Flutter Gems turns 3 — We now have 5500+ Dart & Flutter packages neatly categorized in 175 categories, along with 500+ open source Flutter apps!
by Ashita Prasad (LinkedIn, Twitter), fluttergems.dev
Hi Flutter folks 👋 ,
I am excited and thrilled to announce the third anniversary of Flutter Gems! 🎉🥳
In case you are hearing about us for the first time 👇
Flutter Gems (fluttergems.dev) is a curated package guide for Dart + Flutter ecosystem where packages are neatly segregated based on functionality.
The project had a very humble beginning and started off as an internal tool (just a spreadsheet) 3 years back, when I was building EdPunk app. As a Flutter developer, I spent a great deal of time on pub finding packages which I could use and started categorizing them. With time this list got bigger and bigger as I came across lots of packages which were truly gems (name origin — Flutter Gems). Soon the list covered around 1000 packages spread across 89 categories. As my fellow Flutter developers would have greatly benefited from this well categorized list, I quickly put together a website and Flutter Gems was born. 🐣
Little did I know that this endeavour would resonate so deeply with other Flutter developers and will get so much love 💙. 3 years have passed, but it feels just yesterday when I embarked on this journey, and today, I am filled with immense gratitude for the incredible support, feedback, contributions, and enthusiasm showered by our amazing Flutter community.
Your continuous belief in Flutter Gems has been the driving force behind every innovation and improvement that I have made to the platform and will continue doing so.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being a part of this flutterful journey. Stay tuned for exciting updates and features in the coming months. The best is yet to come!
Earlier this year we made some major changes to the platform by adding:
1. Package Pages
We introduced package pages that included:
- Verified Project Links for home page, repository & documentation which helped combat spam and incorrect/404 links for packages.
- Easy to understand package statistics like pub stats, GitHub stats and maintenance stats.
- A list of open-source Flutter apps using a package so that developers can easily check out how these real-world projects are using that package.
2. Community Repo
Community forms the bedrock 🪨 of Flutter Gems and more than 250 Flutter developers have contributed to this project.
This year we made the process of community contribution more streamlined and open via our community repo where people can easily add new packages & open source Flutter projects. We also use this repo for community feedback and bug/issue reporting. Do check it out 👇
3. We are on Discord 🥁
A few months back we started our Discord Server and it has been a blast! If you have any queries related to Dart & Flutter, or any other open source technology, or you just want to hang out - This is your place to go!
Click on the link below & join our server today👇
What’s new in the 3rd anniversary update?
In this release we have added 500+ new packages to Flutter Gems which brings the total package count to 5500+.
These packages are spread across 175 categories, with the introduction of the following 11 new categories:
1. ChatGPT, LLM & Generative AI [Link]
This category contains packages that can help you integrate ChatGPT, LLMs and Gen AI in your Flutter application which can enhance user experience and help you add features like support chatbots, personalized recommendations, content generation, interactive storytelling, language translation, and many more.
2. WebSocket & RPC [Link]
WebSockets are best suited for real-time applications that need two-way communication, such as chat applications. RPC is a more efficient protocol than WebSockets, and it is better suited for applications that need to send a lot of data. You can integrate these technologies in your Flutter app using the following packages.
3. OpenAPI & Swagger [Link]
Dart and Flutter packages that provide openAPI & Swagger utilities for API client code generation, for sending HTTP requests, and building API client libraries that you can add in your Flutter app.
4. App Packaging and Publishing [Link]
Dart & Flutter packages that can help you create platform specific app bundles (.exe, .msix, .deb, .rpm, etc.) and publish your apps to Google Play store, App store, Microsoft store, etc. easily.
5. JSON [Link]
Want to work with JSON in Dart & Flutter?
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is widely used in Flutter app development as it enables seamless data interchange between the app’s frontend and backend. There are various packages that make JSON manipulation, editing, viewing and analysis as efficient and user-friendly as possible.
6. Command Line (CLI) or Console [Link]
Dart & Flutter packages that can help you harness the power of CLI tools and build awesome CLI apps.
7. Desktop (Windows, Linux & macOS) [Link]
Dart and Flutter packages that help streamline the desktop application development process, making it easier for developers to create cross-platform apps with consistent user experiences while leveraging the strengths of each operating system.
8. Flutter Web [Link]
Dart & Flutter packages that can help you build and optimize Flutter Web applications.
10. TV, Watch & Cars [Link]
Flutter extends its capabilities beyond mobile, desktop & web apps to support various other platforms like TV, smart watches, and even in-car displays in smart cars. These platforms have unique user interface requirements and interactions, and there are various Dart & Flutter packages that can help developers build for these platforms.
11. IoT, Special Hardware and Chips [Link]
The Internet of Things, IoT is a network of interconnected devices and sensors gathering data, from thermostats, security cameras to industrial machines and vehicles. Often IoT devices have special hardwares and chips that require Dart & Flutter packages so that you can build Flutter apps that interact with those devices.
That’s it for the day folks!
To stay updated, do join our Discord server, subscribe us on Medium and follow us on our socials — LinkedIn, Twitter (X).
Cheers! 💙
Ashita Prasad (LinkedIn, Twitter), fluttergems.dev