Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
14 KiB
Server integration
Auth: Login Flow v2
The app never collects a Nextcloud password directly. It implements
Login Flow v2
via LoginFlowService:
LoginFlowService.initiate(serverUrl)POSTs to{server}/index.php/login/v2, gets back a browser login URL + a poll endpoint/token.- The app opens the login URL for the user to authenticate/authorize.
Which browser depends on whether this is the first login or an
add-account flow (
addAccount, see below):- First/only login: a Chrome Custom Tab (
url_launcher,LaunchMode.inAppBrowserView) — real Chrome, so saved passwords/autofill work, unlike Flutter's own embedded web view. There's no way to close the tab automatically on success (Login Flow v2 never redirects back into the app, and a Custom Tab belongs to Chrome's own task) — the user switches back manually. - Adding another account:
LoginWebViewView, a normal screen this app owns, backed bypackage:webview_flutterrather than a Custom Tab - pushed byLoginViewthe momentloginFlowStatusflips toawaitingBrowser. Two reasons this isn't a Custom Tab: (1) a Custom Tab shares Chrome's actual browser profile/cookie jar - if the user is still logged into the first account on the Nextcloud web UI in Chrome, it would silently reuse that session and authorize the wrong account instead of prompting fresh credentials; (2)url_launcher's ownLaunchMode.inAppWebView(tried first) is a bare native WebView Activity with no chrome of its own - no close button, and on at least some devices it draws edge-to-edge and hides the status bar. Owning the screen fixes both - isolated cookies, a normalAppBar/close button/safe area - and lets it close itself automatically on success (it watchesloginFlowStatusitself), unlike the Custom Tab case. The cost is no Chrome-autofill for this one flow (Android's own system Autofill framework, e.g. a password manager, may still work in the WebView; Chrome's own saved-password autofill specifically cannot, since that's Chrome-only).
- First/only login: a Chrome Custom Tab (
ServerProviderpollsLoginFlowService.poll(pollEndpoint, token)every 2 seconds (Timer.periodic, see_pollTimer/_pollTimeoutTimerinserver_provider.dart) until it gets a 200 withserver/loginName/appPassword, a non-404 error, or a 10-minute timeout. A single dropped connection mid-poll (http.ClientException) is swallowed and retried on the next tick rather than aborting the whole flow.- The returned app password (scoped, revocable) is what gets stored and used for every subsequent request — real user passwords are never in memory or on disk.
LoginFlowStatus (idle → initiating → awaitingBrowser → error)
drives LoginView's UI; see LoginFlowService's doc comment for the full
flow rationale before changing it.
startLoginFlow(serverUrl, {addAccount = false}) is reused verbatim for
both the first/only login and "add another account" (pushed from Settings
while already logged into a different account, LoginView(isAddingAccount: true)) — addAccount only flags isAddAccountFlow for the UI (so the
pushed screen knows to auto-pop on success and cancel the flow on
back-swipe); the persistence path on success is identical either way, see
below.
Talking to the server
NextcloudService is the
client for an authenticated session — constructed with serverUrl +
username + the app password, one instance per login (held as
ServerProvider.service, recreated on every login/switch/logout). It's
effectively stateless per-instance (three final fields, headers rebuilt per
request), which is what makes it trivial to have one saved per account
rather than needing a rewrite for multi-account support.
