diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4ffa9bd0696..7d9a2a023fe 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 - Add a confirmation in `firebase init dataconnect` before asking for app idea description. (#9282)
+- [BREAKING] Removed support for '.bolt' rules files.
diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
index b42c6121d84..d16af954ddd 100644
--- a/src/config.ts
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import * as utils from "./utils";
 import { getValidator, getErrorMessage } from "./firebaseConfigValidate";
 import { logger } from "./logger";
 import { loadCJSON } from "./loadCJSON";
-const parseBoltRules = require("./parseBoltRules");
 
 export class Config {
   static DEFAULT_FUNCTIONS_SOURCE = "functions";
@@ -68,7 +67,7 @@ export class Config {
     }
 
     // If a top-level key contains a string path pointing to a suported file
-    // type (JSON or Bolt), we read the file.
+    // type (JSON ), we read the file.
     //
     // TODO: This is janky and confusing behavior, we should remove it ASAP.
     Config.MATERIALIZE_TARGETS.forEach((target) => {
@@ -166,10 +165,9 @@ export class Config {
         return loadCJSON(fullPath);
       /* istanbul ignore-next */
       case ".bolt":
-        if (target === "database") {
-          this.notes.databaseRules = "bolt";
-        }
-        return parseBoltRules(fullPath);
+        throw new FirebaseError(
+          "As of firebase-tools@15.0.0, .bolt rules are no longer supported.",
+        );
       default:
         throw new FirebaseError(
           "Parse Error: " + filePath + " is not of a supported config file type",
diff --git a/src/deploy/database/prepare.ts b/src/deploy/database/prepare.ts
index 7a50bf6070e..2729c582e74 100644
--- a/src/deploy/database/prepare.ts
+++ b/src/deploy/database/prepare.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import * as clc from "colorette";
 import * as path from "path";
 
 import { FirebaseError } from "../../error";
-import { parseBoltRules } from "../../parseBoltRules";
 import * as rtdb from "../../rtdb";
 import * as utils from "../../utils";
 import * as dbRulesConfig from "../../database/rulesConfig";
@@ -34,8 +33,9 @@ export function prepare(context: any, options: DeployOptions): Promise<any> {
         ruleFiles[file] = options.config.readProjectFile(file);
         break;
       case ".bolt":
-        ruleFiles[file] = parseBoltRules(file);
-        break;
+        throw new FirebaseError(
+          "As of firebase-tools@15.0.0, .bolt rules are no longer supported.",
+        );
       default:
         throw new FirebaseError("Unexpected rules format " + path.extname(file));
     }
diff --git a/src/emulator/databaseEmulator.ts b/src/emulator/databaseEmulator.ts
index 0f6a65743be..cf3f58f2a5a 100644
--- a/src/emulator/databaseEmulator.ts
+++ b/src/emulator/databaseEmulator.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import { Constants } from "./constants";
 import { EmulatorRegistry } from "./registry";
 import { EmulatorLogger } from "./emulatorLogger";
 import { FirebaseError } from "../error";
-import { parseBoltRules } from "../parseBoltRules";
 import { connectableHostname } from "../utils";
 
 export interface DatabaseEmulatorArgs {
@@ -163,11 +162,7 @@ export class DatabaseEmulator implements EmulatorInstance {
   }
 
   private async updateRules(instance: string, rulesPath: string): Promise<any> {
-    const rulesExt = path.extname(rulesPath);
-    const content =
-      rulesExt === ".bolt"
-        ? parseBoltRules(rulesPath).toString()
-        : fs.readFileSync(rulesPath, "utf8");
+    const content = fs.readFileSync(rulesPath, "utf8");
 
     try {
       await EmulatorRegistry.client(Emulators.DATABASE).put(`/.settings/rules.json`, content, {
diff --git a/src/parseBoltRules.ts b/src/parseBoltRules.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 5ab233034ae..00000000000
--- a/src/parseBoltRules.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-import * as fs from "fs";
-import * as spawn from "cross-spawn";
-import * as clc from "colorette";
-import * as _ from "lodash";
-
-import { FirebaseError } from "./error";
-
-export function parseBoltRules(filename: string): string {
-  const ruleSrc = fs.readFileSync(filename, "utf8");
-
-  // Use 'npx' to spawn 'firebase-bolt' so that it can be picked up
-  // from either a global install or from local ./node_modules/
-  const result = spawn.sync("npx", ["--no-install", "firebase-bolt"], {
-    input: ruleSrc,
-    timeout: 10000,
-    encoding: "utf-8",
-  });
-
-  if (result.error && _.get(result.error, "code") === "ENOENT") {
-    throw new FirebaseError("Bolt not installed, run " + clc.bold("npm install -g firebase-bolt"));
-  } else if (result.error) {
-    throw new FirebaseError("Unexpected error parsing Bolt rules file", {
-      exit: 2,
-    });
-  } else if (result.status != null && result.status > 0) {
-    throw new FirebaseError(result.stderr.toString(), { exit: 1 });
-  }
-
-  return result.stdout;
-}