General best practices for setting up Firebase projects
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This page provides general, high-level best practices for setting up Firebase projects and registering your apps with a project so that you have a clear development workflow that use distinct environments. Once you're familiar with the best practices on this page, check out our general security guidelines.
Understanding the hierarchy of Firebase projects
This diagram shows the basic hierarchy of a Firebase project. Here are the key relationships:
A Firebase project is like a container for all your apps and any resources and services provisioned for the project.
A Firebase project can have one or more Firebase Apps registered to it (for example, both the iOS and Android versions of an app, or both the free and paid versions of an app).
All Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project share and have access to all the same resources and services provisioned for the project. Here are some examples:
All the Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project share the same backends, like Firebase Hosting, Authentication, Realtime Database, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Storage, and Cloud Functions.
All Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project are associated with the same Google Analytics property, where each Firebase App is a separate data stream in that property.
Where does a Google Cloud project fit into this hierarchy?
One aspect of the Firebase project hierarchy that's not shown in the diagram above is the relationship with a Google Cloud project. A Firebase project is actually just a Google Cloud project that has additional Firebase-specific configurations and services enabled for it. Note that all the apps registered to the same Firebase project also share and have access to all the same Google Cloud resources and services, too.
Here are some important tips for registering your app variants with a Firebase project:
Ensure that all apps registered to a Firebase project are platform variants of the same application from an end-user perspective. Register the iOS, Android, and web versions of the same app or game with the same Firebase project.
If you have multiple build variants that could share the same Firebase resources, register the variants with the same Firebase project. Some examples are a blog and a web app in the same project, or both the free and paid versions of the same app in the same project.
If you have multiple build variants that are based on release status (rather than on common end-user activity or access, like above), register each variant with a separate Firebase project. An example is your debug vs release build – register each of these builds in its own Firebase project.
Builds based on release status should not share the same Firebase resources because that risks your debug data polluting or even overriding your prod data.
The platform-variants of each of these build variants should be in the same Firebase project. For example, register both the iOS and the Android debug builds in a "dev" Firebase project because they can both interact with the same non-prod data and resources.
Avoiding multi-tenancy
Multi-tenancy can lead to serious configuration and data privacy concerns, including unintended issues with analytics aggregation, shared authentication, overly-complex database structures, and difficulties with security rules.
Generally, if a set of apps don't share the same data and configurations, strongly consider registering each app with a different Firebase project.
For example, if you develop a white-label application, each independently labeled app should have its own Firebase project, and the iOS and Android versions of that label should be in the same Firebase project. Each independently labeled app shouldn't (for privacy reasons) share data with the others.
Next steps
Review the general security guidelines for different environments. You want to make sure each environment and its data are secure.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-15 UTC."],[],[],null,["This page provides general, high-level best practices for setting up Firebase\nprojects and registering your apps with a project so that you have a clear\n[development workflow](/docs/projects/dev-workflows/overview-environments) that\nuse distinct environments. Once you're familiar with the best practices on this\npage, check out our\n[general security guidelines](/docs/projects/dev-workflows/general-security-guidelines).\n| **Key Point:** We recommend reading our guides thoroughly, but here's the top takeaway about development workflows: \n| **Firebase recommends using a *separate* Firebase project for *each* environment\n| in your development workflow.**\n\nUnderstanding the hierarchy of Firebase projects\n\n\nThis diagram shows the basic hierarchy of a Firebase project. Here are the key\nrelationships:\n\n- A **Firebase project** is like a container for all your apps and any resources\n and services provisioned for the project.\n\n- A Firebase project can have one or more **Firebase Apps** registered to it\n (for example, both the iOS and Android versions of an app, or both the free\n and paid versions of an app).\n\n- All Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project **share and have\n access to all the same resources and services provisioned for the project**.\n Here are some examples:\n\n - All the Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project share the same\n backends, like Firebase Hosting, Authentication, Realtime Database, Cloud Firestore,\n Cloud Storage, and Cloud Functions.\n\n - All Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project are associated\n with the same Google Analytics property, where each Firebase App is a\n separate data stream in that property.\n\nWhere does a Google Cloud project fit into this hierarchy?\n\nOne aspect of the Firebase project hierarchy that's not shown in the diagram\nabove is the relationship with a Google Cloud project. **A Firebase project is\nactually just a Google Cloud project that has additional *Firebase-specific*\nconfigurations and services enabled for it.**\nNote that all the apps registered to the same Firebase project also share and\nhave access to all the same Google Cloud resources and services, too.\n\nLearn more about the Firebase and Google Cloud relationship in\n[Understand Firebase projects](/docs/projects/learn-more#firebase-cloud-relationship)\n\nRegistering app variants with Firebase projects **Key Point:** All the apps registered to a Firebase project share and can access the same data as well as the resources and services provisioned for the project, which includes database instances, storage buckets, functions, etc.\n\nHere are some important tips for registering your app variants with a Firebase\nproject:\n\n- Ensure that all apps registered to a Firebase project are **platform variants\n of the same application** from an end-user perspective. Register the iOS,\n Android, and web versions of the same app or game with the *same* Firebase\n project.\n\n- If you have **multiple build variants that could *share the same Firebase\n resources*** , register the variants with the *same* Firebase project. Some\n examples are a blog and a web app in the same project, or both the free and\n paid versions of the same app in the same project.\n\n- If you have **multiple build variants that are *based on release status***\n (rather than on common end-user activity or access, like above), register each\n variant with a *separate* Firebase project. An example is your debug vs\n release build -- register each of these builds in its own Firebase project.\n\n - Builds based on release status should not share the same Firebase resources\n because that risks your debug data polluting or even overriding your prod\n data.\n\n - The *platform* -variants of each of these build variants should be in the\n *same* Firebase project. For example, register both the iOS and the Android\n debug builds in a \"dev\" Firebase project because they can both interact with\n the same non-prod data and resources.\n\n| **Note:** For each Android app, if you provide a SHA-1 key for the app, you need to provide a package name and SHA-1 key combination that is globally unique across all of Google Cloud.\n\nAvoiding multi-tenancy **Key Point:** Connecting several different logically independent apps and/or web sites to a single Firebase project (often called \"multi-tenancy\") is not recommended.\n\nMulti-tenancy can lead to serious configuration and data privacy concerns,\nincluding unintended issues with analytics aggregation, shared authentication,\noverly-complex database structures, and difficulties with security rules.\n\nGenerally, **if a set of apps don't share the same data and configurations,\nstrongly consider registering each app with a different Firebase project.**\n\nFor example, if you develop a white-label application, each independently\nlabeled app should have its own Firebase project, and the iOS and Android\nversions of that label should be in the same Firebase project. Each\nindependently labeled app shouldn't (for privacy reasons) share data with the\nothers.\n\nNext steps\n\n- Review the\n [general security guidelines](/docs/projects/dev-workflows/general-security-guidelines)\n for different environments. You want to make sure each environment and its\n data are secure.\n\n- Review the [Firebase launch checklist](/support/guides/launch-checklist)."]]
This diagram shows the basic hierarchy of a Firebase project. Here are the key relationships: