Version: Config V1 (legacy)

Dart (Flutter) SDK Reference

info

This documentation applies to the v3.x version of the ConfigCat Dart (Flutter). For the documentation of the latest release, please refer to this page.

Getting Started

1. Add the ConfigCat SDK to your project

Dart
Flutter

dart pub add configcat_client

flutter pub add configcat_client

Or put the following directly to your pubspec.yml and run dart pub get or flutter pub get.

pubspec.yml
dependencies:
  configcat_client: ^3.0.0

2. Import the ConfigCat SDK

import 'package:configcat_client/configcat_client.dart';

3. Create the ConfigCat client with your SDK Key

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#');

4. (Optional) Set up Flutter caching

If you're using the SDK in a Flutter application, it's recommended to use the Flutter Preferences Cache implementation for caching. It stores the downloaded config JSON using the shared_preferences package.

import 'package:configcat_preferences_cache/configcat_preferences_cache.dart';

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(cache: ConfigCatPreferencesCache()));

5. Get your setting value

final isMyAwesomeFeatureEnabled = await client.getValue(key: 'isMyAwesomeFeatureEnabled', defaultValue: false);
if (isMyAwesomeFeatureEnabled) {
    doTheNewThing();
} else {
    doTheOldThing();
}

6. Close ConfigCat client

You can safely shut down all clients at once or individually and release all associated resources on application exit.

ConfigCatClient.closeAll(); // closes all clients

client.close(); // closes the specific client

Setting up the ConfigCat Client

ConfigCat Client is responsible for:

managing the communication between your application and ConfigCat servers.
caching your setting values and feature flags.
serving values quickly in a failsafe way.

ConfigCatClient.get(sdkKey: <sdkKey>) returns a client with default options.

Customizing the ConfigCat Client

To customize the SDK's behavior, you can pass an additional ConfigCatOptions parameter to the get() static factory method where the ConfigCatOptions class is used to set up the ConfigCat Client.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        pollingMode: PollingMode.manualPoll(),
        logger: ConfigCatLogger(level: LogLevel.info)
    )
);

These are the available options on the ConfigCatOptions class:

Properties	Description
`dataGovernance`	Optional, defaults to `global`. Describes the location of your feature flag and setting data within the ConfigCat CDN. This parameter needs to be in sync with your Data Governance preferences. More about Data Governance. Available options: `global`, `euOnly`.
`baseUrl`	Optional, sets the CDN base url (forward proxy, dedicated subscription) from where the sdk will download the config JSON.
`connectTimeout`	Optional, sets the underlying Dio HTTP client's connect timeout. More about the HTTP Client.
`receiveTimeout`	Optional, sets the underlying Dio HTTP client's receive timeout. More about the HTTP Client.
`sendTimeout`	Optional, sets the underlying Dio HTTP client's send timeout. More about the HTTP Client.
`cache`	Optional, sets a custom cache implementation for the client. More about cache.
`pollingMode`	Optional, sets the polling mode for the client. More about polling modes.
`logger`	Optional, sets the internal logger and log level. More about logging.
`override`	Optional, sets local feature flag & setting overrides. More about feature flag overrides.
`defaultUser`	Optional, sets the default user. More about default user.
`offline`	Optional, defaults to `false`. Indicates whether the SDK should be initialized in offline mode. More about offline mode.
`hooks`	Optional, used to subscribe events that the SDK sends in specific scenarios. More about hooks.

caution

We strongly recommend you to use the ConfigCatClient as a Singleton object in your application. The ConfigCatClient.get(sdkKey: <sdkKey>) static factory method constructs singleton client instances for your SDK keys. These clients can be closed all at once with the ConfigCatClient.closeAll() method or individually with client.close().

