Configure Firebase

Your Slack backup is stored in your own Firebase Firestore database. When you set up SlackVault you provide your Firebase config; all messages, users, channels, and file metadata go directly there. SlackVault has no database of your content.

Step 1 — Create a Firebase project

1. Open the Firebase Console and sign in with your Google account.
2. Click Add project and enter a name (e.g. slackvault-backup).
3. Follow the wizard. You can disable Google Analytics — it isn't needed. Click Create project.

tip

Use a descriptive name like slackvault-mycompany so you can identify it later.

Step 2 — Enable Firestore Database

1. In the console, click Build → Firestore Database.
2. Click Create database. When prompted for rules, select Start in test mode for now (you'll secure it below).
3. Choose a location close to you for best performance — this cannot be changed later.

Region	Location ID	Best for
US (multi-region)	nam5	US-based teams
Europe (multi-region)	eur3	EU-based teams
Asia (multi-region)	asia-south1	Asia-based teams

warning

Test mode allows anyone to read/write for 30 days. Update your security rules before relying on it in production (Step 4).

Step 3 — Get your Firebase config

1. Click the gear icon → Project settings.
2. Under Your apps, click the web icon (</>) to add a web app. Give it a nickname (e.g. "SlackVault Extension") and Register app.
3. Copy the config object and keep it safe — you'll paste it into the SlackVault extension during setup.

const firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: "AIzaSyA...",
  authDomain: "your-project.firebaseapp.com",
  projectId: "your-project",
  storageBucket: "your-project.appspot.com",
  messagingSenderId: "123456789",
  appId: "1:123456789:web:abc123..."
};

Step 4 — Security rules

For initial testing you can start permissive:

rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /slackvault/{document=**} {
      allow read, write: if true; // testing only
    }
  }
}

For production, lock it down to authenticated users / matching workspace:

rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /slackvault/{workspaceId}/{document=**} {
      allow read, write: if request.auth != null
        && request.auth.token.workspace == workspaceId;
    }
    match /slackvault_users/{userId} {
      allow read, write: if request.auth != null
        && request.auth.uid == userId;
    }
  }
}

warning

Never keep test rules in production — anyone could read or delete your Slack backup.

Free-tier limits

Resource	Free limit	Enough for
Stored data	1 GiB	~500K messages
Document reads	50K/day	Heavy search usage
Document writes	20K/day	~20K new messages/day
Document deletes	20K/day	Cleanup operations
Network egress	10 GiB/month	Normal usage

tip

Most teams under ~50 members never exceed the free tier. SlackVault is optimized to minimize reads and writes. If you do exceed it, Firebase's pay-as-you-go Blaze plan is a few cents to a few dollars per month for heavy usage.

Optional — indexes

For optimal search you can pre-create indexes on messages (by channelId+ts and userId+ts). Otherwise Firestore prompts you to create an index the first time a query needs one.

For the full collection layout and object shapes, see the Data model reference.

Next: install the browser extension.