[Property Editor] App not automatically hot reloading

[craiglabenz]

After making a change in the property editor, changes are successfully flushed to my code and the file is saved (git status lists the file as having unstaged changes). However, my app does not hot reload until I click back into the editor and press CMD-S to re-save the file.

VS Code version:

Version: 1.100.2 (Universal)
Commit: 848b80aeb52026648a8ff9f7c45a9b0a80641e2e
Date: 2025-05-14T21:47:40.416Z
Electron: 34.5.1
ElectronBuildId: 11369351
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.0
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 24.5.0

Dart & Flutter plugin version: 3.112.0

Flutter doctor:

$ flutter doctor --verbose
[✓] Flutter (Channel master, 3.33.0-1.0.pre.26, on macOS 15.5 24F74
    darwin-arm64, locale en) [3.5s]
    • Flutter version 3.33.0-1.0.pre.26 on channel master at
      /Users/craiglabenz/Dev/git/flutter/flutter
    • Upstream repository [email protected]:flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision 54de32d6e1 (3 weeks ago), 2025-05-13 00:39:45 +1200
    • Engine revision 54de32d6e1
    • Dart version 3.9.0 (build 3.9.0-100.2.beta)
    • DevTools version 2.46.0

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version
    35.0.0-rc3) [3.2s]
    • Android SDK at /Users/craiglabenz/Library/Android/sdk
    • Emulator version 35.2.10.0 (build_id 12414864) (CL:N/A)
    • Platform android-35, build-tools 35.0.0-rc3
    • ANDROID_HOME = /Users/craiglabenz/Library/Android/sdk
    • ANDROID_SDK_ROOT = /Users/craiglabenz/Library/Android/sdk
    • Java binary at:
      /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java
      This JDK is specified in your Flutter configuration.
      To change the current JDK, run: `flutter config --jdk-dir="path/to/jdk"`.
    • Java version Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 17.0.7+8-LTS-224)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[!] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 16.0) [2.6s]
    • Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
    • Build 16A242d
    ! CocoaPods 1.15.2 out of date (1.16.2 is recommended).
        CocoaPods is a package manager for iOS or macOS platform code.
        Without CocoaPods, plugins will not work on iOS or macOS.
        For more info, see https://flutter.dev/to/platform-plugins
      To update CocoaPods, see
      https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/getting-started.html#updating-cocoapods

[✓] Chrome - develop for the web [33ms]
    • Chrome at /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome

[✓] Android Studio (version 2024.2) [33ms]
    • Android Studio at /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents
    • Flutter plugin can be installed from:
      🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
    • Dart plugin can be installed from:
      🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.3+-79915917-b509.11)

[✓] IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition (version 2023.1.7) [32ms]
    • IntelliJ at /Applications/IntelliJ IDEA CE.app
    • Flutter plugin can be installed from:
      🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
    • Dart plugin can be installed from:
      🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart

[✓] VS Code (version 1.100.2) [9ms]
    • VS Code at /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents
    • Flutter extension version 3.112.0

[✓] Connected device (2 available) [6.5s]
    • macOS (desktop) • macos  • darwin-arm64   • macOS 15.5 24F74 darwin-arm64
    • Chrome (web)    • chrome • web-javascript • Google Chrome 136.0.7103.115
    ! Error: Browsing on the local area network for Craig's iPhone 15. Ensure
      the device is unlocked and attached with a cable or associated with the
      same local area network as this Mac.
      The device must be opted into Developer Mode to connect wirelessly. (code
      -27)

[✓] Network resources [180ms]
    • All expected network resources are available.

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

cc @elliette @DanTup

[DanTup]

changes are successfully flushed to my code and the file is saved [...]. However, my app does not hot reload until I click back into the editor and press CMD-S to re-save the file.

Can you confirm what your settings for files.autoSave and dart.flutterHotReloadOnSave are? By default, we only hot-reload-on-save for explicit (manual) saves to avoid triggering lots of reloads while you're typing (see https://github.com/Dart-Code/Dart-Code/issues/3033 and the related https://github.com/Dart-Code/Dart-Code/issues/1427).

If you want to have hot-reload-on-save for all auto-saves, you'll need to set dart.flutterHotReloadOnSave to all/allIfDirty (but be aware, this will trigger lots of automatic reloads while typing).

[elliette]

Hi @craiglabenz - please re-open if you are still hitting this. The trick as @DanTup mentioned is to add dart.flutterHotReloadOnSave, instructions here:

https://docs.flutter.dev/tools/property-editor#integration-with-hot-reload