- Files: WebDAV (
PROPFIND/MKCOL/DELETE/MOVE/PUTetc. against/remote.php/dav/files/{username}/...) via rawhttp/diocalls with a hand-rolled XML request body andpackage:xmlfor parsing responses — there is no WebDAV client dependency._parseDavDate/_davPathin this file exist because WebDAV responses use RFC 1123 dates and either bare paths or full URLs forhref; reuse them rather than re-deriving. - Everything else (shares, activity, trash, favorites, quota, user info,
file versions) goes through Nextcloud's OCS APIs (
/ocs/v2.php/...), JSON in, with theOCS-APIRequest: trueheader required on every OCS call. - Auth header is HTTP Basic (
username:appPassword, base64), built in_headers/exposed asauthHeadersfor widgets that need to hit URLs directly (e.g.Image.network(url, headers: service.authHeaders)for thumbnails/previews). - Downloads stream through
Dio(downloadToFile) for progress callbacks; small in-app previews (text/PDF) usefetchBytesviapackage:http. - Uploads (
uploadFileFromPath(folderPath, fileName, localFilePath, {onProgress})) stream the local file viaDio().put()with an explicitContent-LengthandonSendProgress, mirroring the download path. TheServerProviderwrapper always uploads into_currentFolderPath— the share-to-upload flow (ShareUploadView) gets a caller-chosen destination by navigating there first (navigateToAbsoluteFolder), then uploading. - Receiving a shared file from another app: hand-rolled in
MainActivity.kt(AndroidACTION_SEND/ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE,android:launchModesingleTaskin the manifest so a second share while running hitsonNewIntentinstead of spawning a new instance) plusShareIntentServiceon the Dart side - not thereceive_sharing_intentplugin, which this used to be. That plugin resolves a sharedcontent://Uri by synchronously copying the entire file into the cache dir on the main thread during activity startup; for a large file that blocks long enough that Android kills the newly-launched activity for failing to draw a first frame, dropping the user straight back to the home screen with no error and no Dart code ever running.MainActivity.kt's doc comment has the full story. The fix:getInitialShare/onNewShareonly ever query cheap Uri metadata (name/size/mime, not content) soShareUploadView's destination picker - which mirrors the Files tab's own controls/filters/listing, reusing the sameServerProviderfields andwidgets/item_icon.dart- always appears instantly regardless of file size. - Uploading a shared file: once the user picks a destination in
ShareUploadView,UploadServicehands the whole batch off toShareUploadService.kt, an Android foreground service, rather than uploading from Dart in that screen. This is deliberate, not just an implementation detail: the point is that closing the app right after confirming a destination doesn't interrupt the upload, the same guarantee a real file-manager app's upload notification gives you - a plain DartFuture(even one kept alive by a singleton service class) stops running once the Flutter engine/Activity are gone, only an actual AndroidServicesurvives that. The service re-implements the WebDAV PUT itself in Kotlin (HttpURLConnection, no new HTTP dependency) since it can't reach the Dart-sideNextcloudService/ Dio from a separate process lifecycle -UploadService.startUploadpasses everything the Kotlin side needs (the pre-builtAuthorizationheader fromNextcloudService.authHeaders, not the raw password) as Intent extras, a one-way handoff with no channel back to Dart afterward. Keep the two upload implementations in sync manually if upload semantics change. Progress/cancellation is entirely notification-driven (one ongoing, updatable notification for the whole batch; its Cancel action re-delivers an Intent to the same running service instance, which anAtomicBooleanthe copy/upload loops poll) - there's no plumbing back to the Dart UI, by design, since the app may not even be running.
Multi-account storage & session persistence
AccountStore owns everything
account-identity-related; ServerProvider owns everything about which
account is currently live (see architecture.md).
