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Add proactive Flutter hot reload rule #228

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d1c1826
Add proactive Flutter hot reload rule
jwren Aug 28, 2026
e6a140a
Address PR feedback: refine hot restart triggers and fix .mdc frontma…
jwren Aug 28, 2026
0f01dad
Address PR feedback: limit reload rule to lib/ and clarify Dart MCP t…
jwren Sep 1, 2026
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20 changes: 20 additions & 0 deletions rules/flutter-hot-reload.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
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---
description: Proactively connect to running Dart/Flutter apps and trigger hot reload or hot restart upon editing .dart files under lib/.
trigger: glob
globs: "lib/**/*.dart"
---

# Proactive Flutter Hot Reload Rule

Whenever you edit or modify any `.dart` file under `lib/` in this project:

1. **When to Skip**:
- **Files Outside `lib/`**: Only trigger hot reload or hot restart for edits under `lib/`. Do not trigger when modifying files in other directories (e.g., `test/**`, `integration_test/**`, `benchmark/**`, `test_driver/**` or `example/**`).
- **Comments & Documentation**: Do not trigger hot reload or hot restart when changes only affect comments, docstrings, or whitespace.

2. **Discover & Connect**:
- Discover active running application instances using the `dtd` MCP Tool (or `list_running_apps` / `vm_service`) from the Dart MCP server.

3. **Trigger Hot Reload / Hot Restart**:

@kenzieschmoll kenzieschmoll Aug 31, 2026

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should this point the agent to the official flutter hot reload docs? these docs explain when to use hot reload vs hot restart. https://docs.flutter.dev/tools/hot-reload

@jwren jwren Aug 31, 2026

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Right, but that would add a lot of context, not to mention an agent turn to grab the content from the internet.

Not saying it wouldn't be better, but that we'd want Manual Eval to show the benefit for the cost.

- Execute the `hot_reload` MCP tool immediately after making changes to UI widgets (including `build` methods of stateful widgets) or simple methods.
- Execute the `hot_restart` MCP tool if fundamental logic, state initialization (e.g., `initState`), global/static state, or `main()` was modified.
20 changes: 20 additions & 0 deletions rules/flutter-hot-reload.mdc
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
---
description: Proactively connect to running Dart/Flutter apps and trigger hot reload or hot restart upon editing .dart files under lib/.
globs: "lib/**/*.dart"
alwaysApply: false
---
Comment on lines +1 to +5

@gemini-code-assist gemini-code-assist Bot Aug 28, 2026

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medium

The trigger: glob field is not a standard or supported frontmatter key for Cursor .mdc files. Cursor rules only support description, globs, and alwaysApply. Keeping unsupported fields can cause parsing issues or be ignored by the Cursor editor.

---
description: Proactively connect to running Dart/Flutter apps and trigger hot reload or hot restart upon editing .dart files.
globs: "**/*.dart"
alwaysApply: false
---

@jwren jwren Aug 28, 2026

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fixed


# Proactive Flutter Hot Reload Rule

Whenever you edit or modify any `.dart` file under `lib/` in this project:

1. **When to Skip**:
- **Files Outside `lib/`**: Only trigger hot reload or hot restart for edits under `lib/`. Do not trigger when modifying files in other directories (e.g., `test/**`, `integration_test/**`, `benchmark/**`, `test_driver/**` or `example/**`).
- **Comments & Documentation**: Do not trigger hot reload or hot restart when changes only affect comments, docstrings, or whitespace.

2. **Discover & Connect**:
- Discover active running application instances using the `dtd` MCP tool (or `list_running_apps` / `vm_service`) from the Dart MCP server.

3. **Trigger Hot Reload / Hot Restart**:
- Execute the `hot_reload` MCP tool immediately after making changes to UI widgets (including `build` methods of stateful widgets) or simple methods.
- Execute the `hot_restart` MCP tool if fundamental logic, state initialization (e.g., `initState`), global/static state, or `main()` was modified.
10 changes: 0 additions & 10 deletions rules/hot_reload.md
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9 changes: 0 additions & 9 deletions rules/hot_reload.mdc
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