Firebase Studio Review 2026: It Is Shutting Down. What Happens to Your Apps, and Where to Move Them
Firebase Studio, Google's browser-based AI app builder and the successor to Project IDX, is closed to new users and will be shut down on March 22, 2027, when any workspace left behind is permanently deleted. If you are thinking of starting a project there, you can't. If you already have workspaces there, this review explains what you keep, what you lose, and how to choose between Google's two replacements, Google AI Studio and Google Antigravity. Everything here comes from Google's own sunset page, release notes and announcement as of Oct 4, 2026, with developer reactions from Hacker News and Google's forum.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Date | What happens | Official source |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 19, 2026 | Sunset announced; migration tools start rolling out inside Firebase Studio | Firebase blog and Firebase Studio release notes, Mar 19, 2026 |
| Jun 22, 2026 | New workspace creation and new user sign-up disabled; existing workspaces keep working | Firebase Studio release notes, Jun 22, 2026 |
| Mar 22, 2027 | Firebase Studio shut down; all remaining data permanently deleted and unrecoverable | "Firebase Studio sunset and project migration" page |
| Made by | Google (Firebase), formerly Project IDX |
| New users | Closed since Jun 22, 2026 |
| Existing users | Work until Mar 22, 2027, then data is deleted |
| Successors | Google AI Studio (browser) or Google Antigravity (desktop, agent-first) |
| Unaffected | Firestore, Authentication, App Hosting and deployed apps |
Don't start anything new here. If you have workspaces, move them in the next few months, not next March.
"Firebase Studio itself is a dead end, but your Firebase backend is not. Export your code, pick AI Studio if you built with the prompt-based Prototyper, pick Antigravity if you lived in the code editor, and leave your Firestore, Authentication and hosting exactly where they are."
Here is how I read it. Firebase Studio launched in April 2025 as the rebrand and expansion of Project IDX: a full cloud development environment in the browser, built on Code OSS, with Gemini assistance and an App Prototyping agent that generated full-stack Next.js apps from prompts. Less than a year later, on March 19, 2026, Google announced it would fold those ideas into two other products and close Firebase Studio. The important facts for existing users are good news hiding behind bad news: your databases, sign-ins and already-deployed apps keep running, Google still ships security patches and Gemini model updates until the shutdown, and both successors have one-click or agent-driven migration paths. The bad news is the hard deadline: anything still in a Firebase Studio workspace on March 22, 2027 is gone for good. This is a VERIFIED EDITORIAL REVIEW built on Google's documentation, release notes and blog as of Oct 4, 2026, plus public developer comments. No controlled hands-on test was run for this article.
A cloud IDE and a prompt-to-app agent in one browser tab, tied closely to Firebase.
Google's overview page still describes it as "an agentic cloud-based development environment" for full-stack AI apps. It offered two ways to work that you could switch between: a Code view, a Code OSS-based IDE running on a Google Cloud virtual machine with Gemini code assistance and Open VSX extensions, and the App Prototyping agent ("Prototyper"), which built web apps from text, images and drawings and could set up Cloud Firestore and Firebase Authentication on its own. Environments were defined with Nix, so a workspace could be shared as a template.
Map built from Google's Firebase Studio overview, "Project IDX is now part of Firebase Studio" and pricing pages, Oct 4, 2026. Google labelled Firebase Studio "Preview", meaning no SLA or deprecation policy applied.
A short official tour from May 2025 showing the Code view workflow most Firebase Studio users relied on. Useful context for what you are migrating away from. Published May 13, 2025.
From the official "Firebase" YouTube channel (youtube.com/@Firebase). It predates the sunset, so it shows the product as it was.
Google is consolidating: browser prototyping goes to AI Studio, serious coding goes to Antigravity.
From the April 2025 launch to shutdown on Mar 22, 2027 (JAVIS arithmetic).
Google's docs say Preview products have no SLA or deprecation policy.
Mar 2026 announcement to Mar 2027 shutdown, per Google.
The IDX rename came in April 2025, per the release notes.
Google's stated reason is simplification. For "code-first, agentic development" it is focusing on Antigravity, and for "rapid, browser-based prototyping" it has built Firestore and Firebase Authentication directly into Google AI Studio. The Mar 19, 2026 Firebase blog post says the new AI Studio coding agent is "built with key components of the agent harness from Google Antigravity," so the two successors share technology. In practice Firebase Studio was squeezed from both sides: AI Studio gained the prompt-to-app experience its Prototyper offered, and Antigravity became Google's full IDE.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| When | Release note or announcement |
|---|---|
| Apr 2025 | "Project IDX is now part of Firebase Studio"; App Prototyping agent introduced |
| May 2025 | Gemini 2.5 powers the App Prototyping agent and Code view chat |
| Jul to Aug 2025 | Ask, Agent and Agent (Auto-run) modes; chat history shared with Gemini in Firebase |
| Feb 2026 | Default maximum output tokens raised from 8,192 to 32,768 |
| Mar 19, 2026 | Sunset announced alongside the Google AI Studio and Firebase integration |
| Jun 22, 2026 | Workspace creation and user sign-up disabled |
| Mar 22, 2027 | Shutdown; remaining data deleted |
Developers liked the idea, struggled with the bugs, and mostly reacted to the sunset with a shrug about Google's churn.
On the day of the announcement, one developer called the "product churn (Project IDX -> Firebase Studio -> Shutdown)" unfortunate but said they were glad to see Google's efforts being concentrated. Later comments list Firebase Studio among the many overlapping Google AI coding tools that make the line-up confusing.
Early users praised how quickly it scaffolded Firestore and Cloud Functions but warned about being locked into Google's stack. Several hit problems: blank screens and failed Firebase setup, and Gemini repeatedly producing Firebase security rules that caused permission errors, which pushed some developers to other tools.
One developer said a Firebase Studio app was stuck on a vulnerable Next.js version that Gemini could not update properly. On Google's AI developer forum, a user following the migration guide reported seeing only the Antigravity export option, not the AI Studio one.
Firebase Studio itself was free. Your Firebase project's bills do not stop when it closes.
Firebase Studio access
No fee to use the IDE or the Prototyper.
- 3 workspaces per user
- 10 with the free Google Developer Program, 30 with its paid Premium plan
- Ends Mar 22, 2027
Your Firebase project
Firestore, Authentication, App Hosting and deployed apps are not affected.
- On the Blaze plan, usage above no-cost quotas is still billed
- Gemini Developer API stays on the paid tier if billing was linked
Google AI Studio
Google says Firebase-connected AI Studio apps come "with a free tier."
- Firestore and Auth set up by the agent
- Publish to Cloud Run or keep App Hosting
Google Antigravity
Individual plan at no charge, with basic weekly rate limits.
- Higher limits with Google AI Pro or Ultra subscriptions
- Business access through Google Cloud
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Firebase Studio limit | No Developer Program profile | Developer Program Standard | Developer Program Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workspaces per user | 3 | 10 | 30 |
| Flutter and React Native + Expo | 2 in total | 2 in total | Higher |
| App Prototyping agent quota | Standard | Standard | Increased |
| Price | No cost | No cost | Subscription |
Decide by how you built, not by which tool sounds newer.
You can't: sign-up closed on Jun 22, 2026. Start in Google AI Studio for prompt-built apps or Antigravity for code-first work.
Google recommends Google AI Studio. Use "Move now", then "Prepare for AI Studio".
Google recommends Antigravity. Use "Move now", Zip and Download, then let the Antigravity agent convert it.
Google AI Studio, which runs in the browser.
Zip and Download or export to GitHub, then deploy with the Firebase CLI to keep your URL, or with any host.
It will. Deployed apps and core Firebase services are not affected. You still need the code before Mar 22, 2027 to change it.
Your backend and live app stay. Your workspace, its files and its chat history do not.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Item | After Mar 22, 2027 | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud Firestore data | Keeps working | Nothing |
| Firebase Authentication users | Keep working | Nothing |
| App already deployed to App Hosting | Keeps running at its URL | Move the code if you want to keep updating it |
| Workspace code and files | Permanently deleted | Move now, Zip and Download, or export to GitHub |
| Agent chat history | Deleted; not in the export zip | Zip the /home/user/.idx/ai folder separately; Prototyper prompts also appear in the git log |
Gemini API key in .env | Lost with the workspace | For AI Studio plus App Hosting, add it as an App Hosting environment variable yourself |
| Workspaces shared with you | Deleted with the owner's workspace | Only the creator can use Move now; ask them or copy the code |
- Existing workspaces stay accessible.
- "Critical security patches and Gemini model updates."
- Migration tools inside each workspace ("Move now").
- No extension of the Mar 22, 2027 date is mentioned anywhere.
- No recovery after deletion: data "cannot be recovered."
- Preview status: no SLA applied even before the sunset.
