What Shorebird does

Shorebird (d/b/a Code Town, Inc.) is a San Francisco-based developer tools company founded in 2023 by Eric Seidel, the creator of Flutter. The company provides over-the-air (OTA) code push infrastructure for Flutter applications, enabling development teams to deploy Dart code patches directly to end-user devices without waiting for Apple App Store or Google Play review cycles. The platform supports Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux, with production-ready desktop support added in February 2025.

The core technology is a maintained fork of the Flutter engine that incorporates a custom Dart interpreter (designed for arm64 iOS to remain compliant with Apple's interpretation-only restriction for OTA updates) and a novel per-function linker that determines whether code runs from the original AOT binary or the interpreter. According to the company, this linker typically achieves 98%+ of patched code execution at full AOT speed from the original binary. The product surface includes Code Push (OTA patch delivery with cryptographic patch signing, percentage-based rollouts, custom update tracks, A/B testing, and instant rollback), Shorebird CI (a zero-config CI system for Flutter and Dart, released as an open-source Dart package in May 2026), the Shorebird CLI (with agent-friendly JSON output for AI coding tools added in June 2026), and a package:shorebird_code_push Dart SDK that lets apps read the current patch version and trigger updates programmatically.

Shorebird operates a self-serve, product-led growth motion: developers onboard via CLI in under five minutes, manage accounts through the Shorebird Console (console.shorebird.dev), and subscribe through a freemium model with a free Hobby tier and paid Business and Enterprise subscriptions billed monthly or annually (yearly plans launched April 2025 with upfront patch credits). The company has 1-10 employees, raised a $3M seed round led by Accel in January 2026, and distributes primarily through its CLI, documentation, Discord community, GitHub presence, and integrations with GitHub Actions, Codemagic, Sentry, and Crashlytics.

Name

Shorebird

Legal name

Code Town, Inc.

Website

https://shorebird.dev

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shorebird provides over-the-air code push and CI tooling for Flutter applications, enabling developers to ship Dart code updates without app store review. Targets Flutter mobile and desktop developers via a CLI-first, freemium subscription model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Code Push Subscription Plans: Subscription-based pricing for Code Push OTA update capability, billed monthly or annually. Plans range from a free Hobby tier (single developer) to paid tiers supporting unlimited developers on Business and Enterprise plans. Annual plans offer upfront patch credits and no overage charges.
2. Shorebird CI (Beta): Zero-config CI service for Flutter/Dart applications, available as part of the subscription tiers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Shorebird provides over-the-air (OTA) code push updates for Flutter applications, enabling developers to deploy Dart code patches directly to users' devices without app store review cycles. The service is built on a proprietary fork of the Flutter engine with a custom Dart interpreter and per-function linker, supporting Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux. Shorebird also offers Shorebird CI, a zero-config continuous integration system for Flutter and Dart projects, accessible primarily through the Shorebird CLI and Console web app.

Product overview

Shorebird is an opinionated platform for building and deploying Flutter applications with two core products: Code Push for over-the-air Dart code updates and Shorebird CI for zero-config continuous integration. The platform enables teams to ship patches directly to users' devices without app store review delays, with support for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and macOS. Code Push integrates with existing CI/CD workflows via GitHub Actions or Codemagic, while Shorebird CI generates optimized GitHub Actions workflows. Additional features include custom update tracks with percentage rollouts, patch signing for security, organizations for team management, and the Shorebird Create CLI command for scaffolding new projects with OTA capability built in from day one.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Code Push: Over-the-air update service for deploying Flutter app patches without app store review cycles.
• Shorebird CI

Products and services

• Code Push Over-the-air code update service for Flutter applications. Enables deploying Dart code patches directly to users' devices without waiting for app store review cycles. Supports Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux with instant rollbacks, percentage-based rollouts, patch signing, and iOS obfuscation.
• Shorebird CI Zero-config continuous integration system for Flutter and Dart applications. Evolved from a hosted service into an open-source Dart package that generates optimized GitHub Actions workflows with Flutter-aware checks, automatic dependency graphs, and monorepo support in a single command.
• Shorebird Create CLI command for scaffolding new Flutter projects pre-configured with OTA capability, CI/CD tooling, and release management from day one.
• Shorebird CLI Command-line interface tool for managing releases, patches, and deployments. Supports agent-friendly mode with JSON output for AI tool integration and serves as the primary developer interface for Shorebird products.

