What is tree shaking in Flutter

Tree shaking is a process of removing unused code from an application in order to reduce its size and improve performance. In the context of Flutter, tree shaking is the process of analyzing an app’s code and determining which portions of it are actually used at runtime, and then removing any unused code from the final compiled binary.

Flutter’s build system uses the Dart compiler’s tree shaking feature to eliminate dead code during the build process. This means that any code that is not used in the app, including unused classes, functions, and variables, will be automatically removed from the final binary.

Tree shaking can have a significant impact on the size of a Flutter app, particularly when it comes to reducing the size of third-party packages or libraries that the app depends on. By removing unused code, tree shaking can reduce the overall size of an app, which can improve startup time and reduce memory usage.

However, it’s important to note that not all unused code can be removed through tree shaking, particularly in cases where dynamic code loading is used or where code is generated at runtime. Additionally, tree shaking can only remove code that is not reachable from the app’s entry point, so it’s important to structure your code in a way that allows the build system to identify which code is unused and can be safely removed.