Effective Folder Structure for Dart Projects

Organizing your Dart project folder structure can greatly improve maintainability, scalability, and developer productivity—especially when building with Flutter or Dart standalone. Whether you’re working on a simple CLI tool or a complex Flutter mobile app, structuring your folders and files clearly ensures your codebase remains clean and easy to navigate.

This guide will walk you through practical tips and a common folder structure for Dart projects, including complete code examples. Following a standard structure not only enhances collaboration within teams but also helps you onboard new developers faster.

Benefits of Folder Organization:

• Easier code navigation
• Separation of concerns
• Reusability and testing efficiency

Recommended Folder Structure

/lib
│
├── /src
│   ├── /models
│   │   └── user.dart
│   ├── /services
│   │   └── api_service.dart
│   ├── /views
│   │   ├── home_view.dart
│   │   └── detail_view.dart
│   └── /controllers
│       └── user_controller.dart
│
├── main.dar

File Example: models/user.dart

class User {
  final String id;
  final String name;

  User({required this.id, required this.name});

  factory User.fromJson(Map<String, dynamic> json) {
    return User(
      id: json['id'],
      name: json['name'],
    );
  }
}

File Example: services/api_service.dart

import '../models/user.dart';

class ApiService {
  Future<User> fetchUserData() async {
    await Future.delayed(Duration(seconds: 1));
    return User(id: '1', name: 'John Doe');
  }
}

File Example: controllers/user_controller.dart

import '../models/user.dart';
import '../services/api_service.dart';

class UserController {
  final ApiService _apiService = ApiService();

  Future<void> loadUser() async {
    User user = await _apiService.fetchUserData();
    print('User Loaded: ${user.name}');
  }
}

File Example: views/home_view.dart

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import '../controllers/user_controller.dart';

class HomeView extends StatelessWidget {
  final UserController _controller = UserController();

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    _controller.loadUser();
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(title: Text('Home')),
      body: Center(child: Text('Welcome to Home View')),
    );
  }
}

For large projects, you may also consider using architectural patterns like MVVM or Clean Architecture. For more details, check Flutter’s official architecture guide.