Fallback: If GenUI/ADK unavailable -> standard form fields shown; record needs_classification = true

File location in monorepo:

packages/shared_ui/
  lib/
    widgets/
      gen_ui/
        gen_ui_renderer.dart      # SurfaceController + rendering logic
        widget_catalog.dart       # Catalog with all registered CatalogItems
        widget_types.dart         # Custom widget builders (PhotoUpload, etc.)
        triage_conversation.dart  # Conversation setup for triage flow

Anti-Patterns

// FORBIDDEN: Rendering arbitrary widget types from agent
Widget buildFromAgent(Map<String, dynamic> spec) {
  // Agent controls what gets rendered — XSS/injection vector
  return widgetRegistry[spec['type']]!(spec);
}

// REQUIRED: Validate against Catalog before rendering
Widget buildFromAgent(Map<String, dynamic> spec) {
  final item = catalog.findByType(spec['type']);
  if (item == null) {
    logger.warning('Unknown GenUI type rejected: ${spec['type']}');
    return const SizedBox.shrink(); // Skip unknown types
  }
  return item.builder(spec);
}

// FORBIDDEN: Executing agent-provided code
eval(spec['script']); // Dart doesn't have eval, but don't try alternatives

// FORBIDDEN: Using dynamic widget creation from agent strings
Function.apply(spec['handler'], []); // Never

// REQUIRED: Declarative catalog-based rendering only

// FORBIDDEN: Accepting unbounded payloads
final widgets = parseWidgets(response); // No size check

// REQUIRED: Enforce limits
final widgets = parseWidgets(response);
if (widgets.length > kMaxWidgets) {
  widgets.removeRange(kMaxWidgets, widgets.length);
  logger.warning('GenUI: payload truncated — exceeded $kMaxWidgets widgets');
}

Error Handling

• Agent returns unknown widget type -> skip silently (log warning), render remaining widgets
• Agent payload is malformed JSON -> show error state to user, log full error
• Agent connection drops mid-stream -> render what was received, show reconnect option
• User action dispatch fails -> show error snackbar, do NOT silently swallow
• GenUI SDK unavailable or fails to initialize -> fall back to static form fields

Common Commands

# Add GenUI dependency (from packages/shared_ui/)
# Note: GenUI is git-sourced, add to pubspec.yaml manually

# Bootstrap after adding dependency
melos bootstrap

# Run tests
melos run test

# Analyze
flutter analyze packages/shared_ui/

# Run specific GenUI tests
flutter test packages/shared_ui/test/widgets/gen_ui/

Documentation Sources