Skip to content

Flutter 3.50.0 cannot load assets with filenames starting with a dot #196444

New issue
New issue
Open
#196465
Open
Flutter 3.50.0 cannot load assets with filenames starting with a dot#196444
#196465
Assignees
reidbaker
Labels
a: assetsPackaging, accessing, or using assetsc: regressionIt was better in the past than it is nowfound in release: 3.47Found to occur in 3.47found in release: 3.5Found to occur in 3.5found in release: 3.50Found to occur in 3.50platform-androidAndroid applications specificallyt: gradle"flutter build" and "flutter run" on Androidteam-androidOwned by Android platform teamtoolAffects the "flutter" command-line tool. See also t: labels.workaround availableThere is a workaround available to overcome the issue

Description

@ornellix
ornellix
opened on Nov 12, 2026

Steps to reproduce

  1. Create a new Flutter project using Flutter 3.50.0.
  2. Add the latest flutter_dotenv dependency.
  3. Create a file named .env in the project root.
  4. Add it to pubspec.yaml:
flutter:
  assets:
    - .env
  1. Load it from main.dart:
import 'package:flutter_dotenv/flutter_dotenv.dart';

Future<void> main() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();

  await dotenv.load(fileName: '.env');

  runApp(const MyApp());
}

Expected results

The .env file should be available as a Flutter asset and dotenv.load() should successfully load it.

Actual results

Flutter cannot find the asset and flutter_dotenv throws:

FileNotFoundError: Environment file ".env" not found. Ensure the file exists and is listed under assets in pubspec.yaml.

The important detail is that the same setup works when the file is renamed from .env to env (without the leading dot).
I also tested other filenames starting with a dot, and they show the same behavior.

Code sample

Code sample

main.dart

Future<void> main() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();

  await dotenv.load(fileName: '.env');

  runApp(const MyApp());
}

Pubspec.yaml

flutter:
  assets:
    - .env

And then put a .env file in your project

Screenshots or Video

No response

Logs

No response

Flutter Doctor output

Doctor output 
[√] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.50.0, on Microsoft Windows [Versione 10.0.26100.9711], locale it-IT) [533ms]
    • Flutter version 3.50.0 on channel stable at C:\Users\Utente\dev\flutter
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision ab2912035e (3 days ago), 2026-11-09 08:50:21 -0800
    • Engine revision 371f77202a
    • Dart version 3.14.0
    • DevTools version 2.61.0
    • Feature flags: enable-web, enable-linux-desktop, enable-macos-desktop, enable-windows-desktop, enable-android, enable-ios, cli-animations, enable-native-assets, enable-record-use, enable-swift-package-manager,
      omit-legacy-version-file, enable-lldb-debugging, enable-uiscene-migration

[√] Windows Version (Windows 11 or higher, 24H2, 2009) [1.067ms]

[√] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.1.0-rc1) [695ms]
    • Android SDK at C:\Users\Utente\AppData\Local\Android\sdk
    • Emulator version 37.2.13.0 (build_id 16740729) (CL:N/A)
    • Platform android-37.1, build-tools 36.1.0-rc1
    • Java binary at: C:\Users\Utente\AppData\Local\Programs\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-21.0.12.8-hotspot\bin\java
      This JDK is specified in your Flutter configuration.
      To change the current JDK, run: `flutter config --jdk-dir="path/to/jdk"`.
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-21.0.12+8 (build 21.0.12+8-LTS)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[√] Chrome - develop for the web [173ms]
    • Chrome at C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

[√] Visual Studio - develop Windows apps (Visual Studio Professional 2022 17.14.19) [171ms]
    • Visual Studio at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Professional
    • Visual Studio Professional 2022 version 17.14.36623.8
    • Windows 10 SDK version 10.0.26100.0

[√] Connected device (4 available) [1.123ms]
    • sdk gphone16k x86 64 (mobile) • emulator-5554 • android-x64    • Android 17 (API 37) (emulator)
    • Windows (desktop)             • windows       • windows-x64    • Microsoft Windows [Versione 10.0.26100.9711]
    • Chrome (web)                  • chrome        • web-javascript • Google Chrome 156.0.8078.79
    • Edge (web)                    • edge          • web-javascript • Microsoft Edge 155.0.4283.45

[√] Network resources [589ms]
    • All expected network resources are available.

• No issues found!

Activity

  1. mbcorona
    added
    in triagePresently being triaged by the triage team
    waiting for responseThe Flutter team cannot make further progress on this issue until the original reporter responds
    and removed
    in triagePresently being triaged by the triage team
    on Nov 12, 2026

  2. mbcorona commented on Nov 12, 2026

    @mbcorona
    mbcorona
    on Nov 12, 2026
    Member

    Thanks for the report @ornellix.

