AvoidUnawaitedFutureRule class

Warns when a Future is not awaited and not explicitly marked.

Since: v2.3.10 | Updated: v4.13.0 | Rule version: v3

Implementation note for developers: Expression statements whose expression is a call to unawaited(...) are never reported. The check uses node.expression (the statement's expression), not node.parent, so that unawaited(someFuture()); is correctly recognized as intentional fire-and-forget regardless of static type resolution. When we don't report: (1) the expression is unawaited(...), (2) safe fire-and-forget patterns (subscription.cancel() in dispose, .catchError()/.ignore(), etc.).

Quick fix available: Wrap in unawaited().

Alias: unawaited_future, missing_await, fire_and_forget

Unawaited Futures lose their errors and can cause unexpected behavior. Either await the Future or use unawaited() to explicitly mark it.

BAD:

void doSomething() {
  saveData(); // Future returned but not awaited
}

GOOD:

Future<void> doSomething() async {
  await saveData();
}

// Or if intentionally fire-and-forget:
void doSomething() {
  unawaited(saveData());
}

ALLOWED (safe fire-and-forget patterns):

// StreamSubscription.cancel() in dispose() - can't await in sync method
@override
void dispose() {
  _subscription?.cancel(); // OK - disposal cleanup
  super.dispose();
}

// Future chains with .catchError() - errors are handled
_scrollController.animateTo(100).catchError((e) {
  debugPrint('Animation failed: $e');
}); // OK - error is handled

// Future.ignore() - explicitly ignored
someAsyncOperation().ignore(); // OK - explicitly fire-and-forget

Inheritance

Object
SaropaLintRule
AvoidUnawaitedFutureRule

Constructors

AvoidUnawaitedFutureRule()

Properties

accuracyTarget → AccuracyTarget?: Optional accuracy target for this rule (for documentation and tooling). Does not enforce; used by reports and rule-audit scripts.
no setterinherited
applicableFileTypes → Set<FileType>?: The file types this rule applies to.
no setterinherited
canUseParsedResult → bool: Indicates whether this analysis rule can work with just the parsed information or if it requires a resolved unit.
no setterinherited
certIds → List<String>: CERT coding standard identifiers (e.g. STR02-C). Populate only where there is a clear mapping; leave empty for most rules initially.
no setterinherited
code → LintCode: The lint code for this rule.
no setterinherited
configAliases → List<String>: Alternate config keys that can be used to reference this rule.
no setterinherited
conflictingRules → List<String>: Curated opposite/competing rule names.
no setterinherited
cost → RuleCost: The estimated execution cost of this rule.
no setteroverride
cweIds → List<int>: CWE identifiers this rule helps prevent or detect. https://cwe.mitre.org/ — e.g. CWE-798 (Hardcoded Credentials).
no setterinherited
description → String: Short description suitable for display in console output and IDEs.
finalinherited
diagnosticCode → DiagnosticCode: The code to report for a violation.
no setterinherited
diagnosticCodes → List<DiagnosticCode>: The diagnostic codes associated with this analysis rule.
no setterinherited
documentationUrl → String: Returns the documentation URL for this rule.
no setterinherited
effectiveSeverity → DiagnosticSeverity?: Get the effective severity for this rule, considering overrides.
no setterinherited
exampleBad → String?: Short code example that VIOLATES this rule (shown in CLI walkthrough).
no setterinherited
exampleGood → String?: Short code example of COMPLIANT code (shown in CLI walkthrough).
no setterinherited
fixGenerators → List<SaropaFixGenerator>: Fix producer generators for this rule.
no setteroverride
hashCode → int: The hash code for this object.
no setterinherited
hyphenatedName → String: Returns the rule name in hyphenated format for display.
no setterinherited
impact → LintImpact: Significant issue. Address when count exceeds 10.
no setteroverride
incompatibleRules → List<String>: A list of incompatible rule names.
no setterinherited
isDisabled → bool: Check if this rule is disabled via configuration.
no setterinherited
maximumLineCount → int: Maximum line count for this rule to run.
no setterinherited
minimumLineCount → int: Minimum line count for this rule to run.
no setterinherited
name → String: The rule name.
finalinherited
owasp → OwaspMapping?: OWASP categories this rule helps prevent.
no setterinherited
pubspecVisitor → PubspecVisitor?: A visitor that visits a Pubspec to perform analysis.
no setterinherited
relatedRules → List<String>: Curated "see also" rule names for discoverability in docs/IDE tooling.
no setterinherited
reporter ← DiagnosticReporter: Sets the DiagnosticReporter for the CompilationUnit currently being visited.
no getterinherited
requiredPatterns → Set<String>?: String patterns that must be present in the file for this rule to run.
no setterinherited
requiresAsync → bool: Whether this rule only applies to async code.
no setterinherited
requiresBlocImport → bool: Whether this rule only applies to files that import Bloc.
no setterinherited
requiresClassDeclaration → bool: Whether this rule only applies to files with class declarations.
no setterinherited
requiresFlutterImport → bool: Whether this rule only applies to files that import Flutter.
no setterinherited
requiresImports → bool: Whether this rule only applies to files with imports.
no setterinherited
requiresMainFunction → bool: Whether this rule only applies to files with a main() function.
no setterinherited
requiresProviderImport → bool: Whether this rule only applies to files that import Provider.
no setterinherited
requiresRiverpodImport → bool: Whether this rule only applies to files that import Riverpod.
no setterinherited
requiresWidgets → bool: Whether this rule only applies to Flutter widget code.
no setterinherited
ruleStatus → RuleStatus: Lifecycle status. Default RuleStatus.ready. Use RuleStatus.beta for new or heuristic-heavy rules; RuleStatus.deprecated for sunset.
no setterinherited
ruleType → RuleType?: Semantic type of this rule. Default null = unspecified (legacy). When set, used for quality gates, accuracy targets, and reporting.
no setteroverride
runtimeType → Type: A representation of the runtime type of the object.
no setterinherited
skipExampleFiles → bool: Whether to skip example files (example/**).
no setterinherited
skipFixtureFiles → bool: Whether to skip fixture files (fixture/, fixtures/).
no setterinherited
skipGeneratedCode → bool: Whether to skip generated files (*.g.dart, *.freezed.dart, *.gen.dart).
no setterinherited
skipTestFiles → bool: Whether to skip test files (*_test.dart, test/**).
no setterinherited
state → RuleState: The state of this analysis rule.
finalinherited
supersedesRules → List<String>: Rule names this rule supersedes/replaces.
no setterinherited
tags → Set<String>: Tags for filtering and discovery (e.g. in docs, IDE, or CI). Examples: 'performance', 'accessibility', 'suspicious', 'convention'.
no setteroverride
testRelevance → TestRelevance: How this rule relates to test files.
no setterinherited
usesTypeResolution → bool: Whether this rule triggers lazy cross-library type resolution in the analyzer (e.g. .staticType, .library, .allSupertypes, .enclosingElement).
no setteroverride

