V Chat Input UI

A production-ready Flutter chat composer for text, emoji, mentions, media, files, locations, typing state, and voice messages. It is part of the V Chat SDK ecosystem, but works as a standalone package with any messaging backend.

Preview

Chat composer	Inline attachment tray
Custom recording UI	Emoji picker and light theme

Features

• Text input with automatic RTL/LTR direction and multiline support
• Emoji picker and asynchronous @mention suggestions
• Media, document, camera, and optional Google Maps location actions
• Adaptive action-sheet, modal bottom-sheet, and animated inline attachment presentations
• Typed built-in and consumer-defined attachment actions with grid, horizontal, and wrap layouts
• Voice recording with a configurable maximum duration
• Typed callbacks for every submitted payload and typing-state transition
• Light/dark theming through VInputTheme
• Custom labels, tooltips, attachment flow, reply UI, and closed-chat UI
• Independently configurable emoji, attachment, camera, and recorder actions

Installation

flutter pub add v_chat_input_ui

The package currently requires Flutter 3.44 or newer and Dart 3.12 or newer.

Quick start

import 'package:flutter/foundation.dart';
import 'package:v_chat_input_ui/v_chat_input_ui.dart';

VMessageInputWidget(
  onSubmitText: (message) => debugPrint('Text: $message'),
  onSubmitMedia: (files) => debugPrint('Media: ${files.length}'),
  onSubmitFiles: (files) => debugPrint('Files: ${files.length}'),
  onSubmitLocation: (_) => debugPrint('Location selected'),
  onSubmitVoice: (voice) =>
      debugPrint('Voice duration: ${voice.durationObj}'),
  onTypingChange: (state) => debugPrint('Composer state: $state'),
);

All callbacks are local; this package does not upload files or send network requests on your behalf.

Customize the composer

Register VInputTheme as a Flutter theme extension:

MaterialApp(
  theme: ThemeData(
    extensions: [
      VInputTheme.light(
        composerActionExtent: 52,
        containerDecoration: BoxDecoration(
          color: Colors.white,
          borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(24),
        ),
        sendBtn: const CircleAvatar(
          backgroundColor: Colors.teal,
          child: Icon(Icons.send, color: Colors.white),
        ),
        attachmentTheme: VAttachmentThemeData.light(
          panelDecoration: BoxDecoration(color: Color(0xFFF7FAF9)),
          actionExtent: 88,
          spacing: 12,
        ),
      ),
    ],
  ),
);

composerActionExtent keeps the Send and Record controls square and applies the same minimum height to the one-line input container. The default is 48.

Disable actions that your product does not need:

VMessageInputWidget(
  enableEmojiPicker: true,
  enableAttachments: true,
  enableCamera: false,
  enableVoiceRecording: false,
  // Required submission callbacks...
);

Localize visible text and accessibility labels with VInputLanguage:

const VInputLanguage(
  textFieldHint: 'Write a message',
  media: 'Photos and videos',
  files: 'Documents',
  camera: 'Camera',
  attachmentPanelLabel: 'Choose an attachment',
  openAttachmentsButtonLabel: 'Open attachments',
  returnToKeyboardButtonLabel: 'Return to keyboard',
  sendButtonLabel: 'Send message',
  recordButtonLabel: 'Record voice message',
);

Attachment presentations

adaptiveActionSheet remains the backward-compatible default. Choose a modal panel or a tray mounted directly beneath the composer when your product needs a richer action menu:

final composerController = VMessageInputController();

VMessageInputWidget(
  controller: composerController,
  attachmentPresentation: VAttachmentPresentation.inlineTray,
  attachmentLauncherPlacement:
      VAttachmentLauncherPlacement.leadingOutside,
  attachmentPanelLayout: VAttachmentPanelLayout.grid,
  attachmentActions: [
    const VAttachmentAction.media(label: 'Photos'),
    const VAttachmentAction.camera(),
    const VAttachmentAction.files(label: 'Document'),
    VAttachmentAction.custom(
      id: 'poll',
      label: 'Poll',
      icon: const Icon(Icons.poll_outlined),
      onPressed: (context) async {
        await openPollComposer(context);
      },
    ),
  ],
  // Required submission callbacks...
);

The same ordered actions feed all three presentations:

• VAttachmentPresentation.adaptiveActionSheet uses the platform-compatible action sheet.
• VAttachmentPresentation.modalBottomSheet renders a safe-area modal panel.
• VAttachmentPresentation.inlineTray animates beneath the input without unmounting the text field, draft, cursor, mentions, or reply UI.

