api_command_queue

api_command_queue is a pure Dart package for queueing retryable API commands with explicit serialization, trailing-edge debounce for single-replacement commands, and a framework-agnostic orchestrator.

It is a good fit when you want:

  • retry and backoff for failed API work
  • early exit for non-retryable response failures
  • optional queue-level concurrency limits
  • app-controlled pause/resume behavior
  • optimistic hooks that stay in application code
  • explicit JSON codecs without reflection

It does not include:

  • HTTP clients or repository implementations
  • built-in persistence or hydration
  • auth or connectivity observers
  • framework-specific state management wrappers

Install

dependencies:
  api_command_queue: ^0.2.0

Minimal Example

import 'package:api_command_queue/api_command_queue.dart';

final class TodoPayload {
  const TodoPayload(this.title);

  final String title;

  Map<String, dynamic> toJson() => {'title': title};

  static TodoPayload fromJson(Object? json) {
    final map = (json as Map).cast<String, dynamic>();
    return TodoPayload(map['title'] as String);
  }
}

final class CreateTodoCommand extends ApiCommand<TodoPayload,
    ApiCommandRequest<TodoPayload>, TodoPayload, CreateTodoCommand> {
  const CreateTodoCommand({
    required super.uuid,
    required super.request,
    required super.strategy,
    required super.status,
    required super.attemptCount,
    required super.firstFailureAt,
    required super.lastUpdated,
    super.apiResponse,
  });

  factory CreateTodoCommand.create(String title) {
    return CreateTodoCommand(
      uuid: ApiCommand.generateId(),
      request: ApiCommandRequest(
        ApiCommandRequestMethod.post,
        TodoPayload(title),
      ),
      strategy: CommandReplaceStrategy.multiple,
      status: ApiCommandStatus.idle,
      attemptCount: 0,
      firstFailureAt: null,
      lastUpdated: DateTime.now(),
    );
  }

  @override
  Future<ApiCommandResponse<TodoPayload>?> execute() async {
    return ApiCommandResponse(request.data, false, status: 201);
  }

  @override
  TodoPayload? offlineResult() => request.data;

  @override
  TodoPayload mergePayload(TodoPayload update) => update;

  @override
  CreateTodoCommand copyWith({
    ApiCommandRequest<TodoPayload>? request,
    CommandReplaceStrategy? strategy,
    ApiCommandStatus? status,
    DateTime? lastUpdated,
    int? attemptCount,
    DateTime? firstFailureAt,
    ApiCommandResponse<TodoPayload?>? apiResponse,
  }) {
    return CreateTodoCommand(
      uuid: uuid,
      request: request ?? this.request,
      strategy: strategy ?? this.strategy,
      status: status ?? this.status,
      attemptCount: attemptCount ?? this.attemptCount,
      firstFailureAt: firstFailureAt ?? this.firstFailureAt,
      lastUpdated: lastUpdated ?? this.lastUpdated,
      apiResponse: apiResponse ?? this.apiResponse,
    );
  }

  @override
  Object? requestDataToJson(TodoPayload requestData) => requestData.toJson();

  @override
  Object? responseDataToJson(TodoPayload? responseData) =>
      responseData?.toJson();

  static CreateTodoCommand fromJson(Map<String, dynamic> json) {
    return CreateTodoCommand(
      uuid: json['id'] as String,
      request: ApiCommandRequest.fromJson(
        (json['request'] as Map).cast<String, dynamic>(),
        TodoPayload.fromJson,
      ),
      strategy: CommandReplaceStrategy.values.firstWhere(
        (value) => value.name == json['strategy'] as String,
      ),
      status: ApiCommandStatus.values.firstWhere(
        (value) => value.name == json['status'] as String,
      ),
      attemptCount: json['attemptCount'] as int,
      firstFailureAt: json['firstFailureAt'] == null
          ? null
          : DateTime.parse(json['firstFailureAt'] as String),
      lastUpdated: DateTime.parse(json['lastUpdated'] as String),
      apiResponse: json['apiResponse'] == null
          ? null
          : ApiCommandResponse.fromJson(
              (json['apiResponse'] as Map).cast<String, dynamic>(),
              TodoPayload.fromJson,
            ),
    );
  }
}

final class TodoQueue extends ApiCommandQueue<TodoPayload,
    ApiCommandRequest<TodoPayload>, TodoPayload, CreateTodoCommand> {
  TodoQueue() : super(commandFromJson: CreateTodoCommand.fromJson);
}

Future<void> main() async {
  final queue = TodoQueue();
  final orchestrator = ApiCommandOrchestrator(
    commandQueues: {CreateTodoCommand: queue},
  );

  final optimistic = orchestrator.enqueue(CreateTodoCommand.create('Ship docs'));
  print('Optimistic title: ${optimistic?.title}');

  final result = await queue.results.first;
  print('Completed ${result.command.uuid} success=${result.success}');

  await orchestrator.close();
}

The runnable package example lives at example/main.dart.

Serialization Contract

  • ApiCommandRequest.toJson(encodePayload)
  • ApiCommandRequest.fromJson(..., decodePayload)
  • ApiCommandResponse.toJson(encodeData)
  • ApiCommandResponse.fromJson(..., decodeData)

ApiCommand subclasses provide request and response payload encoders through requestDataToJson(...) and responseDataToJson(...).

The package does not use reflection. Applications own payload decoding, command restoration, and any persistence layer built on top of the queue state.

Request Parameters

ApiCommandRequest.parameters is an immutable map. Values must be JSON-safe when serialized:

  • null
  • bool
  • num
  • String
  • List
  • Map<String, Object?>

Required named parameters use getNamedParameter<T>(), which throws a StateError for missing or wrong-typed values.

Optimistic Hooks

ApiCommand keeps optimistic behavior in app code:

  • offlineResult() returns the immediate optimistic value after enqueue
  • offlineRollback() returns the compensating value when the command ultimately fails
  • offlineMerge(apiResult) lets the app merge a successful API payload back into local state

The package stores and executes commands. It does not mutate your application state for you.

Processing Control

ApiCommandOrchestrator is framework-agnostic. External code can decide when queues should run:

  • pauseAll()
  • resumeAll()
  • setProcessingEnabled(bool enabled)
  • flushAll()

Single-replacement commands support true trailing-edge debounce. Every new enqueue resets the timer, and only the latest command is enqueued when the interval expires.

Terminal Failures

Terminal failures let a queue stop retrying responses that are known not to recover, such as validation errors, permission failures, duplicate writes, or domain-level rejection states. Matching commands move straight to the failed dead-letter collection and emit a final result after the current attempt.

Use a queue-wide predicate when the rule applies to every command in the queue:

final class TodoQueue extends ApiCommandQueue<TodoPayload,
    ApiCommandRequest<TodoPayload>, TodoPayload, CreateTodoCommand> {
  TodoQueue()
      : super(
          commandFromJson: CreateTodoCommand.fromJson,
          terminalFailurePredicate:
              const ApiCommandTerminalFailureRule<TodoPayload>(
            statusCodes: {400, 401, 403, 409, 422},
          ).matches,
        );
}

Use ApiCommand.isTerminalFailure(...) for command-specific rules:

final _validationRule = ApiCommandTerminalFailureRule<TodoPayload>(
  statusCodes: const {422},
  dataMatches: (data) => data?.title == 'validation_rejected',
);

@override
bool isTerminalFailure(ApiCommandResponse<TodoPayload?> response) {
  return _validationRule.matches(response);
}

ApiCommandTerminalFailureRule can match exact status codes, status predicates, response payload predicates, error predicates, or the full response. Successful 2xx responses never match terminal-failure rules.

Logging

Logging is disabled by default. If you want queue diagnostics, configure a logger:

configureApiCommandQueueLogger(
  debug: (message) => print(message),
  error: (message, {error, stackTrace}) {
    print('$message: $error');
  },
);

Libraries

api_command_queue
Queue primitives for retryable API work.