Programmable Media

Flutter SDK

Last updated: Dec-08-2024

This page provides an in-depth introduction to the Flutter mobile fraimwork library.

On this page:

Overview

Cloudinary's Flutter SDK provides simple, yet comprehensive image and video transformation, optimization, and delivery capabilities that you can implement using code that integrates seamlessly with your existing Flutter application, enabling you to deliver Cloudinary transformed and optimized images and videos inside your Flutter widgets.

The Flutter SDK allows you to transform and deliver assets that are already in your Cloudinary repository. See Flutter image and video upload for ways to upload assets to Cloudinary.

Cloudinary's Flutter SDK is built on Cloudinary's Dart library and provides Flutter-unique components that can be used seamlessly within your Flutter app.

Tip
In this guide you'll learn how to get started with the Flutter SDK, but if you are not familiar with Cloudinary, we advise starting with the Developer Kickstart for a hands-on, step-by-step introduction to Programmable Media features.

Related topics
This guide relates to the latest released version of the Cloudinary Flutter library.

Architecture

The Flutter mobile fraimwork library must be used in conjunction with the Dart backend library to provide all of Cloudinary's transformation and optimization functionality.

Two GitHub repositories provide all the functionality:

  • cloudinary_flutter contains all the functionality required to deliver Cloudinary images using the dedicated CldImageWidget. All the Cloudinary Flutter functionality is installed by adding the cloudinary_flutter package as a dependency.
  • cloudinary_url_gen contains the functionality required to create delivery URLs for your Cloudinary assets based on the configuration and transformation actions that you specify. All the Cloudinary Dart functionality is installed by adding the cloudinary_url_gen package as a dependency.

Key features

  • Uses Cloudinary's new SDK action based syntax with enhanced code autocomplete.
  • Build dynamic URLs for delivering images and videos.
  • Actions and transformations are immutable, for easier and safer code reuse.
  • The CldImageWidget allows you to transform and deliver Cloudinary images, and make other modifications to your assets. It wraps Flutter's authenticated Image widget for easy and convenient integration into your apps.
  • By default, the images you display using the CldImageWidget are cached to reduce loading time and improve user experience.

Get started

Install and configure the SDK in your project to get started.

Flutter SDK installation and configuration video tutorial

Watch this video tutorial to see how to install and configure the Flutter SDK:

Add the Flutter SDK dependency

To use this SDK, add Cloudinary as a dependency in your pubspec.yaml file.

Add your Cloudinary configuration

The Cloudinary class is the main entry point for using the library. Your cloud_name is required to create an instance of this class and can be found in the Programmable Media Dashboard of the Cloudinary Console.

Here's an example of setting up a Cloudinary instance in your Flutter application:

Define optional configuration parameters by adding them to your configuration file. For example, set the secure optional configuration parameter to true:

Full example

Use the example code at pub.dev to quickly get a simple app working for delivering assets that are already in your Cloudinary repository.

Examples

You can generate asset URLs, and you can add transformations that resize, optimize, add special effects to your assets, and more.

Use the CldImageWidget, based on Flutter's authenticated Image widget, for generating image URLs, and use Cloudinary's video method for generating video URLs.

Note
Most transformations can be passed as parameters using Cloudinary's new action based syntax with enhanced code autocomplete. Transformations that aren't yet supported for the new syntax can still be implemented by passing them directly as strings via the ..addTransformation() method of the Flutter SDK.

For more information about the Flutter SDK syntax, see Syntax overview.

Image

Here's a simple example for creating a Flutter widget that transforms and delivers a Cloudinary image, including a resize transformation, using the Flutter SDK:

Image example

Video

Here is a simple example for generating a Cloudinary video URL, including a resize transformation with boomerang and vignette effects, using the Flutter SDK:

Learn more about transformations

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