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Rive Native vs Rive

Rive Native (rive_native) is a Flutter plugin that integrates the Rive Renderer and the core Rive C++ runtime.

The Rive Flutter runtime (rive) is built on top of rive_native. We recommend including the rive package as a dependecy, as that will automatically include rive_native, while also providing a user-friendly API for working with Rive assets in Flutter.

Rive Native replaces the Rive Common (rive_common) plugin that Rive Flutter previously used for native operations.

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Understanding Rive Native

Rive Native acts as the bridge between Flutter and the Rive C++ runtime, allowing you to use Rive graphics in your Flutter applications.

  • C++ Runtime Integration:
    rive_native is built on Rive’s C++ runtime via FFI. This ensures a consistent experience across platforms and the Rive Editor, while unlocking performance improvements and new features exclusive to the C++ runtime, such as:

  • Rive Renderer Support:
    rive_native bring the Rive Renderer to Flutter. While you can still use the Flutter-based renderer (Dart/Impeller), the Rive Renderer is recommended for performance-critical use cases. For more information see Choosing a Renderer.

    Some features, like Vector Feathering, are only supported with the Rive Renderer. See the Feature Support page for more details.

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Getting Started

rive_native is not yet publicly available on GitHub but will be soon. For now, you can pull the source code and example by running:

dart pub unpack rive_native # Unpack the package source code and example app
cd rive_native/example      # Navigate to the example folder
flutter create .            # Create the platform folders
flutter pub get             # Fetch dependencies
flutter run                 # Run the example app

For an example implementation, see the rive_player.dart file in rive_native/example/rive_player.dart.

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Platform Support

PlatformFlutter RendererRive Renderer
iOS✅✅
Android✅✅
macOS✅✅
Windows✅✅
Linux❌❌
Web✅✅

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Feature Support

See the Feature Support page for details.

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Troubleshooting

The required native libraries should be automatically downloaded during the build step (flutter run or flutter build). If you encounter issues, try the following:

  1. Run flutter clean
  2. Run flutter pub get
  3. Run flutter run

Alternatively, you can manually run the rive_native setup script. In the root of your Flutter app, execute:

dart run rive_native:setup --verbose --clean --platform macos

This will clean the rive_native setup and download the platform-specific libraries specified with the --platform flag. Refer to the Platform Support section above for details.

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Building rive_native

By default, prebuilt native libraries are downloaded and used. If you prefer to build the libraries yourself, use the --build flag with the setup script:

flutter clean # Important
dart run rive_native:setup --verbose --clean --build --platform macos

Note: Building the libraries requires specific tooling on your machine. Additional documentation will be provided soon.

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Testing

Shared libraries are included in the download/build process. If you encounter issues using rive_native in your tests, please reach out to us for assistance.