Integrating Claude into a Flutter app

Adding real AI to a mobile app is less about the model and more about the engineering around it.

Keep the API behind a thin service layer

The UI should never call Claude directly. One small service owns the key, the model choice and error handling, so the rest of the app just asks for a result.

Demand structured output

Ask Claude for a typed JSON shape that maps to a Dart model, so the UI always receives predictable, validated data.

Control the cost

Cache the system prompt, pick the right model per task, and cap output length — the difference between AI that scales and AI that bleeds money.

Fail safely

Wrap every call in a timeout and a retry, and always keep a fallback path so the app degrades gracefully instead of freezing.

Stream for speed

Stream the response token by token so words appear as they're generated — the same answer feels dramatically faster.