Firebase

Firebase is the recommended way to run Localess in production. It uses Google Cloud infrastructure — Firebase Hosting, Firestore, Cloud Functions, and Cloud Storage — deployed automatically via Cloud Build.

For local exploration or personal use without a Google Cloud account, see the Docker or Local setup instead.

Prerequisites

Before you start:

• A Google account with billing enabled. Cloud Functions requires the Blaze (pay-as-you-go) plan.
• The Google Cloud SDK (gcloud) installed and authenticated.
• A fork of the Localess repository connected to your Cloud Build trigger (see Cloud Build).

Create Project

Open the Firebase console and create a new project.

Create Web App connection

• In the Firebase console, open Firebase Settings
• Go to your Apps section
• Select the Web App icon
  • Fill in the App nickname field
  • Check Also set up Firebase Hosting for this app checkbox
  • Press Register app
  • The registered app values will be used automatically during build in Cloud Build
  • Press Next
  • Press Next again
  • Press Continue to console

Authentication

Localess uses Firebase Authentication to identify users and keep data secure. Enable Identity Platform in the Settings tab before configuring sign-in methods.

Email/Password

Login by Email and Password is enabled by default.

Google Identity Provider

• In the Firebase console, open the Auth section.
• On the Sign-in method tab, enable the Google sign-in method.
• Click Save.

To restrict access to a specific organisation domain, set the _LOCALESS_AUTH_CUSTOM_DOMAIN substitution variable in your Cloud Build trigger.

Microsoft Identity Provider

• In the Firebase console, open the Auth section.
• On the Sign-in method tab, enable the Microsoft provider.
• Add the Client ID and Client Secret from the Azure portal:
  • Register a new app following the Azure AD v2.0 quickstart.
  • Add *.firebaseapp.com as a redirect URI for your Firebase project.
• Click Save.

Hosting

In the Firebase console, open the Hosting tab and create a default hosting site.

Firestore

In the Firebase console, open the Firestore tab and create a default database.

Service Account

Create a service account named build-deploy to assign to Cloud Builder. Follow the official guide.

The service account requires the following IAM roles:

Enable Cloud APIs

Open Cloud Shell and run the following command. Some APIs take 5–10 minutes to become active after enabling, so run this ahead of your first deployment:

gcloud services enable \
  firebasestorage.googleapis.com \
  firebaseextensions.googleapis.com \
  cloudfunctions.googleapis.com \
  cloudbuild.googleapis.com \
  artifactregistry.googleapis.com \
  run.googleapis.com \
  eventarc.googleapis.com \
  pubsub.googleapis.com \
  storage.googleapis.com \
  translate.googleapis.com \
  cloudbilling.googleapis.com

The command enables the following APIs:

Configuration

The cloudbuild.yaml at the root of the repository is pre-configured for Localess deployments. No manual edits are required.

Cloud Build

To automatically deploy on every push, create a Cloud Build trigger:

• Open Cloud Build Triggers
• Click Create trigger and configure:
  • Name — a name for your trigger
  • Event — Push to a branch
  • Repository — your fork of https://github.com/Lessify/localess
  • Branch — main
  • Configuration type — Cloud Build configuration file (YAML or JSON)
  • Location — Repository
• Under Substitution variables, add:

• Click Create.

First start

After the first successful deployment, open the setup page to create your first user:

• https://<firebase-project-id>.web.app/setup
• https://<firebase-project-id>.firebaseapp.com/setup

Troubleshooting

Cloud Function API not enabled

functions: missing required API cloudfunctions.googleapis.com. Enabling now...

Enable Cloud Functions API in Marketplace, then re-run the Enable Cloud APIs command.

Artifact Registry API not enabled

artifactregistry: missing required API artifactregistry.googleapis.com. Enabling now...

Enable Artifact Registry API in Marketplace, then re-run the Enable Cloud APIs command.

Cloud Run API not enabled

functions: missing required API run.googleapis.com. Enabling now...

Enable Cloud Run API in Marketplace, then re-run the Enable Cloud APIs command.

Eventarc API not enabled

functions: missing required API eventarc.googleapis.com. Enabling now...

Enable Eventarc API in Marketplace, then re-run the Enable Cloud APIs command.

Missing permissions

Missing permissions required for functions deploy. You must have permission iam.serviceAccounts.ActAs on service account project-id@appspot.gserviceaccount.com.

Assign the Service Account User role to project-id@appspot.gserviceaccount.com. Changes may take a few minutes to propagate.

IAM Roles verification failed

functions: Failed to verify the project has the correct IAM bindings for a successful deployment.

Run the gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding commands shown in the error output. You can execute them directly in Cloud Shell.

Function requires manual deletion

Error: The following functions are found in your project but do not exist in your local source code:
importLocaleJson(us-central1)

Delete the orphaned function from one of:

• Google Cloud Console → Cloud Functions
• Google Cloud Console → Cloud Run
• Firebase Console → Functions

Cloud Translation API not enabled

Cloud Translation API has not been used in project {projectId} before or it is disabled

Enable Cloud Translation API in Marketplace, then re-run the Enable Cloud APIs command.