# Google Cloud and Firebase

> How larch uses Google Cloud and Firebase: Hiki runs on Cloud Run with Firebase sign-in and push, and the Bridddge app keeps its accounts in Firebase.

URL: https://larch.ee/technologies/google-cloud-firebase/

larch deploys and runs products on Google Cloud and Firebase. Hiki’s back end, web app and daily scraper run on Cloud Run, with Firebase for sign-in and push notifications, and the Bridddge desktop app keeps its accounts in Firebase.

- Products built: 2
- Compute: Cloud Run
- Deploys: Cloud Build, every push
- Sign-in: Firebase Auth
- Hiki’s region: europe-west1 (Belgium)

## Built with Google Cloud and Firebase

Two products, running in the cloud. One product lives on Google Cloud end to end. The other is a desktop app that uses Firebase for its accounts.

### [Hiki](https://larch.ee/work/hiki/)

Cloud Run serves Hiki’s FastAPI back end and Next.js web app and runs the daily scraper. Cloud Build deploys on every push, and Firebase handles Google sign-in and push notifications.

- Year: 2025
- Stack: Next.js, React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, FastAPI, Python, MongoDB, Firebase, Google Cloud
- Live product: https://hiki.world

### [Bridddge](https://larch.ee/work/bridddge/)

The Bridddge desktop app signs users in with Firebase Auth and keeps each account’s subscription and usage in Firestore.

- Year: 2025
- Stack: Electron, React, TypeScript, shadcn/ui, Tailwind CSS, SQLite, Firebase, MCP, Claude AI
- Live product: https://bridddge.com

## Related service

### [Web platform development](https://larch.ee/services/web-platform-development/)

Fast, resilient platforms that grow with your business, not against it.

What you get:

- **SaaS platforms, real-time dashboards and multilingual apps**: Bridddge keeps each user’s subscription and usage in Firestore, one record per account.
- **The entire stack, from front end to database**: Hiki’s web app, API, scraper and photo storage run in one Google Cloud project.
- **Deployed, monitored and scaled, not just built**: Cloud Build ships Hiki on every push to main, and Cloud Logging keeps the record in production.

## How we use Google Cloud and Firebase

Run in production, not just built. Shipping is half the job. Hiki deploys on every push to main and runs with no servers to look after, and Bridddge’s accounts live in Firebase.

### Hiki: three workloads on Cloud Run

Hiki runs on Google Cloud in the EU region europe-west1. Cloud Run serves two services, the FastAPI back end and the Next.js web app, and runs the scraper as a Cloud Run job that Cloud Scheduler starts every morning to refresh the catalog from the bookstores. Each push to main triggers Cloud Build, which builds the containers, stores them in Artifact Registry and deploys the new version.

A global HTTPS load balancer with Cloud Armor sits in front of the site. Marketplace photos go straight from the browser into a private Cloud Storage bucket through signed upload links, resized first, so the back end never handles the files. Logs go to Cloud Logging.

### Firebase on Hiki

Firebase Auth gives Hiki Google sign-in, on the web and in the Android app, and the back end verifies the sign-in token before it trusts a request. Firebase Cloud Messaging sends the push notifications, and the back end clears out tokens that no longer work.

### Bridddge: accounts for a desktop app

Bridddge runs on the user’s Mac, but its accounts live in Firebase. The app signs users in with Firebase Auth and keeps each account’s subscription and usage in Firestore.

### Why this pairing

Cloud Run scales with traffic and back down again with no servers to manage, and Firebase brings sign-in and notifications without building them from scratch. This site, larch.ee, runs on Cloud Run too.

## Other technologies

Used alongside it. Hiki’s FastAPI back end runs on Cloud Run, and its Android app signs in with Firebase. See what else we built with them.

- [Python and FastAPI](https://larch.ee/technologies/python-fastapi/): Hiki’s back end: FastAPI with async MongoDB, the aiohttp scrapers and the pipeline that enriches every title.
- [Kotlin and Jetpack Compose](https://larch.ee/technologies/kotlin-jetpack-compose/): Hiki for Android: a native Kotlin app with every screen in Jetpack Compose, on Google Play.
- [All technologies](https://larch.ee/technologies/): Eleven technologies, each one running in a product we shipped.

## How to start

Tell us what you want to ship. Bring the idea. We’ll tell you how we’d build it and what it takes.

- Book a 30-minute call: https://calendly.com/nicholas-stackwise/30min
- Email: nicholas@larch.ee