Flutter: Droido 1.2.0 is a debug-only network inspector with zero release impact

Droido 1.2.0 shipped today (Feb 8, 2026) as a debug-only network inspector for Flutter 3.x. It claims support for Dio, the http package, and Retrofit-style clients, plus a persistent debug notification and a modern UI.

The part worth writing about is the constraint: make debugging easier without paying for it in release builds. If you are shipping Flutter apps at scale, “it is only a dev tool” is not an excuse for accidental production dependencies, extra initialization, or bigger binaries.

The only acceptable contract: debug tooling must disappear in release

In Flutter, the cleanest pattern is to initialize dev-only code inside an assert block. assert is removed in release mode, so the code path (and usually the transitive imports) becomes irrelevant for the release build.

Here is a minimal template you can use in any Flutter 3.x app, regardless of which inspector you plug in:

import 'package:dio/dio.dart';

// Keep this in a separate file if you want even stronger separation.
void _enableDebugNetworkInspector(Dio dio) {
  // Add your debug-only interceptors or inspector initialization here.
  // Example (generic):
  // dio.interceptors.add(LogInterceptor(requestBody: true, responseBody: true));
  //
  // For Droido specifically, replace this comment with the package's setup call.
}

Dio createDio() {
  final dio = Dio();

  assert(() {
    _enableDebugNetworkInspector(dio);
    return true;
  }());

  return dio;
}

This buys you three things:

• No production side effects: the inspector is not initialized in release.
• Less risk during refactors: it is hard to accidentally keep a dev-only hook enabled.
• A predictable place to wire clients: you can apply this to Dio, http.Client, or a generated Retrofit wrapper, as long as you own the factory.

What I would verify before adopting Droido

The promise “zero impact on release builds” is specific enough that you can validate it:

• Build output: compare flutter build apk --release size and dependency tree before and after.
• Runtime: confirm the inspector code is never referenced when kReleaseMode is true (the assert pattern enforces this).
• Intercept points: verify it hooks where your app actually sends traffic (Dio vs http vs generated clients).

If Droido holds up, this is the type of tool that improves day-to-day debugging without turning into a long-term maintenance tax.

Sources:

• Droido on pub.dev
• Droido repository
• Reddit thread