All 7 Flutter Plugin & Package Development questions
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What is the basic folder structure of a typical Flutter plugin project, and how does it separate the shared Dart interface from each individual platform's own specific native implementation? How does a federated plugin architecture let several genuinely separate teams or contributors independently maintain the different platform specific implementations of exactly the same overall shared plugin? How should you properly write both unit tests and platform specific integration tests for a Flutter plugin to genuinely verify it correctly works across every single one of its supported platforms? What should a well written pubspec.yaml and a genuinely thorough README file for a Flutter plugin actually include, to help other developers properly understand how to correctly use and depend on it? How do you properly handle a breaking native API change on one specific platform, such as a new required Android permission model, while genuinely still maintaining backward compatibility for consumers of your plugin using an older version of that same platform? How can you design a plugin's own public Dart API to remain genuinely stable and backward compatible across several successive plugin versions, even as its own internal native implementation continues to meaningfully evolve and change over time?
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What is the difference between a Dart package and a Flutter plugin, and when would you specifically need to build a plugin rather than simply a pure Dart package?

Beginner

Answer

A pure Dart package contains only Dart code and can genuinely be used across any Dart environment, including server side or command line applications, whereas a Flutter plugin specifically includes platform specific native code, such as Kotlin or Java for Android and Swift or Objective-C for iOS, and is genuinely required whenever your particular functionality needs to actually interact directly with an underlying native platform capability, such as accessing the device's camera or its GPS sensor, that simply cannot be implemented using pure Dart code alone.
flutter create --template=plugin my_plugin
flutter create --template=package my_dart_package
Real-world example A team building a genuinely simple utility library containing only date formatting helper functions creates a pure Dart package, while a separate team needing direct access to a device's specific native Bluetooth hardware capability instead creates a proper full Flutter plugin.

Common follow-ups: What is the difference between a plugin and a federated plugin?;Can a single package genuinely contain both pure Dart code and platform specific native code together?

Platform Channels (Native Android & iOS Integration);Publishing Packages on pub.dev
All 7 Flutter Plugin & Package Development questions