Anatomy of `getValue()`

Parameters	Description
`key`	REQUIRED. The key of a specific setting or feature flag. Set on ConfigCat Dashboard for each setting.
`defaultValue`	REQUIRED. This value will be returned in case of an error.
`user`	Optional, User Object. Essential when using Targeting. Read more about Targeting.

final value = await client.getValue(
    key: 'keyOfMySetting',
    defaultValue: false,
    user: ConfigCatUser(identifier: '#USER-IDENTIFIER#'), // Optional User Object
);

Anatomy of `getValueDetails()`

getValueDetails() is similar to getValue() but instead of returning the evaluated value only, it gives more detailed information about the evaluation result.

Parameters	Description
`key`	REQUIRED. The key of a specific setting or feature flag. Set on ConfigCat Dashboard for each setting.
`defaultValue`	REQUIRED. This value will be returned in case of an error.
`user`	Optional, User Object. Essential when using Targeting. Read more about Targeting.

final details = await client.getValueDetails(
    key: 'keyOfMySetting',
    defaultValue: false,
    user: ConfigCatUser(identifier: '#USER-IDENTIFIER#'), // Optional User Object
);

The details result contains the following information:

Field	Type	Description
`value`	`Bool` / `String` / `Int` / `Double`	The evaluated value of the feature flag or setting.
`key`	`String`	The key of the evaluated feature flag or setting.
`isDefaultValue`	`Bool`	True when the default value passed to `getValueDetails()` is returned due to an error.
`error`	`String?`	In case of an error, this field contains the error message.
`user`	`ConfigCatUser?`	The User Object that was used for evaluation.
`matchedEvaluationPercentageRule`	`PercentageRule?`	If the evaluation was based on a percentage rule, this field contains that specific rule.
`matchedEvaluationRule`	`RolloutRule?`	If the evaluation was based on a Targeting Rule, this field contains that specific rule.
`fetchTime`	`DateTime`	The last download time of the current config.

User Object

The User Object is essential if you'd like to use ConfigCat's Targeting feature.

final user = ConfigCatUser(identifier: '#UNIQUE-USER-IDENTIFIER#');

final user = ConfigCatUser(identifier: '[email protected]');

Customized User Object creation

Argument	Description
`identifier`	REQUIRED. Unique identifier of a user in your application. Can be any value, even an email address.
`email`	Optional parameter for easier Targeting Rule definitions.
`country`	Optional parameter for easier Targeting Rule definitions.
`custom`	Optional dictionary for custom attributes of a user for advanced Targeting Rule definitions. e.g. User role, Subscription type.

final user = ConfigCatUser(
    identifier: '#UNIQUE-USER-IDENTIFIER#',
    email: '[email protected]',
    country: 'United Kingdom',
    custom: {
        'SubscriptionType': 'Pro',
        'UserRole': 'Admin'
    }
);

Default user

There's an option to set a default User Object that will be used at feature flag and setting evaluation. It can be useful when your application has a single user only, or rarely switches users.

You can set the default User Object either on SDK initialization:

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        defaultUser: ConfigCatUser(identifier: '[email protected]')
    )
);

or with the setDefaultUser() method of the ConfigCat client.

client.setDefaultUser(ConfigCatUser(identifier: '[email protected]'));

Whenever the getValue(), getValueDetails(), getAllValues(), or getAllVariationIds() methods are called without an explicit user parameter, the SDK will automatically use the default user as a User Object.

final user = ConfigCatUser(identifier: '[email protected]');
client.setDefaultUser(user);

// The default user will be used at the evaluation process.
final value = await client.getValue(key: 'keyOfMySetting', defaultValue: false);

When the user parameter is specified on the requesting method, it takes precedence over the default user.

final user = ConfigCatUser(identifier: '[email protected]');
client.setDefaultUser(user);

final otherUser = ConfigCatUser(identifier: '[email protected]');

// otherUser will be used at the evaluation process.
final value = await client.getValue(key: 'keyOfMySetting', defaultValue: false, user: otherUser);

For deleting the default user, you can do the following:

client.clearDefaultUser();

Polling Modes

The ConfigCat SDK supports 3 different polling mechanisms to acquire the setting values from ConfigCat. After latest setting values are downloaded, they are stored in the internal cache, then all getValue() calls are served from there. With the following polling modes, you can customize the SDK to best fit to your application's lifecycle.
More about polling modes.

