Flutter Package Version Checker

Flutter Package Version Checker

Stay current. Volkan's rule: latest stable, always.

When to Run This Skill

• Before any production release
• When adding a new dependency (use the latest version, not what last project used)
• When pub get fails with version constraint errors
• When user asks "is X package still maintained?"
• Quarterly maintenance check on each project

Step 1: Snapshot Current State

flutter pub outdated --show-all
dart pub deps -s compact

Output of pub outdated has columns:

• Current: what's pinned in pubspec.lock
• Upgradable: what you'd get with pub upgrade (respecting constraints)
• Resolvable: what you'd get if you bumped constraints
• Latest: absolute latest published

Focus on packages where Latest is much higher than Current.

Step 2: Categorize Each Direct Dependency

For each direct dependency in pubspec.yaml, check on pub.dev (https://pub.dev/packages/PACKAGE_NAME):

• Latest version — what the package authors recommend
• Pub Points score — out of 160. Under 100 is a yellow flag, under 80 is a red flag.
• Likes count — popularity proxy
• Last published date — over 1 year without updates is yellow, over 2 years is red (unless it's a stable utility with no need to change, like uuid or crypto)
• Verified publisher — Google-verified, Flutter-team, Dart-team have higher trust
• Flutter Favorite badge — gold standard for that category

Common categories and current recommendations (2026):

Step 3: Watch for Deprecated / Abandoned Packages

Packages to FLAG if found:

• hive (original, not _ce) — original is unmaintained, migrate to hive_ce
• uni_links — less actively maintained, consider app_links
• flutter_webview_plugin — abandoned, use webview_flutter (official)
• fluttertoast — has issues, consider bot_toast or inline SnackBar
• provider — still works but Riverpod is preferred for new code
• get (GetX) — controversial, many devs migrating away due to anti-patterns
• scoped_model — abandoned, do NOT use in new code
• firebase_dynamic_links — Firebase deprecated this, migrate to Branch.io or custom deep links
• Anything matching flutter_*_old, *_deprecated, *_unmaintained in description

Step 4: Suggest Upgrade Path

For each package needing an update, suggest one of:

Patch/Minor (safe): flutter pub upgrade PACKAGE

• Same major version, automatic upgrade is safe
• Example: 2.1.3 → 2.1.5

Major (review breaking changes):

• Open the package's CHANGELOG.md on pub.dev
• Look for "Breaking changes" section
• Update pubspec.yaml constraint manually
• Example: ^2.1.0 → ^3.0.0
• Run flutter pub get, fix compile errors

Dart/Flutter SDK upgrade:

• Check Flutter version: flutter --version
• Check what's pinned in pubspec.yaml (environment: sdk: ">=3.5.0 <4.0.0")
• For SDK upgrades, run flutter upgrade, then flutter pub get

Step 5: Report

PACKAGE UPDATE REPORT — <project-name>

UP-TO-DATE: [count] packages
NEEDS PATCH UPDATE (safe): [list with versions]
NEEDS MAJOR UPDATE (review changelog): [list with versions]
DEPRECATED / ABANDONED (migrate): [list with recommended replacement]
LOW PUB POINTS (<100): [list with current score]

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
1. Run `flutter pub upgrade` to get all patch+minor updates
2. Review major updates one at a time
3. Schedule deprecation migrations

How to Check a Single Package Quickly

The simplest way to verify a package on pub.dev (without leaving the terminal):

# Get latest version of a package
curl -s "https://pub.dev/api/packages/PACKAGE_NAME" | grep -oP '"latest":\{[^}]*"version":"[^"]+"' | head -1

For a Flutter project, search the dependency on https://pub.dev/packages/PACKAGE_NAME, look at:

• Top banner shows latest version + last published
• Right sidebar shows Pub Points, Likes, Popularity
• Scores tab shows full breakdown
• Versions tab shows release history

Special Case: Firebase

FlutterFire packages should ALL be on the same major version. If you have:

firebase_core: ^3.0.0
firebase_auth: ^4.0.0  # MISMATCH

This will cause runtime errors. Always upgrade all FlutterFire packages together:

flutter pub upgrade --major-versions firebase_core firebase_auth firebase_messaging cloud_firestore firebase_analytics firebase_crashlytics

Or use flutterfire configure which keeps them in sync.

Strict Rules

• DO NOT pin to old versions unless there's a specific compatibility reason documented in a comment
• DO NOT use any as a version constraint, always use ^major.minor.patch
• DO NOT downgrade to silence warnings, fix the affected code
• DO NOT mix major versions of Firebase packages
• DO run flutter pub outdated at least monthly on active projects
• DO check Pub Points before adding any new dependency, even popular-sounding ones can be abandoned

Source: axisting/axistia-flutter-skills — distributed by TomeVault.