Introduction
FlutterKaigi has established itself as one of the most important events for the Flutter community in Japan. Its fourth edition, held on November 21–22, 2024, brought together developers, companies, and experts to share technical knowledge and real production experiences. CyberAgent participated as a Gold sponsor, showcasing its strong commitment to Flutter across multiple digital products. Although I attended only the first day, the experience was inspiring enough to share the most relevant takeaways.
What is flutterKaigi and why It matters
FlutterKaigi 2024 is a technical conference focused exclusively on Flutter, launched in 2021, this was its fourth edition and the second to take place in person, the event served both to update attendees on technical trends and to strengthen connections within the Flutter ecosystem.
At CyberAgent’s booth:
- Four products built with Flutter were showcased.
- Technical talks were held with visitors.
- Promotional items were distributed.
- Nine engineers participated as speakers (a company record).
Highlighted Sessions and Technical Innovations
Sessions covered a wide range of topics:
- Animation and performance optimization.
- Advanced theme management.
- Feature flags and SLI/SLO strategies.
- WebAssembly (Wasm) on Flutter Web.
- Custom DevTools extensions.
Notable sessions included:
- Shorebird and Code Push: The talk about instant updates with Shorebird discussed responsible use of Code Push in Flutter apps, clarifying security concerns, limitations, and ethical considerations.
- Dart Macros: The experimental introduction of macros in Dart promises to reduce repetitive code and simplify patterns such as immutable classes. This may lessen reliance on external packages for state management and boilerplate generation.
- Managing Complex Forms: Demonstrations using Riverpod and Flutter Hooks showed practical approaches to handling the inherent complexity of advanced form state.
Community and Booth Culture
Beyond sessions, the booth experience was a major highlight, examples:
- RevenueCat: interactive activities with prizes and networking.
- DroidKaigi: mascots and a visible Kotlin/Dart presence.
- Yumemi and Bitkey: creative activities and technical engagement.
- A stamp rally offering exclusive prizes like plush toys and merch.
These dynamics reinforce community culture and collaboration within the Flutter ecosystem.
Professional Impact and Learnings
Attending FlutterKaigi provided opportunities to:
- Validate emerging trends (Wasm, Macros, Code Push).
- Observe production-grade practices applied in real projects.
- Expand technical networks.
- Identify improvement opportunities for large-scale projects.
For teams building complex applications such as matchmaking platforms or large-scale products these lessons are strategically valuable.
Recommendations
- Attend technical conferences to stay current with trends.
- Explore emerging technologies like Dart Macros and Wasm for Flutter.
- Evaluate tools like Shorebird with clear ethical and technical criteria.
- Actively participate in booths and networking activities.
- Contribute as a speaker to strengthen the technical community.
Conclusions
FlutterKaigi 2024 demonstrated that Flutter continues to evolve rapidly not just as a framework but as a full ecosystem. The technical sessions, active participation from companies like CyberAgent, and strong community culture confirm Flutter’s consolidation as a key technology in cross-platform mobile development.
Events like this provide not only technical knowledge but also inspiration and human connection within the tech world.
The next edition will surely be an even greater opportunity to learn, share, and grow professionally.
Glossary
- Flutter: Google’s framework for building cross-platform applications from a single codebase.
- Code Push: A technique that enables updating parts of an app without publishing a new store release.
- Macros: A feature that generates code automatically from developer-defined patterns.
- Wasm (WebAssembly): Technology that enables high-performance code execution in web browsers.
- Feature Flag: A technique to enable or disable functionality without deploying a new version.
