Impeller Checklist Before You Tag a Beta

Impeller shifts how shaders compile and how textures warm up on first paint. Before tagging a beta, freeze a device matrix that mirrors your top three storefront regions—not every handset, but the ones your analytics already trust.

We recommend capturing frame timelines on cold install, warm resume, and after a low-memory event. Compare median jank against your last stable tag rather than chasing a mythical zero. Document shader warmup explicitly in your release notes so QA knows what changed.

Shader bundles should be versioned alongside Dart code. If a teammate hotfixes a widget without bumping the bundle hash, you risk silent drift between CI golden baselines and nightly perf bots. Tie the hash to your existing artifact naming so release managers can audit quickly.

Finally, add a rollback lever: keep the previous Impeller toggle documented in your internal wiki with screenshots of the exact settings screen. Field teams appreciate a one-glance decision tree when a partner OEM behaves unexpectedly.