.idx/ai chat folder costs a few minutes and removes the deadline risk entirely.Every path starts with the same button: "Move now" at the top of your workspace.
Two details save the most trouble. If nothing happens when you click Zip and Download, Google says a browser pop-up blocker is usually the cause. And if you move to Cloud Run with a custom domain, remapping can take up to 24 hours and may cause downtime; keeping App Hosting through GitHub sync avoids that.
For Prototyper users: the same prompt-to-app idea, now with Firestore and Auth built in.
Google AI Studio is Google's browser workspace for the Gemini API, and since Mar 19, 2026 its Build mode can add a real backend. When your prompt implies stored data or user accounts, the agent offers "Enable Firebase", then sets up a Firebase project, provisions Firestore, enables Authentication with Google Sign-In, writes the data code and drafts Firestore Security Rules. Google's own post adds that you should always double-check those rules before sharing or deploying.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Step | What Google's guide says |
|---|---|
| 1. Transfer | Move now, Prepare for AI Studio, Move to Google AI Studio; conversion can take several minutes |
| 2a. Keep your URL | Add your Gemini key as an App Hosting environment variable, sync to GitHub from AI Studio (check .env is not committed), connect the repo to your existing "studio" backend |
| 2b. New URL | Publish from AI Studio to Cloud Run (*.run.app); remap custom domains |
| Later | Code tab, Export, Export to Antigravity, if you outgrow the browser |
For Code view users: a local, agent-first IDE that also runs Claude and GPT-OSS models.
Antigravity is Google's "agentic development platform". Its site lists four surfaces: Antigravity 2.0 (a command center for several local agents), the Antigravity CLI, an SDK for custom agents, and the Antigravity IDE. Google's migration page recommends it if you used templates, imported repositories or worked mainly in Code view, and notes it supports models such as Claude and GPT-OSS as well as Gemini. Migration is agent-driven: open your exported folder in the Antigravity IDE and type @fbs-to-agy-export, with Google suggesting the Gemini Flash model to save tokens. Our Gemini CLI review covers the terminal side of Google's tooling.
Google's own round-up of recent Antigravity features, useful for seeing the environment you would migrate into. Published Sep 4, 2026.
From the official "Google Antigravity" YouTube channel (youtube.com/@googleantigravity). Vendor video.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Antigravity step | What you need or do |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites | Antigravity IDE, Node.js 20 or higher, Firebase CLI 15.10.0 or higher |
| Export | Move now, Zip and Download (or the "Firebase Studio: Zip & Download" command) |
| Convert | Agent prompt @fbs-to-agy-export; follow the agent's questions |
| Preview | Run and Debug, start the local dev server |
| Publish | Prompt "Publish my app"; it runs firebase deploy to your existing App Hosting URL |
Moving does not have to cost money, but your Gemini API key and hosting choice can change your bill.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Cost item | After migration |
|---|---|
| Antigravity, Individual | $0 a month: access to agent models, unlimited Tab completions and Command requests, basic weekly rate limits |
| Antigravity with Google AI Pro or Ultra | Higher rate limits and a flexible AI credit pool (subscription prices are not listed on the Antigravity pricing page) |
| Antigravity for organizations | Through Google Cloud; Gemini Enterprise Standard/Plus from $30 per seat per month, or pay-as-you-go with no seat fee |
| Google AI Studio with Firebase | "All with a free tier," per Google's Mar 19, 2026 post |
| Firebase App Hosting, Firestore, Auth | Same Firebase pricing as before; Blaze usage above quotas is billed |
| Cloud Run (AI Studio one-click publish) | Billed under your Google Cloud project; new *.run.app URL |
Watch three things during the move: your API key, your security rules, and what Gemini may have trained on.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Risk | What Google says | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini API key | Firebase Studio stored it as an App Hosting variable automatically; AI Studio migration does not | Add it manually in the Firebase console; confirm .env is not in your GitHub repo |
| Firestore Security Rules | AI Studio's agent drafts and deploys rules; "always double-check" them | Review rules before sharing the app |
| Training on prompts and code | Gemini features in Firebase Studio fell under the Gemini API "Unpaid Services" terms; to block training, users had to avoid the AI features and turn off completion and indexing | Assume past prompts may have been used; check terms of whichever successor you pick |
| Leftover data | Deleted permanently on Mar 22, 2027 | Export first, then delete workspaces you no longer need |
| Old dependencies | Security patches continue until the shutdown | Update frameworks such as Next.js after moving |
Google's own criteria, laid out side by side.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| If you... | Google AI Studio | Google Antigravity |
|---|---|---|
| Built with the App Prototyping agent | Recommended | If you added a lot of custom code |
| Used a template or imported a repo | Possible | Recommended |
| Worked mainly in Code view | Less suited | Recommended |
| Can't install local software | Recommended (browser) | Needs a desktop install |
| Want Claude or GPT-OSS models too | Gemini-focused | Supported |
| Need scripts that require a local environment | Limited | Recommended |
| Want to try AI Studio first, decide later | Start here | Export to Antigravity later |
Six real migration gotchas.