Auto polling (default)

The ConfigCat SDK downloads the latest values and stores them automatically every 60 seconds.

Use the the autoPollInterval option parameter of the PollingMode.autoPoll() to change the polling interval.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '<PLACE-YOUR-SDK-KEY-HERE>',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        pollingMode: PollingMode.autoPoll(
            autoPollInterval: Duration(seconds: 100),
        ),
    )
);

Available options:

Option Parameter	Description	Default
`autoPollInterval`	Polling interval.	60
`maxInitWaitTime`	Maximum waiting time between the client initialization and the first config acquisition in seconds.	5

Lazy Loading

When calling getValue(), the ConfigCat SDK downloads the latest setting values if they are not present or expired in the cache. In this case getValue() will return the setting value after the cache is updated.

Use the cacheRefreshInterval option parameter of the PollingMode.lazyLoad() to set cache lifetime.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '<PLACE-YOUR-SDK-KEY-HERE>',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        pollingMode: PollingMode.lazyLoad(
            // the cache will expire in 100 seconds
            cacheRefreshInterval: Duration(seconds: 100),
        ),
    )
);

Available options:

Parameter	Description	Default
`cacheRefreshInterval`	Cache TTL.	60

Manual Polling

Manual polling gives you full control over when the config JSON (with the setting values) is downloaded. ConfigCat SDK will not update them automatically. Calling forceRefresh() is your application's responsibility.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '<PLACE-YOUR-SDK-KEY-HERE>',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        pollingMode: PollingMode.manualPoll(),
    )
);

client.forceRefresh();

getValue() returns defaultValue if the cache is empty. Call forceRefresh() to update the cache.

Hooks

With the following hooks you can subscribe to particular events fired by the SDK:

onClientReady(): This event is sent when the SDK reaches the ready state. If the SDK is initialized with lazy load or manual polling, it's considered ready right after instantiation. If it's using auto polling, the ready state is reached when the SDK has a valid config JSON loaded into memory either from cache or from HTTP. If the config couldn't be loaded neither from cache nor from HTTP the onClientReady event fires when the auto polling's maxInitWaitTime is reached.
onConfigChanged(Map<string, Setting>): This event is sent when the SDK loads a valid config JSON into memory from cache, and each subsequent time when the loaded config JSON changes via HTTP.
onFlagEvaluated(EvaluationDetails): This event is sent each time when the SDK evaluates a feature flag or setting. The event sends the same evaluation details that you would get from getValueDetails().
onError(String): This event is sent when an error occurs within the ConfigCat SDK.

You can subscribe to these events either on SDK initialization:

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        pollingMode: PollingMode.manualPoll(),
        hooks: Hooks(
            onFlagEvaluated: (details) => /* handle the event */
        )
    )
);

or with the hooks property of the ConfigCat client:

client.hooks.addOnFlagEvaluated((details) => /* handle the event */);

Online / Offline mode

In cases when you'd want to prevent the SDK from making HTTP calls, you can put it in offline mode:

client.setOffline();

In offline mode, the SDK won't initiate HTTP requests and will work only from its cache.

To put the SDK back in online mode, you can do the following:

client.setOnline();

With client.isOffline() you can check whether the SDK is in offline mode.

Flag Overrides

With flag overrides you can overwrite the feature flags & settings downloaded from the ConfigCat CDN with local values. Moreover, you can specify how the overrides should apply over the downloaded values. The following 3 behaviours are supported:

Local only (OverrideBehaviour.localOnly): When evaluating values, the SDK will not use feature flags & settings from the ConfigCat CDN, but it will use all feature flags & settings that are loaded from local-override sources.
Local over remote (OverrideBehaviour.localOverRemote): When evaluating values, the SDK will use all feature flags & settings that are downloaded from the ConfigCat CDN, plus all feature flags & settings that are loaded from local-override sources. If a feature flag or a setting is defined both in the downloaded and the local-override source then the local-override version will take precedence.
Remote over local (OverrideBehaviour.remoteOverLocal): When evaluating values, the SDK will use all feature flags & settings that are downloaded from the ConfigCat CDN, plus all feature flags & settings that are loaded from local-override sources. If a feature flag or a setting is defined both in the downloaded and the local-override source then the downloaded version will take precedence.

