nit-helper

nit-helper is a cross-platform Dart CLI tool designed to automate building Flutter and Serverpod projects, with support for monorepo structures.

The tool automatically detects the necessary directories (*_flutter, *_server) and executes the appropriate commands, with optional fvm support. Additionally, it can manage dependencies across multiple subprojects in large project hierarchies.

✨ Features

  • 📦 Automatic Flutter module building
  • 🛠 Code generation and migrations for Serverpod
  • 🔁 Support for fvm (Flutter Version Management)
  • 🧠 Smart project structure navigation
  • 🔧 Commands unified in a single CLI: nit-helper
  • 🗑️ Unused files detection and cleanup
  • 📚 Get-All command for monorepo dependency management with tree-structured output

🚀 Installation

dart pub global activate nit_helper

Ensure that the Dart global utilities path is added to PATH:

  • Linux/macOS: 
    export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"
  • Windows: Open System Properties → Advanced → Environment Variables and add 
    %APPDATA%\Pub\Cache\bin
    to the Path variable.

🧪 Usage

🔨 build

Builds the Flutter project (searches for a directory ending with _flutter, or works in the current directory if it matches).

nit-helper build

With fvm:

nit-helper build --fvm

Executes commands:

  • dart run build_runner build
  • fluttergen

🖥 build-server

Generates Serverpod code and applies migrations. Searches for a directory ending with _server.

nit-helper build-server

Force migration creation:

nit-helper build-server --force

With fvm:

nit-helper build-server --fvm

Executes commands:

  • serverpod generate
  • serverpod create-migration (or --force)
  • dart run bin/main.dart --role maintenance --apply-migrations

🔁 build-full

Combines build and build-server:

nit-helper build-full

With options:

nit-helper build-full --fvm --force

🔍 check

Analyzes the project for unused Dart files and provides cleanup options.

nit-helper check

With options:

# Scan specific project
nit-helper check --path ./my_project

# Exclude patterns and folders
nit-helper check --exclude-pattern "*.g.dart" --exclude-folder "generated"

# Interactive cleanup mode
nit-helper check --interactive

# Combine options
nit-helper check -p ./project -e "*.test.dart" -f "temp" -i

Features:

  • Smart dependency analysis via import/export parsing
  • Automatic exclusion of generated files (*.g.dart, *.freezed.dart, etc.)
  • Interactive cleanup with confirmation prompts
  • Cross-platform support
  • Detailed size reporting

📚 get-all

Recursively finds all subprojects with pubspec.yaml and runs dart pub get in each. Automatically excludes standard Flutter folders to avoid unnecessary scanning.

nit-helper get-all

With custom path:

nit-helper get-all --path ./my_monorepo

With fvm:

nit-helper get-all --path ./packages --fvm

Features:

  • Recursive Project Discovery: Automatically finds all Dart/Flutter projects at any depth
  • Beautiful Tree Output: Results displayed in a structured tree format with status indicators
  • Smart Folder Exclusion: Ignores build directories (build, ios, android, web, windows, macos, linux) and system folders (.git, .vscode, etc.)
  • Symlink Loop Detection: Prevents infinite loops from circular symlinks
  • Cross-Platform Support: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
  • Interactive Output: Preserves colored terminal output during dependency installation
  • Perfect for Monorepos: Handles complex project structures with nested dependencies

Example output:

📁 Found 4 projects:

📊 GET ALL SUMMARY
═════════════════════════════════════════════════
📦 packages/
├── ✅ shared_models
├── ✅ ui_components
└── 📦 utils/
    └── ✅ string_utils
✅ my_app

Total projects: 4
Successful: 4
All projects processed successfully! 🎉

🧰 Arguments

Argument Command Description
--fvm build, build-server, build-full, get-all Execute through fvm exec
--force build-server, build-full Force create migrations
--path, -p check, get-all Path to project directory
--exclude-pattern, -e check File patterns to exclude
--exclude-folder, -f check Folders to exclude
--interactive, -i check Enable interactive cleanup
--details, -d check Show detailed file list

💡 Examples

# Build Flutter with fvm
nit-helper build --fvm

# Build Serverpod with forced migration
nit-helper build-server --force

# Full project build
nit-helper build-full --fvm --force

# Check for unused files
nit-helper check

# Interactive cleanup with exclusions  
nit-helper check --exclude-pattern "*.g.dart" --interactive

# Get dependencies for all subprojects in current directory
nit-helper get-all

# Get dependencies for specific monorepo path
nit-helper get-all --path ./packages

# Get dependencies with FVM
nit-helper get-all -p ./my_monorepo --fvm

📂 Project Structure

project_root/
├── my_app_flutter/
│   ├── pubspec.yaml
│   └── main.dart
├── my_app_server/
│   ├── pubspec.yaml
│   └── bin/main.dart
├── packages/
│   ├── shared_models/
│   │   └── pubspec.yaml
│   └── ui_components/
│       └── pubspec.yaml

nit-helper will automatically detect where *_flutter and *_server are located and execute the appropriate commands. The get-all command is particularly useful in monorepo structures like the one above, scanning through all nested pubspec.yaml files and installing dependencies for each.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Emad Beltaje for the original dart_unused_files package, which inspired and provided the foundation for the unused files detection functionality in the check command.

📜 License

MIT License. © 2025 Maksim Levchenko

📫 Feedback

Report bugs or suggestions: GitHub Issues

Libraries

nit_helper