I am working on a Flutter app that integrates Firebase, but I keep running into the following error during the build process:

Execution failed for task ':processDebugGoogleServices'.
 File google-services.json is missing.
  The Google Services Plugin cannot function without it.
  Searched locations:
  C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\src\debug\google-services.json
  C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\src\google-services.json
  C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\google-services.json

However, I have verified that the google-services.json file does exist in the correct location:

C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\app\google-services.json

What I Have Tried:

Verified the Package Name The package name in google-services.json matches my project:

"android_client_info": {
  "package_name": "com.child1st.snapwordslista"
}

The same package name is set in:

• AndroidManifest.xml
• app/build.gradle.kts
• google-services.json

Checked Gradle and Dependencies App-level build.gradle.kts includes Firebase dependencies:

plugins {
    id("com.android.application")
    id("kotlin-android")
    id("com.google.gms.google-services")
    id("dev.flutter.flutter-gradle-plugin") apply false
}

>dependencies {
    implementation(platform("com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:32.7.3"))
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics")
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-firestore")
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-storage")
}

Project-level build.gradle.kts includes required repositories:

>allprojects {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
    }
}

Checked If Gradle Can See the File Running the following command in PowerShell:

Get-Content android/app/google-services.json

Output: It correctly prints the file contents.

Rebuilt the Project I tried running:

>cd android
./gradlew.bat clean
./gradlew.bat build --refresh-dependencies
cd ..
flutter clean
flutter pub get
flutter run

Still getting the missing google-services.json error.

Ensured Android Studio Syncs the File Restarted Android Studio, invalidated caches, and re-synced Gradle: File → Sync Project with Gradle Files Checked for any permission issues preventing Gradle from accessing the file.

Checked for Spaces in the File Path My project is stored in:

C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\

Could the spaces in the directory name ("Android 2.0") be causing issues? I haven’t tested renaming the directory yet.

Question: Given all the troubleshooting steps I've tried, what else could be preventing Gradle from recognizing google-services.json?

Could this be a Gradle configuration issue? Is the project structure causing Gradle to look in the wrong directory? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I am working on a Flutter app that integrates Firebase, but I keep running into the following error during the build process:

Execution failed for task ':processDebugGoogleServices'.
 File google-services.json is missing.
  The Google Services Plugin cannot function without it.
  Searched locations:
  C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\src\debug\google-services.json
  C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\src\google-services.json
  C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\google-services.json

However, I have verified that the google-services.json file does exist in the correct location:

C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\android\app\google-services.json

What I Have Tried:

Verified the Package Name The package name in google-services.json matches my project:

"android_client_info": {
  "package_name": "com.child1st.snapwordslista"
}

The same package name is set in:

• AndroidManifest.xml
• app/build.gradle.kts
• google-services.json

Checked Gradle and Dependencies App-level build.gradle.kts includes Firebase dependencies:

plugins {
    id("com.android.application")
    id("kotlin-android")
    id("com.google.gms.google-services")
    id("dev.flutter.flutter-gradle-plugin") apply false
}

>dependencies {
    implementation(platform("com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:32.7.3"))
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics")
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-firestore")
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-storage")
}

Project-level build.gradle.kts includes required repositories:

>allprojects {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
    }
}

Checked If Gradle Can See the File Running the following command in PowerShell:

Get-Content android/app/google-services.json

Output: It correctly prints the file contents.

Rebuilt the Project I tried running:

>cd android
./gradlew.bat clean
./gradlew.bat build --refresh-dependencies
cd ..
flutter clean
flutter pub get
flutter run

Still getting the missing google-services.json error.

Ensured Android Studio Syncs the File Restarted Android Studio, invalidated caches, and re-synced Gradle: File → Sync Project with Gradle Files Checked for any permission issues preventing Gradle from accessing the file.

Checked for Spaces in the File Path My project is stored in:

C:\Users\Ryan\Documents\Child1st\Android 2.0\android2\

Could the spaces in the directory name ("Android 2.0") be causing issues? I haven’t tested renaming the directory yet.

Question: Given all the troubleshooting steps I've tried, what else could be preventing Gradle from recognizing google-services.json?

Could this be a Gradle configuration issue? Is the project structure causing Gradle to look in the wrong directory? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

• android
• flutter
• firebase
• android-studio

1 Answer 1

You need to check that the firebase.json file at the root of your project contains the path to the google-services.json file.

"android": {
  "default": {
    "projectId": "XXXXX",
    "appId": "XXXXX",
    "fileOutput": "android/app/google-services.json"
  }
}