pub-add.md

title	description
dart pub add	Use dart pub add to add a dependency.

Add is one of the commands of the pub tool.

$ dart pub add [{dev|override}:]<package>[:descriptor] [[{dev|override}:]<package>[:descriptor] ...] [options]

This command adds the specified packages to the pubspec.yaml as dependencies, and then retrieves the dependencies to resolve pubspec.yaml.

The following example command is equivalent to editing pubspec.yaml to add the http package, and then calling dart pub get:

$ dart pub add http

Version constraint

By default, dart pub add uses the latest stable version of the package from the pub.dev site that is compatible with your SDK constraints and dependencies. For example, if 0.13.3 is the latest stable version of the http package, then dart pub add http adds http: ^0.13.3 under dependencies in your pubspec.yaml.

You can also specify a constraint or constraint range:

$ dart pub add foo:2.0.0
$ dart pub add foo:'^2.0.0'
$ dart pub add foo:'>=2.0.0 <3.0.1'

If the specified package is an existing dependency in your pubspec.yaml, dart pub add updates the dependency's constraint to the one specified in the command.

Dev dependency

The dev: prefix adds the package as a dev dependency, instead of as a regular dependency.

$ dart pub add dev:foo           # adds newest compatible stable version of foo
$ dart pub add dev:foo:^2.0.0    # adds specified constraint of foo
$ dart pub add foo dev:bar       # adds regular dependency foo and dev dependency bar simultaneously

Previously the -d, --dev option:

$ dart pub add --dev foo

Dependency override

To specify a dependency override, add the override: prefix and include a version constraint or source descriptor.

For example: To override all references to package:foo to use version 1.0.0 of the package, run the following command:

$ dart pub add override:foo:1.0.0

This adds the override to your pubspec.yaml file:

dependency_overrides:
  foo: 1.0.0

Source descriptor

:::version-note The YAML-formatted descriptor syntax was added in Dart 2.19. The descriptor replaces arguments like --path, --sdk, --git-<option>, etc. Pub still supports these arguments, but the recommended method is now the YAML-descriptor. The descriptor and the replaced arguments can't be used together. :::

The YAML descriptor syntax allows you to add multiple packages from different sources, and apply different options and constraints to each.

$ dart pub add [options] [{dev|override}:]<package>[:descriptor] [[{dev|override}:]<package>[:descriptor] ...]

The syntax reflects how dependencies are written in pubspec.yaml.

'<package>:{"<source>":"<descriptor>"[,"<source>":"<descriptor>"],"version":"<constraint>"}'

git

Adds a git dependency.

$ dart pub add 'foo:{"git":"https://github.com/foo/foo"}'

You can specify the repository, and the branch or commit, or exact location, within that repository:

$ dart pub add 'foo:{"git":{"url":"../foo.git","ref":"branch","path":"subdir"}}'

url

Depends on the package in the specified Git repository.

Previously the --git-url=<git_repo_url> option:

$ dart pub add http --git-url=https://github.com/my/http.git

ref

With url, depends on the specified branch or commit of a Git repo.

Previously the --git-ref=<branch_or_commit> option:

$ dart pub add http --git-url=https://github.com/my/http.git --git-ref=tmpfixes

path

With url, specifies the location of a package within a Git repo.

Previously the --git-path=<directory_path> option.

hosted

Adds a hosted dependency that depends on the package server at the specified URL.

$ dart pub add 'foo:{"hosted":"my-pub.dev"}'

Previously the --hosted-url=<package_server_url> option.

path

Adds a path dependency on a locally stored package.

$ dart pub add 'foo:{"path":"../foo"}'

Previously the --path=<directory_path> option.

sdk

Adds a package from the specified SDK source.

$ dart pub add 'foo:{"sdk":"flutter"}'

Previously the --sdk=<sdk_name> option:

$ dart pub add foo --sdk=flutter

Options

For options that apply to all pub commands, see Global options.

:::note The previous pub add syntax for options (without YAML descriptors) applies the specified options to all the packages included in an invocation of the command. For example, dart pub add test http --dev will add both the test and http packages as dev dependencies. :::

--[no-]offline

{% render 'tools/pub-option-no-offline.md' %}

-n, --dry-run

Reports which dependencies would change, but doesn't change any.

--[no-]precompile

By default, pub precompiles executables in immediate dependencies (--precompile). To prevent precompilation, use --no-precompile.

In a workspace

In a Pub workspace dart pub add will add dependencies only to the package in the current directory.

{% render 'pub-problems.md' %}