Methods

noSuchMethod(Invocation invocation) → dynamic: Invoked when a nonexistent method or property is accessed.
inherited
registerNodeProcessors(RuleVisitorRegistry registry, RuleContext context) → void: Registers node processors in the given registry.
inherited
reportAtNode(AstNode? node, {List<Object> arguments = const [], List<DiagnosticMessage>? contextMessages}) → Diagnostic?: Reports a diagnostic at node with message arguments and contextMessages.
inherited
reportAtOffset(int offset, int length, {List<Object> arguments = const [], List<DiagnosticMessage>? contextMessages}) → Diagnostic: Reports a diagnostic at offset, with length, with message arguments and contextMessages.
inherited
reportAtPubNode(PubspecNode node, {List<Object> arguments = const [], List<DiagnosticMessage> contextMessages = const []}) → Diagnostic: Reports a diagnostic at Pubspec node, with message arguments and contextMessages.
inherited
reportAtSourceRange(SourceRange sourceRange, {List<Object> arguments = const [], List<DiagnosticMessage>? contextMessages}) → Diagnostic: Reports a diagnostic at sourceRange, with message arguments and contextMessages.
inherited
reportAtToken(Token token, {List<Object> arguments = const [], List<DiagnosticMessage>? contextMessages}) → Diagnostic?: Reports a diagnostic at token, with message arguments and contextMessages.
inherited
runWithReporter(SaropaDiagnosticReporter reporter, SaropaContext context) → void: Override this method to implement your lint rule.
override
shouldSkipFile(String path) → bool: Check if a file path should be skipped based on context settings.
inherited
toString() → String: A string representation of this object.
inherited

Operators

operator ==(Object other) → bool: The equality operator.
inherited

Static Methods

isSyncVoidCleanupForTesting(MethodInvocation expr, ExpressionStatement node) → bool: True for a close()/cancel() call in a synchronous cleanup context where awaiting is impossible: a void-returning method, a hand-named teardown method (dispose/close/teardown/deactivate), or a synchronous callback closure (e.g. StreamController.onCancel = () { sub.cancel(); }). Covers _queue.close() in dispose(), sub.cancel() in onCancel, and controller?.close() in a hand-named disposeController() — none of which the narrower lifecycle/onDone whitelists recognized. Exposed for unit tests: the sync-void-cleanup exemption. Pure-AST, verifiable on parseString ASTs.