You can set up the SDK to load your feature flag & setting overrides from a Map<String, Object>.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: 'localhost',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        override: FlagOverrides(
            dataSource: OverrideDataSource.map({
                'enabledFeature': true,
                'disabledFeature': false,
                'intSetting': 5,
                'doubleSetting': 3.14,
                'stringSetting': 'test',
            }),
            behaviour: OverrideBehaviour.localOnly
        )
    )
);

`getAllKeys()`

You can query the keys of each feature flag and setting with the getAllKeys() method.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#');
final keys = await client.getAllKeys();

`getAllValues()`

Evaluates and returns the values of all feature flags and settings. Passing a User Object is optional.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#');
final settingValues = await client.getAllValues();

// invoke with User Object
final user = ConfigCatUser(identifier: '#UNIQUE-USER-IDENTIFIER#');
final settingValuesTargeting = await client.getAllValues(user);

Cache

The SDK caches the downloaded config JSON only in memory by default. In case you have a Flutter application, you can use the Flutter Preferences Cache for caching.
It's based on the shared_preferences package that uses the following storage locations by platform:

Web: Browser LocalStorage.
iOS / macOS: NSUserDefaults.
Android: SharedPreferences.
Linux: File in XDG_DATA_HOME directory.
Windows: File in roaming AppData directory.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '#YOUR-SDK-KEY#',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(cache: ConfigCatPreferencesCache()));

Custom Cache

You have the option to inject your custom cache implementation into the client. All you have to do is to inherit from the ConfigCatCache abstract class:

class MyCustomCache extends ConfigCatCache {
    @override
    Future<String> read(String key) {
        // here you have to return with the cached value
    }

    @override
    Future<void> write(String key, String value) {
        // here you have to store the new value in the cache
    }
}

Then use your custom cache implementation:

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '<PLACE-YOUR-SDK-KEY-HERE>',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(cache: MyCustomCache()));

info

The Dart (Flutter) SDK supports shared caching. You can read more about this feature and the required minimum SDK versions here.

HttpClient

The ConfigCat SDK internally uses a Dio HTTP client instance to download the latest config JSON over HTTP. You have the option to customize the internal HTTP client.

HTTP Timeout

You can set the maximum wait time for a ConfigCat HTTP response by using Dio's timeouts.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '<PLACE-YOUR-SDK-KEY-HERE>',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        connectTimeout: Duration(seconds: 10), // timeout for establishing a HTTP connection with the server
        sendTimeout: Duration(seconds: 10), // timeout for sending a HTTP request to the server
        receiveTimeout: Duration(seconds: 10), // timeout for reading the server's HTTP response
    )
);

Default timeout values:

connectTimeout: 10 seconds
sendTimeout: 20 seconds
receiveTimeout: 20 seconds

HTTP Proxy

If your application runs behind a proxy you can do the following:

import 'package:dio/adapter.dart';

(client.httpClient.httpClientAdapter as DefaultHttpClientAdapter)
    .onHttpClientCreate = (client) {
        client.findProxy = (uri) {
            return 'PROXY proxyHost:proxyPort';
        };
    };

Force refresh

Call the forceRefresh() method on the client to download the latest config JSON and update the cache.

