AI Skills for Coding Assistants

Every flutter_it package ships with AI skill files that help AI coding assistants generate correct, idiomatic code using the packages.

What are AI Skill Files?

AI skill files are structured knowledge files that teach AI coding assistants (like Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and others) how to properly use a library. They contain:

• Critical rules that must be followed (e.g., watch_it's ordering requirement)
• Common patterns with complete code examples
• Anti-patterns with correct alternatives
• Integration patterns between packages
• Architecture guidance for structuring Flutter apps

The skill files follow the Agent Skills open standard — a directory-based format with a SKILL.md file and YAML frontmatter that works across different AI tools — and are distributed the way Dart recommends for package skills: in a top-level skills/ directory of each package.

Install with the Dart skills CLI (Recommended)

Add the packages you use to your pubspec.yaml, then run in your project directory:

dart run skills@ get

This scans your direct dependencies for bundled skills and installs them into your project (for example into .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/ or whatever your AI tool reads — the CLI asks you on first run). Re-run it after upgrading a package to pick up the latest version of the skills.

Direct dependencies only

The skills CLI only looks at packages listed directly in your pubspec.yaml. If you depend on watch_it and want the get_it skill too, add get_it as a direct dependency (you'll need it anyway for di.registerX(...)). Or depend on flutter_it, which bundles all seven skills.

You can also install straight from the repository, independent of your dependencies:

dart run skills@ add flutter-it/flutter_it

Which Skills Ship with Which Package?

Package	Skills Included
get_it	get-it-expert
watch_it	watch-it-expert
command_it	command-it-expert
listen_it	listen-it-expert
flutter_it	All 7 skills as flutter-it-overview, flutter-it-architecture, flutter-it-feed-datasource, flutter-it-get-it, flutter-it-watch-it, flutter-it-command-it, flutter-it-listen-it

Each package ships only its own skill (the Dart skills CLI requires skill names to be prefixed with the package name). The flutter_it convenience package ships all of them, so depending on it gets you the complete set — including the architecture and feed skills that don't belong to a single package.

All 7 Skills

Skill	Description
get-it-expert	Service locator registration, scopes, async initialization, cached factories, testing
watch-it-expert	Reactive widgets, watch functions, handlers, lifecycle, ordering rules, cached factory params
command-it-expert	Command pattern, async operations, error handling, restrictions
listen-it-expert	ValueListenable operators, chain lifecycle, reactive collections, transactions
flutter-architecture-expert	Pragmatic Flutter Architecture (PFA) with Services/Managers/Views
feed-datasource-expert	Paginated feeds, infinite scroll, proxy lifecycle, reference counting
flutter-it	Overview of the flutter_it construction set, package selection, dependencies

Manual Installation

If you don't want to use the CLI:

Download all 7 skills (zip)

Or clone from the flutter_it repository which contains all skills.

Claude Code

Extract the zip into your global skills directory to have them available in every project:

~/.claude/skills/
├── get-it-expert/SKILL.md
├── watch-it-expert/SKILL.md
├── command-it-expert/SKILL.md
├── listen-it-expert/SKILL.md
├── flutter-architecture-expert/SKILL.md
├── feed-datasource-expert/SKILL.md
└── flutter-it/SKILL.md

Or into .claude/skills/ inside a project for that project only — that's also where dart run skills@ get puts them.

Cursor

Copy the content of the relevant SKILL.md files into your .cursorrules file at the project root. Pick the skills that match the packages you use.

GitHub Copilot

Copy the content of the relevant SKILL.md files into .github/copilot-instructions.md in your repository.

Other AI Tools

The skill files are plain Markdown with YAML frontmatter. Copy their content into whatever context mechanism your AI tool supports.

Skill Files on GitHub

You can browse the skill files directly in each package repository:

• get_it skills
• watch_it skills
• command_it skills
• listen_it skills
• flutter_it skills (all 7 skills)

Why This Matters

AI coding assistants are powerful, but they can generate incorrect patterns without proper context. For example:

• Using isRunningSync for UI updates instead of isRunning (command_it)
• Wrapping watch calls in conditionals, breaking the ordering rule (watch_it)
• Using copyWith on DTOs instead of proxy override fields (architecture)
• Creating operator chains on every build() instead of once (listen_it)

The skill files prevent these mistakes by teaching the AI tool the correct patterns upfront.