Write Dart everywhere: Firebase Functions support

Year: 2026 · ▶ Watch on YouTube

Jason Davenport (Technical Lead for Developer Experience) · Rody (Speaker) · Kevin Moore (Senior AI Product Manager)

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Segments (7)

  • 00:00:00 · Introduction — Jason Davenport
    • The host introduces guests Rody and Kevin to discuss new developments in languages for Google Cloud developers.
  • 00:00:26 · Introducing Dart for Firebase Functions — Rody
    • Rody explains that Flutter developers can now use Dart for their backend with Firebase Functions, allowing them to reuse code and logic.
  • 01:30:00 · The ‘Why’ of Dart on the Server — Kevin Moore
    • Kevin details the performance benefits of using Dart for serverless functions, such as fast startup times, small binary sizes, and consistent performance, drawing parallels to game engine technology.
  • 07:43:00 · Developer Experience and Workflow — Jason Davenport
    • The speakers discuss how using a single language (Dart) for both front-end and back-end simplifies development, reduces context switching, and improves productivity.
  • 10:51:00 · Live Demo: Full-Stack Dart App — Kevin Moore
    • Kevin and Rody demonstrate a full-stack Dart application locally using Firebase emulators, showing real-time updates between a web client and a server-rendered page.
  • 17:14:00 · Live Deployment to Cloud Run — Kevin Moore
    • Kevin performs a live deployment of the Dart function to Cloud Run, showcasing the fast deployment cycle and updating the publicly accessible application in real-time.
  • 20:33:00 · Conclusion and Call to Action — Jason Davenport
    • The host wraps up, encouraging viewers to try Dart Functions with Firebase and provide feedback on the new experimental feature.

Products Announced (1)

  • 00:58:00 · Dart support for Firebase Functions (Experimental)
    • Write serverless functions in Dart, sharing code with Flutter clients. · Compiles to a small, native Linux binary for fast cold starts (milliseconds) and deployments. · Full local development support with Firebase Emulators.
    • Available as an experiment.

Customer Stories (2)

  • 03:28:00 · Toyota — Using Flutter for their in-car infotainment systems.
  • 03:36:00 · LG — Using Flutter for their TV user interfaces.

Competitor Mentions / Comparisons (2)

  • 02:39:00 · vs Unity — Mentioned as an example of a game engine with a cross-platform rendering engine, similar to Flutter’s approach.
  • 02:41:00 · vs Unreal Engine — Mentioned as an example of a game engine with a cross-platform rendering engine, similar to Flutter’s approach.

Benchmarks Shown (3)

  • 04:42:00 · Dart Server App Binary Size: Down to 10 MB
    • Compared to a full SDK of ~200 MB and dozens of dependencies.
  • 04:54:00 · Dart Function Deployment Time: ~25 seconds
    • Implied faster than traditional container-based deployments.
  • 05:15:00 · Dart Function Cold Start: Milliseconds
    • Enabled by Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation, avoiding JIT warm-up.

Commitments (1)

  • 19:25:00 (Ongoing) — The feature is an experiment and the team is looking for user feedback to guide future development.

Demos (1)

  • 10:51:00 ✓ · Multi-Counter Full-Stack Dart App — Kevin Moore
    • A monorepo with shared Dart code, a Flutter web app, and a Dart server function. He showed local development with Firebase emulators, real-time data sync with Firestore, and a live deployment to Cloud Run that updated the app for all users.

Notable Quotes (3)

  • 01:02:00 — Rody:

    As a Flutter developer, I can take any code that I’m running in my Flutter app, move it back to the backend, and be able to just still write Dart without having to write Node.js or Go or anything of the sort.

  • 04:05:00 — Kevin Moore:

    It turns out the things that you want in a language for mobile apps… are also exactly what you want for a functions framework, for serverless stuff.

  • 08:58:00 — Rody:

    One of the nice things about Flutter is you think about what you want to build first, and then you pick the platform second.

Visual Signals

On-screen (7)

  • 00:07:00 · Jason Davenport, Technical Lead for Developer Experience, Google Cloud
    • Identifies the host of the segment.
  • 00:11:00 · Google Cloud Next, Live from Vegas
    • Brands the event and location.
  • 02:09:00 · Kevin Moore, Senior AI Product Manager, Google Cloud
    • Identifies one of the main speakers and demoer.
  • 10:58:00 · A split screen showing a web browser with a Flutter app and a terminal window.
    • Sets up the live demo environment.
  • 11:49:00 · VS Code editor showing a monorepo file structure with 'app', 'server', and 'shared' directories.
    • Visually explains the code organization for a full-stack Dart project.
  • 17:15:00 · Terminal command: firebase –project n26-full-stack-dart deploy``
    • Shows the command used to perform the live deployment of the entire application stack.
  • 17:48:00 · Terminal output showing 'Built build/web' and 'Compiling lib/main.dart for the Web...'
    • Illustrates the build process for both the web front-end and the server back-end happening in one command.

Stage (1)

  • 00:00:00 · Three speakers are seated at a desk in a studio/booth setting on the Google Cloud Next show floor, conducting a live-streamed interview and demo.

Visual demos (1)

  • 10:51:00 · A full-stack Dart application was demonstrated, involving a Flutter web app, a Dart server function, and shared code.
    • The demo showed a split screen with a VS Code editor, a terminal running Firebase emulators and deployment commands, and two browser windows—one for the Flutter app and one for a server-generated HTML page. The Flutter app displayed a QR code and counters that updated in real-time as the server page was interacted with.

Key Topics

Dart · Flutter · Firebase · Firebase Functions · Cloud Run · Serverless · Cross-Platform Development · Full-Stack Development · Developer Experience · Live Demo · Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) Compilation · Isomorphic JavaScript · Monorepo

Takeaways

  • Google has launched experimental support for writing Firebase Functions in Dart, enabling full-stack development with a single language for Flutter developers.
  • Using Dart on the server offers significant performance advantages for serverless workloads, including millisecond cold starts and small native binary sizes, thanks to Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation.
  • The new tooling allows for a streamlined developer experience with a single monorepo for shared code, a full local emulator suite for offline development, and a simple firebase deploy command for the entire stack.
  • This approach reduces developer context-switching and eliminates the need to maintain separate data models or logic between the client (Flutter) and the backend (Dart functions).
  • Flutter’s architecture, which is similar to a game engine, allows it to deliver high-fidelity, consistent UI across a wide range of platforms, from mobile and web to desktop and embedded systems like in-car infotainment.
  • The fast iteration loop, enabled by features like hot reload and local emulators, drastically improves developer productivity.
  • The feature is currently in an experimental phase, and Google is actively seeking developer feedback to shape its future.