- Per-account secrets: one
flutter_secure_storagekey per account,nc_app_password_<accountId>— nevershared_preferences.accountIdis deterministic (SavedAccount.makeId(serverUrl, username), a slug of both), so re-adding the same account refreshes its password instead of creating a duplicate. - Account identity list (non-secret: id/serverUrl/username) and
which one is active live in
shared_preferencesasaccounts_list(JSON array) andactive_account_id. - Global UI prefs (theme, dynamic color, AMOLED, bottom-bar
opacity/blur, tap-to-scroll-top, seek bar style, tab order/hidden/default,
swipe actions) stay flat, un-namespaced
shared_preferenceskeys — same as before multi-account, untouched by switching. - Per-account browsing prefs (grid/list view, favorites-only ×2,
storage scope, show-hidden ×2, Photos sort field/ascending, Files'
per-folder sort map, cache policy/interval — the full list is
AccountStore.perAccountPrefKeys) are namespacedacct_<accountId>_<key>and reloaded on every switch viaServerProvider._applyAccountPrefs. - Legacy migration:
AccountStore.migrateLegacyIfNeededruns once ever (guarded by theaccount_migration_v1_doneflag), turning a pre-multi- account install's 3 flat secure-storage keys + flat browsing prefs into the first saved (and active) account, so upgrading users are never logged out. Never assume the legacy keys are gone — always check the migration flag rather than the keys' absence. - On startup,
ServerProvider._init()awaits the migration, loads the account list + active id, then_restoreSession()looks up the active account's password and calls_applyCredentialsForAccount(the renamed, generation-guarded, account-aware version of what used to be_applyCredentials) to rebuild the session without re-hitting the login flow. - Switching accounts (
switchAccount/cycleToNextAccount/cycleToPreviousAccount/removeAccount's fallback, plus landing on a freshly-added account) all funnel through the single_activateAccountengine: bump_sessionGeneration, cancel any pending login flow, clear every content field without ever settingisLoggedInfalse (that's the detail that keepsmain.dart's root routing from bouncing throughLoginViewmid-switch), reload the target account's prefs, then verify its credentials and refetch everything. This is a full teardown-and-reload every time — there is deliberately no simultaneous multi-account state or background sync; only one account's content is ever live. logout()vsremoveAccount()are deliberately different actions, both funneling into a shared_deactivateSession()helper for the teardown/pointer-clearing part:logout()ends the active session but keeps the account itself fully intact (password, prefs, its entry inaccountsall untouched) — always lands onLoginVieweven if other accounts are saved (it does not fall back to one of them the wayremoveAccountdoes). This exists soLoginViewcan offer a "Continue as ..." one-tap resume list (_SavedAccountsSectioninlogin_view.dart) with no Login Flow v2 needed - logging out must never be mistaken for forgetting an account.removeAccount(id)deletes everything for that account (secure-storage password, namespaced prefs, itsaccountsentry) and, only if it was the active one, falls back to another saved account or - if none remain - calls the same_deactivateSession(). This is the only path (besideslogout()) that can setisLoggedInfalse, and the only one that's actually destructive/irreversible - UI call sites (AccountView) gate it behind a confirmation dialog;logout()doesn't need one.- Any UI code that calls either and might have ended the session should
check
!provider.isLoggedInafterward andNavigator.popUntil((r) => r.isFirst)if so — otherwise a screen pushed on top (Settings) is left stranded over a root route that's silently swapped toLoginViewunderneath it. Don't pop unconditionally — removing a non-active account, or one that fell back to another, keeps the user logged in and Settings should just stay open.
App lock (login lock)
An orthogonal, app-wide security layer on top of the Nextcloud
login/session above — not account credentials, just a gate on using the
app. AppLockService wraps
local_auth; this app never implements its own PIN entry/storage/hashing —
authenticate() always delegates to whatever the OS already has configured
(biometric, or device PIN/pattern/password as fallback, via
biometricOnly: false). Never build a custom in-app PIN screen for this —
extend AppLockService/the ServerProvider gates described in
architecture.md instead.
Android native requirements (both already done, keep them if you touch
these files): MainActivity.kt must extend FlutterFragmentActivity, not
the default FlutterActivity — local_auth's Android implementation hosts
its prompt via a Fragment and silently fails to build/crashes without it.
AndroidManifest.xml needs <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_BIOMETRIC"/> (also declared by the
plugin's own manifest via merge, but kept explicit here too).
android/app/build.gradle.kts floors minSdk at 24 (local_auth_android's
own requirement) via maxOf(24, flutter.minSdkVersion) rather than trusting
Flutter's own default to already be high enough.
isRestoringSession still gates the splash screen until the above resolves
— see standards.md for why widget tests must mock both storage channels
rather than relying on this async path throwing naturally.