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Initial Setup

Sidecar is used via Sidecar-based rule packages like design_system_lints.

There are 2 modes which these packages can be run within a Dart or Flutter Project: IDE Server or Cli mode.

IDE Server Mode ​

Requirements​

  • Supported IDE with Extension for Dart Language Server
  • Dart SDK v2.17.0+

Setup Instructions​

To enable any Sidecar-based package like design_system_lints to display lints and assist recommendations within your IDE, perform the following setup steps:

  1. Depend on the lint package:
pubspec.yaml
name: counter_app

environment:
  sdk: ">=2.17.0 <3.0.0"

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter

dev_dependencies:
  design_system_lints: ^0.1.0-dev.8
  1. Create a sidecar.yaml file at the Target Project's root directory and declare any rules from the package:
sidecar.yaml
includes:
  - "lib/**.dart"
lints:
  design_system_lints:
    rules:
      avoid_sized_box_height_width_literals:
      avoid_text_style_literal:
      avoid_border_radius_literal:
      avoid_box_shadow_literal:
      avoid_edge_insets_literal:
  1. Enable the Sidecar plugin to run by adding sidecar to the list of plugins in analysis_options.yaml
analysis_options.yaml
analyzer:
  plugins:
    - sidecar

That's all it takes! Your lints should begin appearing in your editor.

CLI Mode ​

CLI Mode is useful for running lint rules from a CI/CD pipeline. To use Sidecar in CLI mode, run the following command in your terminal:

# activate sidecar
dart pub global activate sidecar

# run sidecar analyzer in CLI mode
sidecar analyze

You should see analysis results appear for each file in your project:

CLI Output example

Contributing CLI Use Cases​

If you have a particular CLI use case in mind, your feedback would be greatly appreciated in the Discord channel