Flutter Apply Architecture Best Practices

Technology Stack

• Flutter for cross-platform development
• Dart as the primary programming language
• bloc for state management
• injectable for dependency injection
• Dart Mappable for immutable data models
• Dio for HTTP networking
• isar for local database
• Firebase for backend services

Clean Architecture

• Domain Purity: The domain layer must be pure Dart. NO package:flutter imports.
• Layer Dependency: Presentation -> Domain <- Data. Data layer implements Domain interfaces.
• Feature-First 2.0: Enforce strict separation of DataSources (External/Raw) vs Repositories (Domain abstraction).

Directory Structure

• Organize code according to feature-based Clean Architecture pattern (featureA/bloc, featureA/models, featureA/views)
• Place cross-feature components in the core directory
• Group shared widgets in core/views/widgets by type

Three-Layer Data Model Pattern

1. API Layer (ItemApiModel)

   • Represents the raw data structure as received from the server
   • Contains all fields provided by the API
   • Should match the API contract exactly

2. Domain Layer (Item)

   • Represents the internal data model
   • Contains only the fields necessary for business logic
   • Strips out unnecessary API fields

3. UI Layer (ItemUiState)

   • Represents the data model optimized for UI rendering
   • Contains parsed and formatted data ready for display
   • Handles all UI-specific transformations

Data Model Rules

• Use Dart Mappable for defining immutable UI states
• Each layer should have its own type definition
• The UI layer should use the UI state data models, never directly the domain model or the API model
• The UI state model should be derived from the domain model, not the API model
• The domain model should be derived from the API model, not the UI state model

Repository & DataSource Pattern

• Repositories orchestrate between data sources (return Domain Model)
• Data sources access raw data (return API Model)
• The repository should be the source of truth, and it returns the domain model
• DataSources MUST only contain raw SDK/API calls. No mapping or business logic.
• No direct backend SDK/API calls outside DataSources

Data Flow

UI Event → BLoC (emit Loading) → Repository → DataSource (API/SDK)
    ↓
Response → Repository (map to Domain Entity) → BLoC (emit Success/Error) → UI

Dart 3 Language Features

• Sealed Classes: Use sealed class for domain failures to enable exhaustive pattern matching across layers.
• Records: Use records for lightweight multi-value returns where defining a full class is overkill (e.g., (String name, int age)).
• If-Case Pattern: Prefer if (value case final v?) over if (value != null) for null checking with binding.
• Class Modifiers: Use final, interface, base, and sealed class modifiers to express API intent.

Error Handling

• Functional Error Handling: Use Either<Failure, T> or Result<T> sealed classes. NEVER throw exceptions across layer boundaries.
• Pattern Matching: Exhaustively handle all sealed class states using Dart 3.x switch expressions in UI and BLoCs.
• Throw errors when needed, and catch them at appropriate boundaries
• Log errors with context
• Present user-friendly error messages in the UI
• Avoid silent failures; always handle or propagate errors

Platform Channels & Native Integration

• Use MethodChannel for one-off calls to native code (e.g., reading device info, triggering native APIs)
• Use EventChannel for continuous streams from native to Flutter (e.g., sensor data, connectivity changes)
• Place all channel code in a dedicated platform/ directory within the relevant feature
• Define channel names as constants: static const channel = MethodChannel('com.app.feature/method')
• Wrap all channel calls in a DataSource — never call MethodChannel directly from BLoC or UI
• Handle MissingPluginException gracefully for platforms that don't implement the channel
• Use defaultTargetPlatform checks to guard platform-specific behavior

FFI (Foreign Function Interface)

• Use dart:ffi for performance-critical native C/C++ code
• Define bindings in a separate class with clear documentation
• Prefer Federated Plugins when sharing native code across multiple packages

Platform-Specific Code

• Use Platform.isAndroid / Platform.isIOS for runtime checks (import dart:io)
• For web, use kIsWeb from package:flutter/foundation.dart
• Prefer adaptive widgets (Switch.adaptive, Slider.adaptive) over manual platform checks where possible

Coding Guidelines & Maintenance

• Conciseness: Keep files < 300 lines and functions < 50 lines. Keep classes to < 10 public methods.
• Strong Typing: STRICTLY prohibit dynamic. Use Object? or explicit types.
• Guard Clauses: Use early returns (e.g., if (user == null) return;) to reduce nesting and improve readability.
• Disposable Lifecycle: TextEditingController, ScrollController, FocusNode, StreamSubscription, AnimationController, etc., MUST be late initialized in initState() and disposed in dispose().
• No Print Statements: STRICTLY prohibit print(). Use AppLogger for all logging.
• Reuse: Extract widgets or code blocks used multiple times into core/views/widgets or utilities.

Documentation

• Why, not What: Comments MUST explain the rationale (intent), not what the code does.
• Public API: Document public classes and methods with triple-slash (///) comments.
• History: Do NOT include version history or "fixed by" comments. Git is the source of truth.

Workflow: Implementing a New Feature

Follow this sequential workflow when adding a new feature to the application. Copy the checklist to track progress.

Task Progress

• Step 1: Define Domain Models. Create immutable data classes for the feature using Dart Mappable.
• Step 2: Implement DataSources. Create or update DataSource classes to handle raw SDK/API calls (Dio, Isar, Firebase).
• Step 3: Implement Repositories. Create the Repository to consume DataSources and return pure Domain Models.
• Step 4: Implement the BLoC/Cubit. Create the state management. Inject required Repositories. Expose immutable UI state.
• Step 5: Implement the UI. Create the View widgets. Use BlocBuilder or BlocConsumer to listen to state changes.
• Step 6: Inject Dependencies. Register the new DataSource, Repository, and BLoC in the dependency injection container (injectable).

Source: dhruvanbhalara/skills — distributed by TomeVault.