How to modify an existing pub package to use in your Flutter project

Why do you always rely on somebody else’s pub packages? You can add your creativity to any package.

You can not make changes to the original package. You have to fork that particular repository.

Perform the following steps to modify an existing package:

Step 1: Find the pub package you want to modify.

Step 2: Go to the git repository of that package.

Step 3: Fork Repository (you need to log in with your git account on Github).

• On clicking the fork button, it will create a repository in your GitHub account.
• Clone your repository and make your changes to the package.

Step 4: Commit and Push your changes to your forked repository.

Step 5: Refresh your forked repository and you’ll find your latest commit there.

• if you don’t find your commits in the forked repository then please verify the git user.

How to add this modified package into your flutter project?

Add flutter dependency into your pubspec.yaml file as below:

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter

  [package-name]:
    git:
      url: https://github.com/[git-username]/[git-repository-name]

There are several ways to add a GitHub package to your Flutter project. For more details, please refer to the section on Dependencies for unpublished packages.

Note: If you think your changes in the package are helpful to others then submit a pull request to the original author of the library. The author will identify your commit and if they find it fruitful then they will merge it into the main repository.

If your pull request gets accepted then you can use the main package with the updated version.

Disclaimer: After performing the above steps you are using packages from your repository. So, if the owner of the original package gives an update then you will not receive those updates.😊

That’s all for this particular post. I hope I was able to explain how we can apply modification in an existing package and use it in your Flutter project.

Feel Free to post your comments if you face any issues. You can 👏 if you liked the article. Do you know that you can 👏 50 times in a single post? try it.

Thanks for reading…!!!

Dhaval Kansara
iOS | Flutter