Omit attachmentActions to use the package defaults. Media and Files are always included; Camera is included in modal/inline defaults when enabled, and Location appears only when googleMapsApiKey is supplied. Explicit Camera and Location actions are filtered by the same availability rules. showCameraLauncher controls only the standalone camera shortcut, so Camera can remain available inside the panel.

The legacy onAttachIconPress callback still has precedence when supplied. Set enableAttachments: false to hide the attachment launcher and disable every presentation.

Use the controller for external composer controls:

composerController.showAttachments();
composerController.showEmoji();
composerController.showKeyboard();
composerController.closePanel();

The package owns a controller when you omit one. A controller passed by the application remains application-owned and must be disposed by the application.

Voice recording UI

Customize the idle microphone control with VInputTheme.recordBtn. The package uses its built-in active-recording UI by default; supply a recordingWidgetBuilder to replace only the visuals while the package keeps ownership of the recorder, timer, maximum duration, submission, and cleanup:

VMessageInputWidget(
  maxRecordTime: const Duration(minutes: 2),
  recordingWidgetBuilder: (context, state, onCancel) {
    return Row(
      children: [
        Expanded(child: LinearProgressIndicator(value: state.progress)),
        const SizedBox(width: 12),
        Text(state.elapsedLabel),
        IconButton(
          tooltip: state.cancelLabel,
          onPressed: onCancel,
          icon: const Icon(Icons.delete_outline),
        ),
      ],
    );
  },
  // Required submission callbacks...
);

The composer's Send button remains the recording-submit control, including when a custom recording widget is active.

Emoji picker

The built-in emoji picker automatically follows the active ThemeData brightness and locale. It also adapts its height and column count to the available space, starts on Smileys instead of an empty Recents page, preserves the selected skin tone, and applies the recommended larger emoji size on iOS.

Customize its appearance through the input theme:

ThemeData(
  brightness: Brightness.dark,
  extensions: [
    VInputTheme.dark(
      emojiPickerTheme: const VEmojiPickerThemeData.dark(
        backgroundColor: Color(0xFF111816),
        barColor: Color(0xFF202A27),
        accentColor: Color(0xFF5EE0B6),
      ),
    ),
  ],
)

VEmojiPickerThemeData.height and columns are optional fixed overrides; when omitted, the package computes responsive values. To replace the whole panel, provide emojiPickerBuilder on VMessageInputWidget. The builder receives the same text controller, so inserting an emoji updates the active draft without unmounting the composer.

Mentions, attachments, and location

Return mention candidates when the user types @:

onMentionSearch: (query) => users.search(query),
mentionItemBuilder: (user) => ListTile(
  title: Text(user.name),
),

By default, the attachment button opens the built-in media/file action sheet. Supply onAttachIconPress to retain a legacy custom picker that returns an AttachEnumRes value, or use attachmentActions for the typed presentation-independent API.

Location sharing appears only when googleMapsApiKey is set. Follow the google_maps_flutter platform setup for every target and never commit production API keys to source control.

Platform setup

Enable only the native permissions used by your app:

• Android voice/camera: RECORD_AUDIO and CAMERA in AndroidManifest.xml.
• iOS voice/camera/media: NSMicrophoneUsageDescription, NSCameraUsageDescription, and NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription in Info.plist.
• Web voice recording requires browser microphone permission and a secure context.

Text, emoji, and file selection work on Android, iOS, web, macOS, and Windows. The built-in recorder is available on Android, iOS, and web; the camera action is shown on supported mobile platforms.

Run the example

The bundled example is an interactive conversation screen using the real package widget:

cd example
flutter pub get
flutter run

Support

Open bugs and feature requests in the package issue tracker. Broader V Chat SDK documentation is available at v-chat-sdk.github.io.

License

This package is available under the MIT License.