PubRescue

The maintenance layer of the Flutter ecosystem

What We Do

PubRescue helps Flutter developers find and adopt abandoned packages on pub.dev. Many Flutter packages lose their maintainers over time, leaving apps with broken dependencies. We provide a platform to detect, track, and rescue these packages.

Features

Package Scanning

Search any Flutter package to check its health status. We analyze last publish date, GitHub activity, open issues, and contributor count to generate a health score. Sign in with GitHub to search for new packages.

Abandonment Detection

Our algorithm detects packages that are abandoned or inactive based on:

  • Last publish date (12+ months = abandoned)
  • Last commit date (6+ months = inactive)
  • Open issues count
  • Contributor activity

Package Adoption

Developers can request to adopt abandoned packages. When you submit an adoption request:

  • A GitHub issue is created on the package's repository
  • The current maintainer is notified via GitHub
  • You receive email updates on your request status
  • Admin reviews and approves/rejects requests

Health Score

Every package gets a 0-100 health score based on:

  • Last publish date (30 points)
  • Last commit date (20 points)
  • Open issues (15 points)
  • Issue response time (10 points)
  • Contributor count (10 points)
  • Release frequency (15 points)

Authentication

PubRescue uses GitHub OAuth for authentication. Sign in is required to:

  • Search for new packages
  • Submit adoption requests
  • Access your dashboard

Viewing existing packages and their details is available to everyone without sign-in.

Data Sources

We fetch data from the following sources:

  • pub.dev API - Package metadata, versions, publish dates, repository URLs
  • GitHub API - Repository info, issues, contributors, commits
  • Firebase Firestore - Your local database for storing scanned packages and adoption requests

Notifications

When you submit an adoption request, the following notifications are sent:

  • GitHub Issue - Created on the package's repository to notify maintainers
  • Email to Requester - When admin approves or rejects your request

The admin dashboard allows monitoring GitHub issue comments in real-time.

Support the Project

PubRescue is free to use. You can support the project by:

  • Donating via PayPal
  • Adopting and maintaining abandoned packages
  • Contributing code or reporting issues
  • Sharing with the Flutter community