flutter
dart
npx skills add dhruvanbhalara/skills --skill flutter-isar
Isar Database
- Use Isar as the primary local database for structured data persistence
- Define collections using
@collection annotation with Id field
- Place collection definitions in the
data/local/ directory of the relevant feature
- Run
dart run build_runner build --delete-conflicting-outputs after modifying collections
Schema Design
- Keep collections focused β one collection per domain entity
- Use
@Index annotations for fields queried frequently
- Use
@enumerated for enum fields
- Use
Links and Backlinks for relationships between collections
- NEVER store derived/computed values β compute them in the domain layer
Migrations
- Isar handles additive schema changes automatically (new fields, new collections)
- For breaking changes (renamed fields, removed fields), write migration logic in the repository
- Version your database schema and check version on app startup
Repository Pattern for Local Data
- Local DataSource wraps all Isar
put, get, delete, watch calls
- Repositories orchestrate between remote and local DataSources
- Repositories decide cache-first vs network-first strategy per use case
Offline-First Patterns
- Cache-First: Read from Isar first, fetch from network in background, update Isar on success
- Network-First: Fetch from network, fall back to Isar on failure
- Write-Behind: Write to Isar immediately, sync to server asynchronously (queue pending changes)
- Always show cached data immediately while refreshing in background
Reactive Queries
- Use Isarβs
watchLazy() or watch() to stream changes to the UI via BLoC
- Wrap Isar watch streams in the repository and expose as
Stream<List<DomainModel>>
- Dispose stream subscriptions properly in BLoC
close() method
Secure Storage
- Use
flutter_secure_storage for sensitive key-value data (tokens, encryption keys)
- Use
SharedPreferences ONLY for non-sensitive user preferences (theme, locale, onboarding flags)
- NEVER store passwords, tokens, or secrets in
SharedPreferences or plain Isar