pubspec Publish Gate - pub.dev pre-publish check
pubspec publish: 6 findings on a 24-line example pubspec.yaml, checked against 10 rules taken from the dart.dev pubspec, dependencies and publishing pages.
A version uploaded to pub.dev is permanent. dart.dev says "a published package lasts forever" and that the pub.dev policy "disallows unpublishing packages except for very few cases". You can retract a version only within 7 days of publication, and a retracted version stays visible with a RETRACTED badge. So the time to catch a wrong pubspec.yaml is before dart pub publish, not after.
This extension reads every pubspec.yaml in the workspace as you edit and puts each problem in the Problems panel: the line, what pub.dev does with it, and the exact replacement line.
What it maps (the example, 6 findings)
| Broken line |
Fix |
name: Geo-Helpers |
name: geo_helpers |
description: Geo helpers. (12 characters) |
one plain-text sentence of 60-180 characters |
version: 1.4 |
version: 1.4.0 |
geo_core: path: ../geo_core |
hosted constraint, e.g. geo_core: ^1.2.0 |
tile_math: git: url: ... |
hosted constraint from pub.dev |
dependency_overrides: collection: 1.17.2 |
delete the block, widen the real constraint |
The 10 rules
- path-dependency - "you cannot upload a package to the pub.dev site if it has any path dependencies in its pubspec."
- git-dependency - "Git dependencies are not allowed as dependencies for packages uploaded to pub.dev."
- dependency-overrides - "your package's dependency overrides are ignored by all users of your package." The override that makes your tests pass does nothing for anyone who adds your package.
- publish-to-none -
publish_to: none prevents publication.
- name-invalid - lowercase
[a-z0-9_], not starting with a digit.
- version-format - three numbers separated by dots, optional prerelease or build suffix.
- description-length - dart.dev asks for 60 to 180 characters of plain text. Folded (
>-) descriptions are joined before counting.
- sdk-constraint-missing - the
environment: sdk constraint is required.
- repository-missing - neither
homepage nor repository is set.
- topics-invalid - at most 5 topics, 2-32 characters, lowercase letters, digits and single hyphens, starting with a letter.
Each finding links to the dart.dev section it comes from. Yardstick: the official dart.dev pages (pubspec, dependencies, publishing) as read on 2026-09-30 - nothing else.
How to use
Open a Dart or Flutter package. Every pubspec.yaml is checked on open and on save. Type "pubspec Publish Gate" in the Command Palette to run a check on demand. A clean file shows no problems.
The same engine runs in the browser: paste a pubspec.yaml at https://getreadystack.com/tools/pubspec-publish-gate and read the same findings. Nothing is uploaded.
Free and full version
Free, no key: every finding with its line and replacement, in the editor and on the web page.
Full version: a dated pre-publish report for every pubspec.yaml in a workspace, plus a CI exit-code gate that stops a bad version before it becomes permanent on pub.dev - https://getreadystack.com/api/buy/cl/polar_cl_IhVfFhiVs73PkDTXwRi0KtJl170ibyq2wCMHd2n01Vu
Limits
The check reads pubspec.yaml as text. It does not resolve versions, contact pub.dev, or measure archive size (dart.dev's limit is 100 MB after gzip and 256 MB uncompressed). Run dart pub publish --dry-run as the last step.