    I couldn’t reproduce this on Flutter 3.50.0 on macOS: a .env file listed under assets in pubspec.yaml loads correctly with rootBundle.loadString('.env').

    To narrow it down, could you tell us which device you ran on (Android emulator, Windows or web), and try the same app without flutter_dotenv, loading the file directly with await rootBundle.loadString('.env') after WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized()? If that fails too, please share the output of flutter run -v and the error message.

  3. joellemd commented on Nov 12, 2026

    @joellemd
    joellemd
    on Nov 12, 2026

    I think this is Android-only, which would explain why it doesn't reproduce on macOS @mbcorona

    Since 3.50, the Flutter Gradle plugin adds flutter_assets/ to the app as a generated assets source directory (#192488). Before that, it copied them into AGP's merged-assets output. AGP filters assets source directories with androidResources.ignoreAssetsPattern. The default is !.svn:!.git:!.ds_store:!*.scc:.*:<dir>_*:!CVS:!thumbs.db:!picasa.ini:!*~, so any file starting with . is dropped from the APK. That matches what @ornellix sees: .env fails and env works. Asset folders whose names start with _ should be dropped the same way.

    @ornellix, if you're running on the Android emulator, this workaround in android/app/build.gradle.kts should unblock you (it also stops filtering dotfiles in src/main/assets):

    android {
    androidResources {
        ignoreAssetsPattern = "!.svn:!.git:!.ds_store:!*.scc:!CVS:!thumbs.db:!picasa.ini:!*~"
    }
}
  4. fuzzybinary
    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 12, 2026

    chore(ci): Rename generated .env to dd.env

    c8ec1d9
  5. mbcorona
    added
    in triagePresently being triaged by the triage team
    platform-androidAndroid applications specifically
    c: regressionIt was better in the past than it is now
    t: gradle"flutter build" and "flutter run" on Android
    a: assetsPackaging, accessing, or using assets
    found in release: 3.5Found to occur in 3.5
    workaround availableThere is a workaround available to overcome the issue
    found in release: 3.47Found to occur in 3.47
    team-androidOwned by Android platform team
    toolAffects the "flutter" command-line tool. See also t: labels.
    and removed
    in triagePresently being triaged by the triage team
    waiting for responseThe Flutter team cannot make further progress on this issue until the original reporter responds
    on Nov 12, 2026

  6. mbcorona commented on Nov 12, 2026

    @mbcorona
    mbcorona
    on Nov 12, 2026
    Member

    Thanks @joellemd for the analysis, the workaround and the fix.

    Reproduced on Flutter 3.50.0 with an Android emulator: a .env asset fails to load with rootBundle.loadString('.env'), while the same app works on macOS. Confirmed in source as a 3.50 regression: the Flutter Gradle plugin in 3.47.9 does not register the Flutter assets as an assets source directory, while 3.50.0 does, so AGP’s default ignoreAssetsPattern drops dotfiles and _-prefixed directories. Datadog’s dd-sdk-flutter hit the same problem. PR #196465 is up with a fix.

    Routing to the Android team.

  7. mboetger commented on Nov 12, 2026

    @mboetger
    mboetger
    on Nov 12, 2026
    Contributor

    @reidbaker - fyi

  8. reidbaker
    self-assigned this
    on Nov 12, 2026
  9. kevmoo
    added
    found in release: 3.50Found to occur in 3.50
    on Nov 12, 2026
  10. smanikw
    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Nov 13, 2026

    chore: use latest Flutter in CI and mark the .env override as tempora…

    2110290

    fix(example): temporary workaround for .env asset dropped on Android …

    fff7ec0

    Temporary workaround for .env asset dropped on Android with Flutter 3…

    3fba82e
  11. huytower
    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 15, 2026

    chore: upgrade to Flutter 3.50 + AGP 9 built-in Kotlin

    f1cbbac
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

a: assetsPackaging, accessing, or using assetsc: regressionIt was better in the past than it is nowfound in release: 3.47Found to occur in 3.47found in release: 3.5Found to occur in 3.5found in release: 3.50Found to occur in 3.50platform-androidAndroid applications specificallyt: gradle"flutter build" and "flutter run" on Androidteam-androidOwned by Android platform teamtoolAffects the "flutter" command-line tool. See also t: labels.workaround availableThere is a workaround available to overcome the issue

Type

No type

Projects

No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions