Create a Multi-Room Chat App Using React and Firebase

A real-time chat app built with React and Firebase, featuring Google sign-in, public and private rooms with shareable join codes, and a room-based Firestore data model. This is the companion code for the tutorial — follow along to learn Firebase Authentication, Firestore real-time messaging, and how to structure chat data around rooms.

✅ This is the completed app

This branch holds the finished code, with Firebase Authentication, Firestore, and real-time messaging fully wired up. To build it yourself from scratch, start on the setup branch and follow the step-by-step tutorial:

👉 Create a Multi-Room Chat App Using React and Firebase

🔗 Live demo: react-chat-timonwa.vercel.app

⭐ If this helped, please star the repo — it helps others find it.

Prefer the original 2023 version? Read the republished tutorial on my blog — originally published on freeCodeCamp — and check out the freecodecamp-original branch for its code.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Tech Stack
• Prerequisites
• Getting Started
• Scripts \& Data Cleanup
• Branch Guide
• Author
• License
• Additional Resources

Features

• Google authentication with Firebase Auth
• Public and private rooms with shareable join codes
• Room search and tabs for filtering public vs private rooms
• Real-time messaging with message timestamps and avatars (with fallbacks)
• Responsive layout — side panels collapse into drawers on small screens
• Room-based Firestore schema for cleaner, scalable data access
• Monthly cleanup automation to keep demo data fresh

Tech Stack

• React – UI library (Create React App)
• Firebase – Authentication + Cloud Firestore
• React Firebase Hooks – auth state helpers
• Firebase Admin SDK – server-side data cleanup script
• JavaScript – ES2020+ syntax

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ (or newer)
• A Firebase project with Authentication (Google provider) and Cloud Firestore enabled

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

bash git clone https://github.com/Timonwa/react-chat.git cd react-chat

1. Install dependencies:

bash npm install

1. Create your environment file:

bash cp .env.example .env

Fill in your Firebase web app config. You'll find these values in the Firebase console under Project settings → General → Your apps.

Variable	Required	Description
REACT_APP_API_KEY	Yes	Firebase web API key
REACT_APP_AUTH_DOMAIN	Yes	Firebase auth domain (your_project_id.firebaseapp.com)
REACT_APP_PROJECT_ID	Yes	Firebase project ID
REACT_APP_STORAGE_BUCKET	Yes	Firebase storage bucket
REACT_APP_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID	Yes	Firebase Cloud Messaging sender ID
REACT_APP_APP_ID	Yes	Firebase app ID
REACT_APP_MEASUREMENT_ID	No	Google Analytics measurement ID (optional)

1. Start the development server:

bash npm start

The app runs at http://localhost:3000. Or try the live demo.

Scripts & Data Cleanup

The scripts/ folder holds an optional maintenance script that runs on a schedule to keep the hosted demo tidy. It isn't part of the tutorial and isn't needed to run the app — nothing in the app itself deletes data.

If you host your own copy and want the same auto-tidying (or you're just curious why demo rooms and old messages disappear over time), see scripts/README.md for what it does and how to run it.

Branch Guide

Branch	What it's for
main	The completed app — the finished code for the current tutorial.
setup	Starter code to follow along with; the UI is built but Firebase isn't wired up yet.
freecodecamp-original	The original 2023 freeCodeCamp version of the project.

Author

Built by Timonwa Akintokun.

• 📝 More tutorials on my blog: tech.timonwa.com/blog
• 🔗 All my links & socials: links.timonwa.com
• 💻 GitHub: @Timonwa

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License – see the LICENSE file for details.

Additional Resources

• 📝 Create a Multi-Room Chat App Using React and Firebase — the full tutorial
• 📜 Original Tutorial (2023) – originally published on freeCodeCamp
• 🧩 Legacy Code Branch
• 📚 More tutorials on my blog
• 🔗 Connect with me
• 📖 Firebase Documentation