On Mar 22, 2027 remaining data "cannot be recovered." There is no grace period on the page.
You must zip the .idx/ai folder by hand to keep your agent conversations.
Only the creator can use Move now; collaborators must ask them or copy the code.
Moving to AI Studio while keeping App Hosting needs a manual environment variable.
Remapping can take up to 24 hours and may cause downtime.
Project IDX, then Firebase Studio, now two successors: plan for portability, not loyalty.
If the sunset makes you want off Google's tooling, these are the closest equivalents.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| If you liked... | Look at... |
|---|---|
| The App Prototyping agent | Lovable review or v0 review |
| A cloud IDE that also hosts your app | Replit review |
| Code view with an AI agent, locally | Cursor review or GitHub Copilot review |
| Staying with Google, in the terminal | Gemini CLI review |
No affiliate relationship shapes this review.
JAVIS has no affiliate arrangement with Google for Firebase Studio, Google AI Studio or Antigravity. Every call to action in this article points to Google's own migration guide or official product pages.
Follow Google's guide, starting with the Move now button.
Open the migration guideWhere Firebase Studio users are going next.
Every card below links to a published JAVIS review.
Card images are official product images.
Questions people are actually asking
Is Firebase Studio shutting down?
Yes. Google announced on Mar 19, 2026 that Firebase Studio will shut down on Mar 22, 2027. New sign-ups and workspace creation were disabled on Jun 22, 2026.
Can I still sign up for Firebase Studio?
No. Since Jun 22, 2026 new users cannot sign up and nobody can create new workspaces. Existing users can keep working in existing workspaces until the shutdown.
Will my Firebase app stop working?
No. Google says apps already deployed to Firebase keep running after the sunset, and Firestore, Authentication and App Hosting are not affected. Only the Firebase Studio development environment is closing.
What happens to my code after Mar 22, 2027?
Anything still in a Firebase Studio workspace is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Export or migrate before then.
Should I move to Google AI Studio or Antigravity?
Google recommends AI Studio if you built with the App Prototyping agent and want a browser tool, and Antigravity if you used templates, imported repositories or mainly worked in Code view.
Does my agent chat history migrate?
Not automatically. It is not in the export zip; you can zip the /home/user/.idx/ai folder yourself, and Prototyper prompts also appear in the git log.
Is Firebase Studio the same as Project IDX?
Yes. Project IDX became part of Firebase Studio in April 2025, and existing IDX workspaces opened in Firebase Studio.
Does migrating cost money?
Not necessarily. Antigravity has a $0 individual plan and Google says AI Studio's Firebase integration has a free tier. Your existing Firebase usage is billed as before.
Where this came from, and when it was checked.
Sunset and migration: Google's "Firebase Studio sunset and project migration" page, the Firebase Studio release notes (entries for Mar 19 and Jun 22, 2026; page last updated Oct 1, 2026) and the Firebase blog post of Mar 19, 2026, "From prompt to production: Build full-stack apps faster with Google AI Studio and Firebase", all as of Oct 4, 2026.
Product: Firebase Studio overview, "Project IDX is now part of Firebase Studio" and pricing, quotas and limits pages (last updated Oct 1, 2026).
Successors: antigravity.google and antigravity.google/pricing; aistudio.google.com; Firebase blog of Mar 19, 2026.
Users: Hacker News comments 47445155 (Mar 19, 2026), 46466885 (Jan 2, 2026), 49918251 (Oct 1, 2026), 44367278, 44587454 and 44051809 (2025); Google AI Developers Forum thread "Firebase Studio will be sunset" (posts of Mar 20 and May 16, 2026).
Official videos: youtube.com/watch?v=31GsuvcRcXk (Firebase channel) and Plq-FIEbQkk (Google Antigravity channel).
Score: no JAVIS Fit Score is given, because the product is closed to new users. The verdict is migration advice for existing users.
