riverpod-refs

name	riverpod-refs
description	Use Ref and WidgetRef to read, watch, listen, invalidate, and refresh providers; onDispose and onCancel lifecycle; ref.read vs ref.watch vs ref.listen, ref.invalidate and ref.refresh. Use when interacting with Riverpod providers from widgets or other providers, when to use watch vs read, or when resetting provider state. Use this skill whenever the user asks about ref.watch, ref.read, ref.listen, ref.invalidate, or Riverpod lifecycle.
user-invocable	false

Riverpod — Refs

Instructions

Ref (and WidgetRef in widgets) is how you interact with providers: read state, listen to changes, reset state, and register lifecycle callbacks. Providers get a Ref as the first parameter of their function or as this.ref in a Notifier. Widgets get a WidgetRef via Consumer / ConsumerWidget / ConsumerState.

Obtaining a Ref

• Inside a provider: First parameter of the provider function, or ref property in a Notifier.
• Inside a widget: Use a Consumer (builder gives ref), ConsumerWidget (build(context, ref)), or ConsumerStatefulWidget (state has ref). Pass ref to other functions if needed.

Listening to state

• ref.watch(provider) — Declarative. Your widget/provider rebuilds when the provider changes. Use this by default in build methods.
• ref.listen(provider, (prev, next) { ... }) — Imperative. Run side effects when the provider changes (e.g. show a dialog, navigate). Safe to use in build; for initState use ref.listenManual and manage the subscription.

// In a widget
final tick = ref.watch(tickProvider);
return Text('Tick: $tick');

// Side effect when provider changes
ref.listen(tickProvider, (previous, next) {
  print('Tick changed from $previous to $next');
});

Reading without listening

• ref.read(provider) — Get current value without subscribing. Use in event handlers (e.g. onPressed), not to "optimize" by avoiding watch. For selective rebuilds use ref.watch(provider.select((value) => ...)).

onPressed: () {
  final tick = ref.read(tickProvider);
  print('Current tick: $tick');
}

Resetting state

• ref.invalidate(provider) — Discard current state; provider will recompute on next read. If the provider is listened to, a new state is created.
• ref.refresh(provider) — Same as invalidate + read: invalidates and returns the new value. Use when you need the new value immediately.

ref.invalidate(tickProvider);
// or
final newTick = ref.refresh(tickProvider);

Lifecycle: onDispose, onCancel

Inside a provider you can register callbacks:

• ref.onDispose(callback) — Called when the provider state is destroyed (e.g. auto-dispose or recomputation). Use to close StreamControllers, cancel timers, etc. Do not trigger side effects that modify other providers inside onDispose.
• ref.onCancel(callback) — Called when the last listener is removed (before dispose). ref.onResume(callback) — Called when a listener is added again after onCancel.

final provider = StreamProvider<int>((ref) {
  final controller = StreamController<int>();
  ref.onDispose(controller.close);
  return controller.stream;
});

You can call onDispose multiple times (e.g. one per disposable resource). Return value of onDispose/onCancel can be called to unregister. For more detail and select/listenManual, see reference.md.