BiliLive — Bilibili Live Streaming Viewer: Project Deep Dive

Project: Flutter-based Bilibili live streaming Android client GitHub: BoooSAMA/dart_simple_live_bilibili Framework: Flutter 3.38 + Dart Upstream: xiaoyaocz/dart_simple_live (GPL-3.0) License: GPL-3.0

Project Overview
Tech Stack
Project Architecture
Feature Details
Core API & Data Flow
v2.0 Refactoring Highlights
v2.1 New Features
Local Development & Build
Comparison with the Original Project

1. Project Overview

One-Sentence Summary

BiliLive is an Android Bilibili live streaming viewer, streamlined and optimized from Simple Live, focused on delivering a clean and efficient Bilibili live browsing experience.

Project Background

The original project Simple Live is a multi-platform live streaming aggregation client supporting Bilibili, Huya, Douyu, Douyin, and more. This project was forked and heavily customized:

Removed multi-platform support (Huya, Douyu, Douyin, etc.)
Removed non-core features requiring a backend server (account login, synced follows)
Retained and optimized the core Bilibili live streaming experience
Added differentiated features like live room audio recording, pinned homepage categories, and local favorites

Core Goals

Provide a pure Bilibili live streaming browsing experience
Zero account dependency — all favorites and follows stored locally
Live room audio recording — save live audio as M4A files in real time
Optimized category browsing system — subcategory browsing and favorites
Overseas-friendly — bypass API endpoints that block overseas IPs

2. Tech Stack

Category	Technology	Description
Framework	Flutter 3.38	Cross-platform UI (currently Android only)
Language	Dart	Application logic & UI
Live API	Bilibili Live API	Room info, danmaku, stream URLs
Local Storage	Hive	Lightweight NoSQL local database
FFmpeg	ffmpeg_kit_flutter	Live audio recording engine
State Management	GetX	Reactive state management
Platform Channel	MethodChannel	Flutter ↔ Native communication

Key Dependencies

Package	Purpose
`ffmpeg_kit_flutter_new_https_gpl`	FFmpeg audio recording engine
`file_picker`	File picker (recording storage path)
`open_filex`	Open files
`share_plus`	File sharing
`hive` / `hive_flutter`	Local data persistence
`get` (GetX)	State management & routing
`wakelock_plus`	Prevent device sleep

3. Project Architecture

Overall Structure

dart_simple_live_bilibili/
├── simple_live_core/                # Core library (Bilibili only)
│   ├── lib/src/
│   │   ├── bilibili/
│   │   │   ├── bilibili_site.dart         # Site registration
│   │   │   ├── bilibili_live_api.dart     # Bilibili live API wrapper
│   │   │   ├── bilibili_message.dart      # Danmaku/message protocol
│   │   │   └── models/                    # Data models
│   │   └── base/                          # Abstract base classes
│   └── pubspec.yaml
│
└── simple_live_app/                  # Flutter APP client
    ├── lib/
    │   ├── main.dart                        # App entry point
    │   ├── app.dart                         # App component
    │   ├── store/                           # GetX state management
    │   ├── pages/
    │   │   ├── home/                        # Home (recommendation + pinned tabs)
    │   │   ├── live_room/                   # Live room detail page
    │   │   ├── search/                      # Search page
    │   │   ├── follow/                      # Local favorites list
    │   │   ├── history/                     # Watch history
    │   │   └── settings/                    # Settings (including audio config)
    │   ├── widgets/                         # Reusable components
    │   └── utils/                           # Utility functions
    ├── android/
    └── pubspec.yaml

Architecture Layers

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              UI Layer (Flutter Widgets)       │
│   Pages / Widgets / GetX Controllers          │
│   • Home recommendation + pinned tabs        │
│   • Live room (player + danmaku + recording)  │
│   • Search / Follow / History / Settings     │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   │
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│          Business Logic Layer                │
│  • LiveRoomStore — room state management    │
│  • FollowStore — local favorites storage    │
│  • HistoryStore — watch history             │
│  • RecordingService — FFmpeg recording mgmt │
│  • SettingsStore — appearance/audio config  │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   │
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│  simple_live_core (Bilibili API Layer)       │
│  • Room info API (base info / stream URL)   │
│  • Recommendation API (recommend / areas)    │
│  • Danmaku WebSocket protocol               │
│  • Search API                               │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   │
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│          Native Layer / External Services    │
│  • FFmpeg (audio recording engine)          │
│  • Bilibili Live API (HTTP + WebSocket)     │
│  • Hive (local persistence)                 │
│  • Platform Channel communication           │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

4. Feature Details

4.1 Live Room Browsing

Feature	Description
Recommendation Feed	Home recommendation tab, loads data immediately on startup
Category Browsing	Top category dropdown, expand to view subcategories
Subcategory Detail	Click subcategory to enter detail page, fetch room list by area_id
Category Favorites	Star favorite subcategories, shown in “My Favorites” section
Pin Category to Home	Pin subcategories as home tabs for instant loading
Search	Search live rooms and streamers
Profile Page	View streamer info and room list

4.2 Live Playback

Multiple quality levels: Supports Bilibili’s available quality options
Danmaku display: WebSocket real-time danmaku with keyword blocking
Playback controls: Play/pause, fullscreen toggle

4.3 Local Features (No Account Needed)

All personal data stored locally, no Bilibili account required:

Feature	Storage Method
Follow/Favorite rooms	Hive local database
Watch history	Hive local database
Category favorites	Hive JSON serialization
Pinned category config	Hive persistence
Appearance settings	Hive / SharedPreferences
Audio settings	Hive / File system

4.4 Live Room Recording

See v2.1 New Features.

4.5 Sleep Timer

Set a timer to automatically stop playback or exit the app
Countdown display in the UI

5. Core API & Data Flow

5.1 API Endpoints

API	Endpoint	Purpose
Recommendation	`webMain/getMoreRecList`	Home recommendation room list
Area room list	`room/v1/area/getRoomList`	Get subcategory rooms by area_id
Room info	`room/v1/Room/get_info`	Get basic room information
Stream URL	`room/v1/Room/playUrl`	Get live stream URL
Search	`live/v1/room/search`	Search live rooms
Danmaku WebSocket	`broadcastlv.chat.bilibili.com`	Real-time danmaku push

5.2 API Upgrade (v2.0)

v2.0 introduced significant API migration:

Recommendation: Migrated from second/getList and second/getListByArea to webMain/getMoreRecList (less IP blocking for overseas users)
Area rooms: Added getAreaRooms (room/v1/area/getRoomList), no WBI signature required, globally accessible, 30 rooms per page
Category matching: Three-level matching strategy (exact parent name → fuzzy parent name → fuzzy subcategory name) for improved accuracy

5.3 Image Loading Optimization

Cover image decoding resolution limit (cacheWidth: 400px)
Significantly reduced memory usage, fixed list scroll stutter

6. v2.0 Refactoring Highlights

6.1 Category Browsing System

Old issue: Category classification was not granular enough — no way to browse subcategory content directly.

New solution:

Current category name displayed at top; click to open category picker
Category picker supports expand/collapse for parent categories, showing all subcategories
Click subcategory to enter a dedicated detail page using getAreaRooms API
Subcategories can be starred as favorites, appearing in “My Favorites”

6.2 Local Favorites

Old issue: The original project removed the follow feature, requiring login.