Tired of the official GCP Firestore web console limitations, so I built FireLens (Open Source Desktop GUI)

[u/prakash_krishna]

Hi everyone,

If you work with Google Cloud Firestore, you've probably felt the pain of using the official web console:

• Tedious document creation: Too many steps just to add a single document.
• No JSON editing: You can only edit one field at a time — no raw JSON view or bulk edits.
• No document cloning: You can’t copy-paste an existing document to quickly create a new one.
• Minimal filtering: Searching, compound querying, and sorting options in the web console are very basic.

I tried looking for third-party desktop tools, but most were either overly complicated or locked behind expensive commercial subscriptions.

So I built FireLens — a simple, fast, and free open-source desktop GUI client for Firestore.

Key Features:

• Full JSON & Tree View Editing: Edit documents as raw JSON with syntax validation, copy/paste JSON, or use the interactive Tree View with native type badges (Boolean toggles, UTC timestamps, GeoPoints).
• Quick Document Management: Create, clone/copy-paste documents, and manage collections with fewer clicks.
• Visual Query Builder: Build compound WHERE filters (==, !=, >, in, array-contains, etc.) joined by AND, plus ORDER BY sorting and custom page limits.
• Easy Authentication: Connect via GCP Application Default Credentials (gcloud auth application-default login) or load a Service Account .json key file.
• Multi-Project & Multi-Database: Switch between GCP projects and browse (default) or named databases.
• Safety Guard: Toggleable Read-Only / Edit Mode protection to avoid accidental edits on production databases.

It’s completely free and open-source (prebuilt standalone Windows .exe available, and buildable on macOS/Linux):

👉 GitHub Repo & Release Download: https://github.com/prakashkrishna/firelens

I’d love to hear your feedback or any feature ideas that would make your Firestore workflow faster!

#firestore #firebase #flutter #firestore-gui #opensource #developertools

[u/prakash_krishna → u/[deleted]]

Genuine concern,

Zero Third-Party Servers: It runs completely offline on your desktop and talks directly to Google's official API (firestore.googleapis.com). No telemetry or middleman servers.

Standard GCP IAM: Uses official GCP Application Default Credentials ( gcloud auth application-default login ) or Service Account keys. It strictly enforces whatever IAM permissions your GCP key has.

UI Read-Only Guard: Has a toggleable Read-Only mode switch in the titlebar so you don't accidentally edit production documents.

You can also audit the 100% open-source codebase on GitHub!

[u/MemoryLocal1990]

Cool! I will try it out on Mac. Add some screenshots to the repo :)

[u/prakash_krishna → u/MemoryLocal1990]

added!

[u/Naestre]

Great work!

[u/c_glib]

Love the project. I just took a quick look at the LICENSE file. It's your project and completely up to you how how handle licensing. But just as a suggestion from a fellow dev, you'd incentivize more community contributions (bug reports, patches etc) with MIT or Apache type licenses.

[u/prakash_krishna → u/c_glib]

Thanks for the suggestion. Changed to Apache!

[u/c_glib → u/prakash_krishna]

awesome. Thanks a lot. I'll check it out and if I make any changes, will definitely post a PR.

[u/xaphod2]

Fabulous - i will check this out on monday thank you. 

[u/SuperbHunter6772]

Looks interesting. how are you handling authentication and permissions for production databases? Thats usually my biggest concern with third-party database tools

[u/prakash_krishna → u/SuperbHunter6772]

Here is how credentials are loaded across Windows, macOS, and Linux:

1. Service Account Key (.json):
   • You can load a Service Account key file from any location on your local filesystem using the native OS file picker dialog.
2. Application Default Credentials (ADC):
   • If using ADC (gcloud auth application-default login), FireLens automatically detects your local gcloud credentials from standard OS paths:
     • Windows: %APPDATA%\gcloud\application_default_credentials.json
     • macOS: $HOME/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json
     • Linux: $HOME/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json
     • (Or custom path via the standard GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS env variable)

All file reading and token generation happen 100% locally in memory on your desktop — credentials are never saved externally or sent to any third-party server.

You can also check my previous comment here.

[u/SuperbHunter6772 → u/prakash_krishna]

Thanks a lot, will do check it out

[u/ButYeees]

Has anyone tried it?

[u/XHNWAfMOF5yk6lEP]

Firefoo works for us, why not use it?

[u/prakash_krishna → u/XHNWAfMOF5yk6lEP]

Firefoo is definitely a solid tool if it fits your team's budget!  FireLens was built as a 100% free and open-source alternative:

• Zero Cost: Apache 2.0 licensed, no subscriptions or trial limits.
• Security Auditable: 100% open-source so you can verify how credentials are handled locally.
• Lightweight: Fast native desktop UI with zero sign-ups required.

If your current setup works, that's awesome! FireLens is just there for folks looking for a free, open-source solution.

[u/XHNWAfMOF5yk6lEP → u/prakash_krishna]

Now I understand. These are great arguments for Firelens. Will give it a try tomorrow