Requirements

Software to install on your computer, the accounts you need and the Google services ClassiAds-Hub uses, before you start the installation.

Install these tools on the computer you use to set up ClassiAds-Hub (Windows, macOS or Linux). You do not need a server: everything runs on Firebase.

Software

Tool	Version	Used for	Check with
Node.js	22 (the functions declare `"engines": { "node": "22" }` and `firebase.json` sets `"runtime": "nodejs22"`)	Building and deploying the functions, building the website and the Admin Panel, the tools scripts	`node -v`
npm	Comes with Node.js	Installing packages in `functions/`, `web/`, `admin/` and `tools/*`	`npm -v`
Firebase CLI (`firebase-tools`)	Latest	Deploying functions, rules, indexes and Hosting; setting secrets; the emulators	`firebase --version`
Git	Latest	Version control	`git --version`
Google Chrome	Latest	Testing the website and the panel. The browser QA scripts in `tools/qa/` drive Chrome	—
Flutter SDK	Stable with Dart 3.11+ (`mobile/pubspec.yaml`: `sdk: ^3.11.1`)	Only for the mobile app	`flutter --version`
Android Studio	Latest stable	Android SDK, emulator, signing the Android app	—
Xcode	Latest stable (macOS only)	Building the iOS app	—
FlutterFire CLI	Latest	Generating the app's `firebase_options.dart`	`flutterfire --version`
Google Cloud CLI (`gcloud`)	Optional	IAM roles if the first deploy needs them, Firestore backups	`gcloud --version`
MySQL / MariaDB	Optional	Only for the one-time Data Migration	—

Install the Firebase CLI and sign in:

Terminal

npm install -g firebase-tools
firebase login

Verify the tools

Terminal

node -v              # v22.x
firebase --version
flutter doctor -v    # only if you build the app

Then install the packages of the three Node projects once:

Terminal

cd functions && npm install && cd ..
cd admin && npm install && cd ..
cd web && npm install && cd ..

Accounts

Account	Why	Cost
Google account + Google Cloud billing account	Firebase project on the Blaze plan	Pay as you go, see Third-Party Service Costs
Stripe, Razorpay and/or PayPal (optional)	Online payments for packages and featured ads on the website	Per transaction
Domain names (optional)	The website and the Admin Panel on your own addresses	Per year
Google Play Console	Publish the Android app	US$25 once
Apple Developer Program (optional)	Publish the iOS app, Sign in with Apple, APNs for push	US$99 / year

Google services used

You enable these in the next steps. ClassiAds-Hub uses only Google-managed services:

Firebase Authentication: Email/Password (every account, including phone-only accounts through a synthetic e-mail), Google (website and app, optional) and Apple (iOS app, optional)
Cloud Firestore: the main database (Native mode)
Cloud Storage for Firebase: ad photos, avatars, content images, KYC documents, receipts and résumés
Cloud Functions (2nd gen): the api HTTPS function and the scheduled housekeeping function. Needs the Blaze plan
Secret Manager: the three payment secret keys
Firebase Cloud Messaging: push notifications to the app (and web push with a VAPID key)
Firebase Hosting: two sites, one for the website and one for the Admin Panel
Google Maps Platform: Maps SDK for Android and iOS, used by the mobile app only
Behind the scenes, enabled by the first functions deploy: Cloud Build, Artifact Registry, Cloud Run, Cloud Scheduler and Pub/Sub

Choose a region

Cloud Functions run in `us-central1`. The region is set in functions/src/index.ts (setGlobalOptions({ region: "us-central1", maxInstances: 20 })) and repeated in the Hosting rewrites in firebase.json and in the API addresses of the website, the panel and the app. Keep it unless you are ready to change all of them.
Firestore and Storage: choose the location closest to your users, for example asia-south1 (Mumbai) for India or europe-west1 for Europe.

Next: Create the Firebase Project →

Something unclear or out of date? Tell us. contact@infidec.com