cometchat-flutter-v6-customization

Ground truth: theming is Flutter's own ThemeExtension mechanism — CometChatColorPalette, CometChatTypography, CometChatSpacing, all catalog-verified against 6.1.0. The exhaustive token list is FETCHED from the docs (theme-introduction · color-resources · component-styling · message-bubble-styling via ../cometchat-flutter-v6-core/references/docs-map.md) — do NOT bake it.

Companion skills (read first)

• cometchat-flutter-v6-core — install, credentials, init→login→render. This skill ASSUMES it.
• cometchat-flutter-v6-components — the widget catalog whose style objects and slots this skill sets.

Use this skill when

Branding or theming: colors, fonts, light/dark, or per-widget style overrides.

Prerequisites & install

Covered by core. No new package.

Customization mechanism (BAKED — v6)

Three tiers, in the order you should reach for them:

1. App-wide theme — ThemeExtension on your ThemeData. This is the main lever; it restyles every CometChat widget at once.

import 'package:cometchat_chat_uikit/cometchat_chat_uikit.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

final cometchatLight = ThemeData(
  fontFamily: 'Inter',
  extensions: [
    CometChatColorPalette(primary: const Color(0xFFF76808)),
    CometChatTypography(),
    CometChatSpacing(),
  ],
);

2. Light / dark — Flutter's own switching, nothing CometChat-specific. Supply both themes and let themeMode decide; ThemeMode.system follows the OS, which is the right default for a fresh app.

import 'package:cometchat_chat_uikit/cometchat_chat_uikit.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

Widget app(Widget home) => MaterialApp(
      theme: ThemeData(extensions: [CometChatColorPalette(primary: const Color(0xFFF76808))]),
      darkTheme: ThemeData.dark().copyWith(
        extensions: [CometChatColorPalette(primary: const Color(0xFFF76808))],
      ),
      themeMode: ThemeMode.system,   // follow the device setting
      home: home,
    );

Unlike the web kit (a theme prop + CSS variables), Flutter has no CometChat-specific mode switch — do not invent one. Register the palette on BOTH themes or dark mode falls back to defaults.

3. Per-widget style objects — scope one surface only. Every widget takes a *Style object: CometChatConversationsStyle · CometChatMessageHeaderStyle · CometChatMessageListStyle · CometChatMessageComposerStyle · CometChatThreadedHeaderStyle · CometChatSearchStyle · CometChatIncomingMessageBubbleStyle / CometChatOutgoingMessageBubbleStyle · CometChatCallLogsStyle.

import 'package:cometchat_chat_uikit/cometchat_chat_uikit.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

Widget themedHeader(User user) => CometChatMessageHeader(
      user: user,
      messageHeaderStyle: const CometChatMessageHeaderStyle(
        backgroundColor: Color(0xFFFFFFFF),
        titleTextColor: Color(0xFF141414),
        subtitleTextColor: Color(0xFF727272),
        onlineStatusColor: Color(0xFF09C26F),
      ),
    );

Style parameter names are per-widget and NOT guessable — the header uses titleTextColor/onlineStatusColor, the threaded header uses bubbleContainerBackGroundColor/countTextColor, search uses searchBackgroundColor/searchBorderRadius. Fetch the widget's .md twin before writing a style block. Message bubbles are themed app-wide through CometChatIncomingMessageBubbleStyle / CometChatOutgoingMessageBubbleStyle registered as theme extensions — see message-bubble-styling.

Reading theme values in your own widgets

CometChatThemeHelper.getColorPalette(context) (and the typography/spacing equivalents) returns the resolved palette, so custom UI in a slot matches the kit instead of hard-coding hexes.

Beyond colour — the other customization axes (FETCH the page)

• View slots — replace any row/section (customization-view-slots); custom UI goes IN the slot.
• State views — loadingStateView / emptyStateView / errorStateView (customization-state-views).
• Menu options — add or remove message actions via CometChatMessageOption and the template's options (customization-menu-options). The callback is onItemClick(message, state).
• Text formatters — CometChatMentionsFormatter and custom CometChatTextFormatter subclasses (customization-text-formatters, custom-text-formatter-guide). A subclass must implement init, getMessageInputTextStyle, handlePreMessageSend, onChange and onScrollToBottom — the class is abstract.
• Message templates — custom message types and bubbles (message-template, → -components).
• Sounds — the class is SoundManager, UN-prefixed (there is no CometChatSoundManager), a singleton: SoundManager().play(sound: Sound.incomingMessage, customSound: "assets/ping.mp3") / .stop(). Compiler-verified vs 6.1.0. It is absent from the catalog only because that tracks CometChat* symbols — same as User/Group. Page: sound-manager.
• Localization — via CometChatLocalize, the same localization class the other families use: register its delegate in MaterialApp.localizationsDelegates and read/override strings through it. Fetch the exact Flutter API from the live localize page (references/docs-map.md → Localization). [STAGED — needs the UI Kit change] CometChatLocalize requires a cometchat_chat_uikit version that exposes it; the pinned 6.1.0 does not (it exposes Translations). Bump the pin + refresh catalogs/flutter-v6.json when that kit ships — until then Flutter localization emitted this way will not compile.

Common pitfalls (BAKED)

• Inventing a CometChat dark-mode switch. Use ThemeData + themeMode; register the palette on both themes.
• Guessing style parameter names. They differ per widget — fetch the twin.
• Hard-coding colours in a custom slot instead of reading CometChatThemeHelper.
• v5 theming APIs — CometChatTheme is now only a mergeThemeExtensions helper, not a palette holder; the v5 CometChatThemeData/DataSource styling path is gone (→ -migration).
• Restyling by wrapping the widget rather than passing its style object or slot.

Verify it works

The brand colour appears on the surfaces you expect, light and dark both render (toggle the OS setting), custom slot UI matches the kit's palette, and no widget silently kept its default because the palette was registered on only one theme.