Riverpod: why use a Provider instead of a global final variable

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I came across some code using Riverpod, for example for retrieving http data with Dio, using a Riverpod provider as below:

final client = Provider((ref) => Dio());

then use it to fetch data:

final response = await ref.watch(client).getUri<Map<String, Object?>>(uri, cancelToken: cancelToken);

Why use a Riverpod Provider for the client as it reference will never change and not use a global variable instead?:

final clientDio = Dio();

final response = await clientDio.getUri<Map<String, Object?>>(uri, cancelToken: cancelToken);
riverpod flutter
1 Answers

Using a provider allows replacing the implementation with a different one using overrides.

For an HTTP client, this can allow replacing it with a fake one that returns pre-determined responses. This can be useful for testing or development/debugging purposes.

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