Search #

Query expressions #

pub.dev supports the following search query expressions:

  • "exact phrase": By default, when you perform a search, the results include packages with similar phrases. When a phrase is inside quotes, you'll see only those packages that contain exactly the specified phrase.

  • package:<prefix>: Searches for packages that begin with prefix. Use this feature to find packages in the same framework.

  • dependency:<package_name>: Searches for packages that reference package_name in their pubspec.yaml.

  • dependency*:<package_name>: Searches for packages that depend on package_name (as direct, dev, or transitive dependencies).

  • topic:<topic-name>: Searches for packages that have specified the topic-name topic.

  • publisher:<publisher-name.com>: Searches for packages published by publisher-name.com

  • sdk:<sdk>: Searches for packages that support the given SDK. sdk can be either flutter or dart

  • runtime:<runtime>: Searches for packages that support the given runtime. runtime can be one of web, native-jit and native-aot.

  • updated:<duration>: Searches for packages updated in the given past days, with the following recognized formats: 3d (3 days), 2w (two weeks), 6m (6 months), 2y 2 years.

  • has:executable: Search for packages with Dart files in their bin/ directory.

Filters #

The search UI also supports filters. On a wide screen, the filter options will appear to the left of the search results. On a non-wide screen, to open the filter options, click the filter icon to the right of the search bar.

  • To filter by Dart or Flutter support, expand the SDKs section, then select the SDK you are developing with.

  • To filter by platform, under the Platforms section, select all platforms you intend to support.

  • To filter for only packages with OSI approved licenses, expand the License section, then select OSI approved.

  • For other filters, such as including unlisted packages, expand the Advanced section.

Ranking #

When you search for a package, the search algorithm first applies filters, and then considers only the packages that aren’t filtered out and that match the search query. Because packages contain a lot of text (including documentation comments and identifiers from source code), common words can match many packages.

To find the most relevant search results, the algorithm ranks packages using a combination of the following parameters, listed in order of relative importance:

  • Search query relevance of the following:

    • Package name
    • Description
    • README
    • Documentation comments and identifiers

  • Package popularity and like count

  • Pub points, which are based on factors such as these:

    • Adherence to Dart file conventions
    • Presence of documentation
    • Up-to-date dependencies
    • Language feature support

These parameters are normalized, weighted for relative importance, and combined to form an overall score for each search result; this score determines the default order of the displayed search results.

The code for normalizing and weighting parameters changes occasionally. You can find it at github.com/dart-lang/pub-dev.

Legacy packages #

pub.dev does not expose packages that support only Dart SDK 1.x in search results or in listing pages. However, one can access these packages through their package page (/packages/<pkg>) and pub client can download them.

To search for such packages, include is:legacy in the search query.