shorebird-updater/shorebird_code_push

Code Push

Instantly push updates to your Flutter app without lengthy app store review cycles.

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This Dart package communicates with the Shorebird Code Push Updater to:

• ✅ Get the currently installed patch version
• ✅ Check whether a new patch is available
• ✅ Download new patches

Demo

Explore this interactive demo to learn more

Getting Started

If your Flutter app does not already use Shorebird, follow our Getting Started Guide to add code push to your app.

Installation

flutter pub add shorebird_code_push

Usage

Shorebird automatically checks for and downloads updates in the background. Most apps do not need this package. This package is for apps that want additional control, such as displaying update status to the user or prompting before downloading.

Important: checkForUpdate() and update() make network calls that may be slow. Avoid gating app startup on the result (e.g. awaiting in initState), as the app may appear stuck on the splash screen. Use .then() instead.

import 'package:shorebird_code_push/shorebird_code_push.dart';

void main() => runApp(const MyApp());

// [Other code here]

class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
  final updater = ShorebirdUpdater();
  Patch? _currentPatch;
  bool _updateAvailable = false;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();

    // Read the current patch number (null if no patch is installed).
    updater.readCurrentPatch().then((patch) {
      setState(() => _currentPatch = patch);
    });

    // Check if an update is available to show in the UI.
    updater.checkForUpdate().then((status) {
      setState(() => _updateAvailable = status == UpdateStatus.outdated);
    });
  }

  // [Other code here]
}

See the example for a complete working app.

Tracks

Shorebird supports publishing patches to different tracks, which can be used to target different segments of your user base. See the percentage based rollout guide for implementation details.

You must first publish a patch to a specific track (patches are published to the stable track by default). To publish a patch to a different track, update your patch command to use the --track argument:

shorebird patch android --track beta

(We're just using Android for this example. Tracks are supported on all platforms).

To check for updates on a given track, pass an UpdateTrack to checkForUpdate (and update if you use it):

updater.checkForUpdate(track: UpdateTrack.beta);

You can also use custom track names. When creating a patch, specify a track name like this:

shorebird patch android --track my-custom-track

And:

updater.checkForUpdate(track: UpdateTrack('my-custom-track'));

Note: Updating to a specific track does not uninstall patches from other tracks. See #3484 for details.

Device id override

The updater generates a random per-install client_id on first startup and persists it locally. Self-hosted update servers that encrypt or target patches per app/account device can override that id before checking for updates:

final updater = ShorebirdUpdater();
await updater.setDeviceIdOverride('stable-app-device-id');
await updater.checkForUpdate();

Do not put secrets in this value. It is sent to the update server as client_id; encryption keys should be derived from server-side or app-provided key material.

Join us on Discord!

We have an active Discord server where you can ask questions and get help.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.