Logging

The default logger used by the SDK simply outputs the log messages with print(), but you can override it with your implementation via the logger client option. The custom implementation must satisfy the Logger abstract class.

class MyCustomLogger implements Logger {
  @override
  void close() {
    // close the logger
  }

  @override
  void debug(message, [error, StackTrace? stackTrace]) {
    // write the debug logs
  }

  @override
  void error(message, [error, StackTrace? stackTrace]) {
    // write the error logs
  }

  @override
  void info(message, [error, StackTrace? stackTrace]) {
    // write the info logs
  }

  @override
  void warning(message, [error, StackTrace? stackTrace]) {
    // write the warning logs
  }
}

Then you can use your custom logger implementation at the SDK's initialization:

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '<PLACE-YOUR-SDK-KEY-HERE>',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        logger: ConfigCatLogger(internalLogger: MyCustomLogger()),
    )
);

You can change the verbosity of the logs by passing a LogLevel parameter to the logger option.

final client = ConfigCatClient.get(
    sdkKey: '<PLACE-YOUR-SDK-KEY-HERE>',
    options: ConfigCatOptions(
        logger: ConfigCatLogger(level: LogLevel.info),
    )
);

Available log levels:

Level	Description
`nothing`	Turn the logging off.
`error`	Only error level events are logged.
`warning`	Default. Errors and Warnings are logged.
`info`	Errors, Warnings and feature flag evaluation is logged.
`debug`	All of the above plus debug info is logged. Debug logs can be different for other SDKs.

Info level logging helps to inspect how a feature flag was evaluated:

[INFO] 2022-01-20T18:22:02.313703 ConfigCat - Evaluating getValue(isPOCFeatureEnabled)
User object: {Identifier: 435170f4-8a8b-4b67-a723-505ac7cdea92, Email: [email protected]}
Evaluating rule: [Email:[email protected]] [CONTAINS] [@something.com] => no match
Evaluating rule: [Email:[email protected]] [CONTAINS] [@example.com] => match, returning: true

Dart (Flutter) SDK Reference

Getting Started

1. Add the ConfigCat SDK to your project

2. Import the ConfigCat SDK

3. Create the ConfigCat client with your SDK Key

4. (Optional) Set up Flutter caching

5. Get your setting value

6. Close ConfigCat client

Setting up the ConfigCat Client

Customizing the ConfigCat Client

Anatomy of `getValue()`

Anatomy of `getValueDetails()`

User Object

Customized User Object creation

Default user

Polling Modes

Auto polling (default)

Lazy Loading

Manual Polling

Hooks

Online / Offline mode

Flag Overrides

`getAllKeys()`

`getAllValues()`

Cache

Custom Cache

HttpClient

HTTP Timeout

HTTP Proxy

Force refresh

Logging

Sample Apps

Guides

Look Under the Hood

Getting Started​

1. Add the ConfigCat SDK to your project​

2. Import the ConfigCat SDK​

3. Create the ConfigCat client with your SDK Key​

4. (Optional) Set up Flutter caching​

5. Get your setting value​

6. Close ConfigCat client​​

Setting up the ConfigCat Client​

Customizing the ConfigCat Client​

Anatomy of getValue()​

Anatomy of getValueDetails()​

User Object​

Customized User Object creation​

Default user​

Polling Modes​

Auto polling (default)​

Lazy Loading​

Manual Polling​

Hooks​

Online / Offline mode​

Flag Overrides​

getAllKeys()​

getAllValues()​

Cache​

Custom Cache​

HttpClient​

HTTP Timeout​

HTTP Proxy​

Force refresh​

Logging​

Sample Apps​

Guides​

Look Under the Hood​

Getting Started

1. Add the ConfigCat SDK to your project

2. Import the ConfigCat SDK

3. Create the ConfigCat client with your SDK Key

4. (Optional) Set up Flutter caching

5. Get your setting value

6. Close ConfigCat client

Setting up the ConfigCat Client

Customizing the ConfigCat Client

Anatomy of `getValue()`

Anatomy of `getValueDetails()`

User Object

Customized User Object creation

Default user

Polling Modes

Auto polling (default)

Lazy Loading

Manual Polling

Hooks

Online / Offline mode

Flag Overrides

`getAllKeys()`

`getAllValues()`

Cache

Custom Cache

HttpClient

HTTP Timeout

HTTP Proxy

Force refresh

Logging

Sample Apps

Guides

Look Under the Hood