Dart 3 migration guide

Contents

Introduction
Dart 3 language changes
Dart 3 core library changes
- APIs removed
- Extends & implements
Dart 3 tools changes

Dart 3 is a major release that introduces new core capabilities to Dart: records, patterns, and class modifiers.

Alongside these new capabilities, Dart 3 contains a number of changes that may break existing code.

This guide will help you resolve any migration issues you might encounter after upgrading to Dart 3.

Introduction

Unversioned vs versioned changes

The potentially breaking changes listed below fall into one of two categories:

Unversioned changes: These changes affect any Dart code after upgrading to a Dart 3.0 SDK or later. There is no way to “turn off” these changes.
Versioned changes: These changes only apply when the package or app’s language version is set to >= Dart 3.0. The language version is derived from the sdk lower-constraint in the pubspec.yaml file. An SDK constraint like this does not apply the Dart 3 versioned changes:
```
environment:
  sdk: '>=2.14.0 <3.0.0'
```
But an SDK constraint like this does:
```
environment:
  sdk: '>=3.0.0 <4.0.0'
```

To use the new Dart 3 features you have to update the language version to 3.0. This gets you the Dart 3 versioned changes at the same time.

Dart 3 backwards compatibility

Many packages and apps that used null safety with Dart 2.12 or later are likely backwards compatible with Dart 3. This is possible for any package where the lower bound of the SDK constraint is 2.12.0 or higher.

Dart’s pub tool allows resolution even when the upper bound is limited to versions below 3.0.0. For example, a package with the following constraint will be allowed to resolve with a Dart 3.x SDK, as pub will re-interpret the upper-constraint <3.0.0 as <4.0.0 when the lower constraint is 2.12 or higher:

environment:
  sdk: '>=2.14.0 <3.0.0'           # This is interpreted as '>=2.14.0 <4.0.0'

This allows developers to use Dart 3 sound null safety with packages that already support 2.12 null safety without needing a second migration, unless the code is affected by any other Dart 3 changes.

Testing for impact

To understand if your source code is impacted by any Dart 3 changes, use these steps:

$ dart --version    # Make sure this reports 3.0.0 or higher.
$ dart pub get      # This should resolve without issues.
$ dart analyze      # This should pass without errors.

If the pub get step fails, try to upgrade your dependencies to see if more recent versions might support Dart 3:

$ dart pub upgrade
$ dart analyze      # This should pass without errors.

Or, if needed, also include major versions upgrades:

$ dart pub upgrade --major-versions
$ dart analyze      # This should pass without errors.

Dart 3 language changes

100% sound null safety

Dart 2.12 introduced null safety more than two years ago. In Dart 2.12, users needed to enable null safety with a pubspec setting. In Dart 3, null safety is built in; you cannot turn it off.

Scope

This is an unversioned change, that applies to all Dart 3 code.

Symptom

Packages developed without null safety support will cause issues when resolving dependencies with pub get:

$ dart pub get

Because pkg1 doesn't support null safety, version solving failed.
The lower bound of "sdk: '>=2.9.0 <3.0.0'" must be 2.12.0 or higher to enable null safety.

Libraries that opt out of null safety with language version comments that select any language version below 2.12 will cause analysis or compilation errors:

$ dart analyze .
Analyzing ....                         0.6s

  error • lib/pkg1.dart:1:1 • The language version must be >=2.12.0. 
  Try removing the language version override and migrating the code.
  • illegal_language_version_override

$ dart run bin/my_app.dart
../pkg1/lib/pkg1.dart:1:1: Error: Library doesn't support null safety.
// @dart=2.9
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Migration

Before beginning any migration to Dart 3, ensure your app or package has been 100% migrated to enable null safety. This requires a Dart 2.19 SDK, not a Dart 3 SDK. To learn how to first migrate your app or package to support null safety, check out the null safety migration guide.

Colon-syntax for default values

For historical reasons, named optional parameters could specify their default value using either : or =. In Dart 3, only the = syntax is allowed.

Scope

This is a versioned change, that only applies to language version 3.0 or later.

Symptom

Dart analysis produces errors like:

line 2 • Using a colon as a separator before a default value is no longer supported.

