clean_arch_lint 3.2.0

Analyzer plugin that enforces Clean Architecture layer boundaries in Flutter/Dart projects by checking imports and exports.

clean_arch_lint

Analyzer plugin for Flutter Clean Architecture. It inspects import and export directives (AST) and reports layer violations in the IDE and via dart analyze / flutter analyze.

Each diagnostic is its own rule (see lib/src/rules), so it can be enabled or disabled independently. All of them share the layer resolution in ArchitectureImportRule.

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Objective

Keep this structure honest:

lib/
 ├─ core/
 ├─ domain/
 ├─ data/
 ├─ presentation/
 └─ screens/

lib/src/{layer}/ is also detected, and so is a feature-first layout, lib/features/<feature>/{layer}/ (or lib/src/features/<feature>/{layer}/). No extra configuration.

In a feature-first layout the feature name plays no part in the checks: imports between features follow the same layer rules as any other import, so features/cart/presentation may import features/product/domain but not features/product/data.

Monorepos with one package per layer are detected by the package name suffix: my_app_domain, my_app_data, my_app_presentation, my_app_core, my_app_screens (and my_app itself) form one project, so my_app_presentation importing package:my_app_data/... is reported. Packages of another project that just end in a layer name, such as firebase_core, are not layers. Enable the plugin in each package's analysis_options.yaml.

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Layers

domain

Innermost layer. Other layers may import domain; domain imports only itself plus the pure Dart libraries (dart:core, dart:async, dart:collection, dart:convert, dart:math, dart:typed_data). Flutter, other dart: libraries (dart:ui, dart:io, dart:html, …), and third-party packages are reported. Third-party packages can be allowed with allow_third_party_packages_in_domain.

Contains: entities, usecases, contracts.

core

Shared application code with no business rule, usable by every layer except domain. Must not import screens or presentation.

Contains: utils, extensions, constants, shared services (logging, configuration).

data

Infrastructure. Must not import screens or presentation.

Contains: datasources, models / DTOs, mappers, repository implementations.

presentation

UI that is not a screen entrypoint. Must not import data.

Contains: widgets, pages, bloc / cubit, viewmodels.

screens

Screen-level UI. Must not import data.

Contains: screens / routes that compose presentation and domain.

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Diagnostics

All of them are WARNING lint rules. Analyzer plugins disable lints until you turn them on.

export directives are checked like imports: re-exporting a forbidden library leaks it to every file that imports the exporting one.

Code	Blocks
no_data_dependencies	presentation or screens importing data
no_screens_dependencies	data or core importing screens or presentation
domain_only_depends_on_itself	domain importing anything outside domain, except pure Dart libraries

allow_third_party_packages_in_domain is an option, not a check; see Configuration.

core_no_flutter, core_no_data_or_presentation, data_no_presentation, presentation_no_data, and domain_only no longer exist as separate rules.

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Installation

Requires Dart SDK >= 3.13 (use a Flutter release that ships Dart 3.13 or newer). This is an analysis_server_plugin, not custom_lint.

1) Enable the plugin

Published:

plugins:
  clean_arch_lint:
    version: ^3.1.0
    diagnostics:
      no_data_dependencies: true
      domain_only_depends_on_itself: true
      no_screens_dependencies: true

Local path (see example/analysis_options.yaml):

plugins:
  clean_arch_lint:
    path: ../clean_arch_lint
    diagnostics:
      no_data_dependencies: true
      domain_only_depends_on_itself: true
      no_screens_dependencies: true

Restart the Dart Analysis Server after changing the plugins section.

2) Run analysis

dart analyze
# or
flutter analyze

Run it from the package root (or pass single files). Analyzing a directory, such as dart analyze lib, silently skips analyzer plugins: only the built-in lints run. This is a Dart SDK limitation (dart-lang/sdk#62710).

Diagnostics also appear in VS Code / Android Studio while you type.

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Configuration

Raise severity

plugins:
  clean_arch_lint:
    version: ^3.1.0
    diagnostics:
      no_data_dependencies: error
      domain_only_depends_on_itself: error
      no_screens_dependencies: error

Allow third-party packages in domain

By default domain_only_depends_on_itself reports every third-party package in domain. To allow them (equatable, fpdart, meta, …), enable allow_third_party_packages_in_domain:

plugins:
  clean_arch_lint:
    version: ^3.1.0
    diagnostics:
      domain_only_depends_on_itself: true
      allow_third_party_packages_in_domain: true

It never reports anything by itself; it only changes domain_only_depends_on_itself. Flutter SDK packages (flutter, flutter_test, …), dart:ui, dart:io and the project's other layers stay reported. The plugins section only accepts diagnostics, so the option is a diagnostic name.

Suppress one line or a file

// ignore: clean_arch_lint/no_data_dependencies
import 'package:my_app/data/models/product_model.dart';

// ignore_for_file: clean_arch_lint/domain_only_depends_on_itself

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Examples

See example/ for a working feature split across all layers, with one intentional violation per layer (including a relative import), two violations suppressed with // ignore, and a naming convention that makes the layer of each class obvious from its suffix (ProductEntity, ProductModel, ProductRepositoryImpl, ProductPage, ...).

Allowed:

import 'package:my_app/domain/entities/product_entity.dart';
import 'package:my_app/core/utils/price_formatter_util.dart';

Forbidden (presentation → data):

import 'package:my_app/data/models/product_model.dart'; // no_data_dependencies

Forbidden (domain → Flutter):

import 'package:flutter/material.dart'; // domain_only_depends_on_itself

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Dependency flow

Layer	Must not import
domain	anything outside domain (except pure Dart libraries)
core	screens, presentation
data	screens, presentation
presentation	data
screens	data

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What this plugin does not do

• Does not generate code
• Does not auto-fix imports
• Does not replace code review

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Stack

• Dart SDK >= 3.13
• analysis_server_plugin
• analyzer

No custom_lint, build_runner, or source_gen.