skills/riverpod-providers/reference.md

Riverpod Providers — Reference

Provider type summary

• Provider — sync, unmodifiable. Return type T.
• FutureProvider — async, unmodifiable. Return type Future<T>.
• StreamProvider — stream, unmodifiable. Return type Stream<T>.
• NotifierProvider — sync, modifiable. Notifier extends Notifier<T>, build() returns T.
• AsyncNotifierProvider — async, modifiable. Notifier extends AsyncNotifier<T>, build() returns Future<T>.
• StreamNotifierProvider — stream, modifiable. Notifier extends StreamNotifier<T>, build() returns Stream<T>.

Modifiers

• autoDispose — Cache is cleared when the provider has no listeners. Use with family to avoid memory leaks. Disable with @Riverpod(keepAlive: true) in codegen.
• family — Pass parameters to the provider (e.g. provider(id)). See riverpod-family.

Notifier rules

• Do not put logic in the Notifier constructor; ref and state are not ready. Put initialization in build().
• build() is called by the framework; do not call it directly.
• Consumers modify state by calling methods on the notifier: ref.read(myProvider.notifier).myMethod().

Multiple providers, same type

Riverpod allows multiple providers that expose the same type (e.g. two different Provider<String>). They are independent; no conflict.

Links to other concepts

• Ref (read, watch, listen, invalidate): riverpod-refs
• Containers / ProviderScope: riverpod-containers
• Auto-dispose: riverpod-auto-dispose
• Family: riverpod-family
• Overrides (testing): riverpod-overrides
• Consumers (widgets): riverpod-consumers