Migration

Change from using colons:

int someInt({int x: 0}) => x;

To using equals:

int someInt({int x = 0}) => x;

This migration can be made manually, or automated with dart fix:

$ dart fix --apply --code=obsolete_colon_for_default_value

`mixin`

Pre-Dart 3, any class could be used as a mixin, as long as it had no declared constructors and no superclass other than Object.

In Dart 3, classes declared in libraries at language version 3.0 or later can’t be used as mixins unless marked mixin. This restriction applies to code in any library attempting to use the class as a mixin, regardless of the latter library’s language version.

Scope

This is a versioned change, that only applies to language version 3.0 or later.

Symptom

An analysis error like:

Mixin can only be applied to class.

The analyzer produces this diagnostic when a class that is neither a mixin class nor a mixin is used in a with clause.

Migration

Determine if the class is intended to be used as a mixin.

If the class defines an interface, consider using implements.

`switch`

Dart 3.0 interprets switch cases as patterns instead of constant expressions.

Scope

This is a versioned change, that only applies to language version 3.0 or later.

Symptom

Most constant expressions found in switch cases are valid patterns with the same meaning (named constants, literals, etc.). These will behave the same and no symptoms will arise.

The few constant expressions that aren’t valid patterns will trigger the invalid_case_patterns lint.

Migration

You can revert back to the original behavior by prefixing the case pattern with const, so it’s no longer interpreted as a pattern:

case const [1, 2]:
case const {'k': 'v'}:
case const {1, 2}:
case const Point(1, 2):

You can run a quick fix for this breaking change, by using dart fix or from your IDE.

`continue`

Dart 3 reports a compile-time error if a continue statement targets a label that is not a loop (for, do, and while statements) or a switch member.

Scope

This is a versioned change, that only applies to language version 3.0 or later.

Symptom

You will see an error like:

The label used in a 'continue' statement must be defined on either a loop or a switch member.

Migration

If changing behavior is acceptable, change the continue to target a valid labeled statement, which must be attached to a for, do or while statement.

If you want to preserve behavior, change the continue statement to a break statement. In previous versions of Dart, a continue statement that wasn’t targeted at a loop or a switch member behaved like break.

Dart 3 core library changes

APIs removed

Breaking change #49529: The core libraries have been cleaned up to remove APIs that have been deprecated for several years. The following APIs no longer exist in the Dart core libraries.

Scope

This is an unversioned change, that applies to all Dart 3 code.

`dart:core`

Removed the deprecated List constructor, as it wasn’t null safe. Use list literals (e.g. [] for an empty list or <int>[] for an empty typed list) or List.filled. This only impacts non-null safe code, as null safe code already couldn’t use this constructor.
Removed the deprecated onError argument on int.parse, double.parse, and num.parse. Use the tryParse method instead.
Removed the deprecated proxy and Provisional annotations. The original proxy annotation has no effect in Dart 2, and the Provisional type and provisional constant were only used internally during the Dart 2.0 development process.
Removed the deprecated Deprecated.expires getter. Use Deprecated.message instead.
Removed the deprecated CastError error. Use TypeError instead.
Removed the deprecated FallThroughError error. The kind of fall-through previously throwing this error was made a compile-time error in Dart 2.0.
Removed the deprecated NullThrownError error. This error is never thrown from null safe code.
Removed the deprecated AbstractClassInstantiationError error. It was made a compile-time error to call the constructor of an abstract class in Dart 2.0.
Removed the deprecated CyclicInitializationError. Cyclic dependencies are no longer detected at runtime in null safe code. Such code will fail in other ways instead, possibly with a StackOverflowError.
Removed the deprecated NoSuchMethodError default constructor. Use the NoSuchMethodError.withInvocation named constructor instead.
Removed the deprecated BidirectionalIterator class. Existing bidirectional iterators can still work, they just don’t have a shared supertype locking them to a specific name for moving backwards.

`dart:async`

Removed the deprecated DeferredLibrary class. Use the deferred as import syntax instead.

`dart:developer`

Removed the deprecated MAX_USER_TAGS constant. Use maxUserTags instead.
Removed the deprecated Metrics, Metric, Counter, and Gauge classes as they have been broken since Dart 2.0.

`dart:html`

As previously announced, the deprecated registerElement and registerElement2 methods in Document and HtmlDocument have been removed. See #49536 for details.

`dart:math`

The Random interface can only be implemented, not extended.

`dart:io`

Update NetworkProfiling to accommodate new String ids that are introduced in vm_service:11.0.0

Symptom

Dart analysis (e.g. in your IDE, or in dart analyze/flutter analyze) will fail with errors like:

error line 2 • Undefined class 'CyclicInitializationError'.

Migration

Manually migrate away from using these APIs.

Extends & implements

Dart 3 supports new class modifiers that can restrict the capabilities of a class. They have been applied to a number of classes in the core libraries.

Scope

This is a versioned change, that only applies to language version 3.0 or later.

`dart:core`

The Function type can no longer be implemented, extended or mixed in. Since Dart 2.0, writing implements Function has been allowed for backwards compatibility, but it has not had any effect. In Dart 3.0, the Function type is final and cannot be subtyped, preventing code from mistakenly assuming it works.
The following declarations can only be implemented, not extended:
- Comparable
- Exception
- Iterator
- Pattern
- Match
- RegExp
- RegExpMatch
- StackTrace
- StringSink
None of these declarations contained any implementation to inherit. They are marked as interface to signify that they are only intended as interfaces.
The following declarations can no longer be implemented or extended:
- MapEntry
- OutOfMemoryError
- StackOverflowError
- Expando
- WeakReference
- Finalizer
The MapEntry value class is restricted to enable later optimizations. The remaining classes are tightly coupled to the platform and not intended to be subclassed or implemented.

`dart:collection`

The following interface can no longer be extended, only implemented:
- Queue
The following implementation classes can no longer be implemented:
- LinkedList
- LinkedListEntry
The following implementation classes can no longer be implemented or extended:
- HasNextIterator (Also deprecated.)
- HashMap
- LinkedHashMap
- HashSet
- LinkedHashSet
- DoubleLinkedQueue
- ListQueue
- SplayTreeMap
- SplayTreeSet

Dart 3 tools changes

Removed tools

Historically the Dart team has offered a number of smaller developer tools for things like formatting code (dartfmt), analyzing code (dartanalyzer), etc. In Dart 2.10 (October 2020) we introduced a new unified Dart developer tool, the dart tool.

Scope

This is an unversioned change, that applies to all Dart 3 code.

Symptom

In Dart 3 these smaller tools do not exist, and have been replaced by the new combined dart tool.

Migration

Use new sub-commands available in the dart tool:

Historical tool	`dart` replacement	Deprecation	Discontinuation
`stagehand`	`dart create`	2.14	2.14*
`dartfmt`	`dart format`	2.14	2.15
`dart2native`	`dart compile exe`	2.14	2.15
`dart2js`	`dart compile js`	2.17	2.18
`dartdevc`	`webdev`	2.17	2.18
`dartanalyzer`	`dart analyze`	2.16	2.18
`dartdoc`	`dart doc`	2.16	2.17
`pub`	`dart pub`	2.15	2.17

Null safety migration tools

The following null safety migration commands have been removed, as Dart 3 doesn’t support code without null safety:

dart migrate
dart pub upgrade --null-safety
dart pub outdated --mode=null-safety

Scope

This is an unversioned change, that applies to all Dart 3 code.

Symptom

These commands will fail.

Migration

Use Dart 2.19 to migrate to null safety.

Analyzer config

The analyzer configuration options for enabling stricter checking have changed.

Scope

This is an unversioned change, that applies to all Dart 3 code.

Symptom

The former configuration options will fail with a warning like:

The option 'implicit-casts' is no longer supported.
Try using the new 'strict-casts' option.

Migration

Replace this part of the analyzer config:

analyzer:
  strong-mode:
    implicit-casts: false
    implicit-dynamic: false

with:

analyzer:
  language:
    strict-casts: true
    strict-raw-types: true

Other tools changes

The deprecated Observatory has been hidden by default. We recommend using DevTools.
The command dart format fix has been replaced by dart fix #1153.
The snapshot files bundled in the SDK for the Dart web compiler have been cleaned up #50700.
The output of dart format changed a bit for some code.

Scope

This is an unversioned change, that applies to all Dart 3 code.