dart_inspect

dart_inspect is a Dart source analysis tool for discovering and reporting project structure.

It analyzes Dart code using the official analyzer AST to extract:

📦 File imports
🧩 Class declarations
🏷 Instance fields and types

The tool can be used both as a CLI utility and as a programmatic inspection library, making it useful for:

architecture inspection
dependency auditing
documentation generation
CI validation
large codebase exploration
generating class diagrams and visual graphics (Mermaid)

Usage

CLI

Activate globally:

dart pub global activate dart_inspect

Run inspection on a directory or file:

dart_inspect <path> [options]

<path> can be a single Dart file or a directory containing Dart files.

Options

--private-only – Include only private fields (_field).
--final-only – Include only final fields.
--no-final – Exclude final fields.
--no-primitives – Ignore primitive/common Dart types such as String, int, bool, etc.
--no-classes – Do not report class fields.
--no-empty-classes – Do not include empty classes.
--no-imports – Do not report imports.
--markdown – Output report in Markdown format.
--mermaid – Output report as a Mermaid class diagram.
--simple – Force simple output (default when no format is specified).
--sort-entries – Sort fields and classes alphabetically (default: false)
-h, --help – Show help message.

Format Notes

Formats are mutually exclusive:

--simple (default)
--markdown
--mermaid

If none is specified, simple is used automatically.

Examples

Inspect the current project:

dart_inspect .

Inspect a specific directory:

dart_inspect ../backend

Inspect a single Dart file:

dart_inspect lib/src/user.dart

Generate a Markdown architecture report:

dart_inspect lib --markdown

Generate a Mermaid class diagram:

dart_inspect lib --mermaid

Inspect only private state fields:

dart_inspect lib --private-only

Show only non-primitive domain fields:

dart_inspect lib --no-primitives

Example Output

Simple Output

dart_inspect
────────────────────────────────────────────

Directory : lib
Format    : simple
Options   : (none)

================================================================================
lib/src/user.dart

Imports:
  dart:async

User
  int id
  String name
  Token _token

Markdown Output

# Dart Inspect Report

## Configuration

- Path: `lib`
- Format: markdown
- Options: (none)

---

## lib/src/user.dart

### Imports

- `dart:async`

### User

- int id
- String name
- Token _token

Mermaid Output

%% Dart Inspect - Mermaid Report
%% Path: lib
%% Options: (none)

classDiagram

  class User {
    int id
    String name
    Token token
  }

  class Token {
    String value
  }

  %% Relationships
  User --> Token

Programmatic Usage

dart_inspect can be embedded directly into Dart tools and automation workflows.

import 'dart:io';
import 'package:dart_inspect/dart_inspect.dart';

Future<void> main() async {
  const options = DartInspectOptions(
    markdown: true,
    noPrimitives: true,
  );

  final inspector = DartInspect(options);

  final reporter = DartInspectReporterMarkdown('lib', options);

  final output = await reporter.build(
    inspector.scanDirectory(Directory('lib')),
  );

  print(output);
}

Streaming Raw Reports

final inspect = DartInspect(
  const DartInspectOptions(),
);

await for (final report in inspect.scanCode(source)) {
  print(report);
}

Available Reporters

DartInspectReporterSimple
DartInspectReporterMarkdown
DartInspectReporterMermaid

Each reporter:

consumes a Stream<ReportInfo>
produces a formatted String output

How It Works

Parses Dart files using the analyzer AST
Collects import directives
Detects class declarations
Extracts instance fields and types
Emits structured reports as a stream

This allows inspection of very large projects efficiently.

Issues & Feature Requests

Please report issues or request features via the issue tracker.

Author

Graciliano M. Passos: gmpassos@GitHub

License

Dart free & open-source license.