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Provider & Riverpod
Flutter Official Recommended State Management
Provider is the Flutter team's officially recommended state management package. Combined with ChangeNotifier, it implements simple reactive state management.
Riverpod (an anagram of Provider) is the next-generation solution overcoming Provider's limitations. Key advantages: no BuildContext dependency, compile-time safety, better testing support.
For new projects, Riverpod is recommended.
Implementation Steps
1
Provider basics: Learn ChangeNotifierProvider + Consumer pattern
2
Introduce Riverpod: Add flutter_riverpod package + set up ProviderScope
3
Learn StateProvider, StateNotifierProvider, FutureProvider usage
4
Understand ref.watch vs ref.read (rebuild vs one-time read)
Pros
- ✓ Riverpod allows state access without BuildContext
- ✓ Provider existence verifiable at compile time
Cons
- ✗ Riverpod learning curve is higher than Provider
- ✗ Migration from Provider to Riverpod has costs
Use Cases
App-wide shared user authentication state
API data caching and loading state management