Quantifiable outcome

• Patch sizes on Android are typically a few kilobytes; iOS patches are typically hundreds of kilobytes (binary diffing)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CodemagiccoreTechnology or Integration · 28 January 2025Shorebird integrates with Codemagic, a CI/CD platform built specifically for mobile apps. This integration enables developers to automatically create and deploy Shorebird patches as part of their Codemagic CI/CD pipeline. Codemagic handles mobile-specific workflows (certificates, provisioning profiles, platform-specific signing) while Shorebird handles OTA patch delivery. The integration was announced via Shorebird blog on January 28, 2025.
• Google CloudcoreTechnology or IntegrationShorebird uses Google Cloud for hosting its infrastructure, including Google Cloud Storage for artifact storage and Google Cloud Run. The following URLs are served via Google Cloud infrastructure: api.shorebird.dev, storage.googleapis.com, and download.shorebird.dev. Listed as a vendor in Shorebird's privacy policy.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe is used for payment processing for Shorebird subscriptions and billing. Listed as a vendor in Shorebird's privacy policy.
• GitHubcoreTechnology or IntegrationShorebird's code, bug reports, and contributions are managed via GitHub (github.com/shorebirdtech). The documentation is also editable via GitHub. Listed as a vendor in Shorebird's privacy policy.
• DiscordcoreTechnology or IntegrationDiscord is used as Shorebird's primary customer support and community platform. Listed as a vendor in Shorebird's privacy policy.
• Very Good Ventures (VGV)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVGV is a leading Flutter development agency known for defining architecture patterns in the Flutter community. Referenced in Shorebird's Flutter documentation as the go-to agency for companies needing Flutter expertise. Not an explicit commercial partnership but a referenced ecosystem partner in Flutter community context.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Vercel: Vercel provides frontend deployment with instant rollbacks and preview deployments for web frameworks. Broad incumbent in the developer deployment/orchestration space with the same 'ship faster with instant rollback' value proposition for a different (web) target audience.
• Sentry: Sentry provides error tracking, performance monitoring, and symbol upload integrations that Shorebird itself supports. Broad incumbent in developer observability that also offers release-adjacent features (release health, version tracking) comparable to Shorebird's adoption monitoring.
• GitHub Actions: GitHub Actions is the underlying CI substrate Shorebird CI generates workflows against. Broad incumbent in CI/CD that constrains Shorebird CI's pricing power — many teams will simply build Flutter CI on Actions directly without a Flutter-aware wrapper.
• CircleCI: CircleCI is a general-purpose CI/CD platform with mobile build capabilities. Broad incumbent in the CI/CD space that competes with Shorebird CI for Flutter/Dart CI workloads among enterprise teams.
• Firebase Remote Config / App Distribution: Firebase Remote Config and App Distribution are Google's free/built-in mechanisms for changing app behavior and distributing updates. Broad incumbent with partial overlap — Remote Config covers configuration changes but not code patches, and App Distribution requires manual user action, leaving a gap Shorebird fills but with free alternative pressure on the low end.

Direct peers

• Codemagic: Codemagic is a CI/CD platform purpose-built for Flutter and mobile apps. While Shorebird integrates with Codemagic (mutual partner), Codemagic also overlaps as a Flutter-focused DevOps platform. Direct peer in the Flutter developer tooling category, with overlapping CI capabilities to Shorebird CI.
• Ionic Appflow (Live Updates): Ionic Appflow provides Live Updates for Capacitor/Ionic apps, enabling OTA delivery of web bundle changes. Direct peer in OTA code push for mobile hybrid apps, targeting similar enterprise mobile developer personas with subscription pricing and CI/CD bundling.
• Microsoft CodePush (App Center): Microsoft's CodePush provides OTA JavaScript bundle updates for React Native apps via App Center. It is the closest analog to Shorebird's Code Push, operating the same product category (mobile OTA updates) for a different cross-platform framework. Direct peer because the technical concept, developer pain point, and GTM motion (CLI + console) are nearly identical.
• Expo (EAS Update): Expo's EAS Update delivers OTA JavaScript updates to Expo/React Native apps, with percentage rollouts, channels, and rollback. Direct peer in the OTA code push category serving a different cross-platform framework (React Native vs. Flutter) with the same developer-targeted PLG motion.

Emerging players

• Capawesome: Capawesome provides live update and cloud capabilities (including Capacitor Live Updates) for hybrid mobile apps built with Capacitor. Emerging player in the OTA category with partial overlap to Shorebird via shared developer tooling pain points around app store review delays.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/shorebirdtech
• Xx.com/shorebirddev

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shorebird