Pub Package Explorer

Choose the Source Strategy

1. Prefer

   .dart_tool/package_config.json

   when the package is already in the project dependency graph.
2. Use

   dart pub unpack

   when the package is missing from

   package_config.json

   or when source needs inspection before adding the dependency.
3. Prefer the installed package path when both are available to match the project-resolved version.

Resolve a Package Source Path

1. Confirm the project contains

   .dart_tool/package_config.json

   .
2. Read the package entry from

   packages[]

   by

   name

   .
3. Extract:

• rootUri

  (package root, usually in pub cache)

• packageUri

  (usually

  lib/

  )

1. Build source path as

   rootUri + packageUri

   .
2. Convert

   file://

   URI to a filesystem path before reading files.

PACKAGE="analyzer"
CONFIG=".dart_tool/package_config.json"

SOURCE_URI="$(jq -r --arg pkg "$PACKAGE" '
  .packages[]
  | select(.name == $pkg)
  | (.rootUri + (if (.rootUri | endswith("/")) then "" else "/" end) + .packageUri)
' "$CONFIG")"

SOURCE_PATH="$(printf '%s\n' "$SOURCE_URI" | sed 's#^file://##')"

rg

ls

cat

Unpack a Package That Is Not Installed

.dart_tool/package_config.json

PACKAGE="analyzer"              # or "analyzer:7.4.0"
OUTPUT_DIR="/tmp/pub-unpack"

mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"
dart pub unpack "$PACKAGE" --output "$OUTPUT_DIR"

PACKAGE_NAME="${PACKAGE%%:*}"
UNPACKED_DIR="$(find "$OUTPUT_DIR" -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${PACKAGE_NAME}-*" | sort | tail -n 1)"

ls "$UNPACKED_DIR"
ls "$UNPACKED_DIR/lib"
rg --files "$UNPACKED_DIR/lib"

• dart pub unpack

  downloads and extracts a package even when it is not in the current project's dependencies.
• Use

  --force

  if the output directory already contains an unpacked copy that must be overwritten.

• --output

  controls where the extracted

  <package>-<version>

  folder is created.

Useful Variants

• Return only the package root:

jq -r --arg pkg "$PACKAGE" '
  .packages[]
  | select(.name == $pkg)
  | .rootUri
' .dart_tool/package_config.json

• Return both root and package URI:

jq -r --arg pkg "$PACKAGE" '
  .packages[]
  | select(.name == $pkg)
  | "\(.rootUri)\t\(.packageUri)"
' .dart_tool/package_config.json

Verification and Error Handling

• If no package matches in

  package_config.json

  , switch to

  dart pub unpack

  instead of stopping.
• If

  .dart_tool/package_config.json

  is missing, run dependency resolution first (

  dart pub get

  or

  flutter pub get

  ) and retry.
• Prefer reading from

  rootUri + packageUri

  because package APIs are exposed from that subpath, not always from the package root.
• If

  dart pub unpack

  fails, report the exact failure (for example network access, invalid descriptor, or permissions for output path).