Firebase Storage test-mode rules expire after 30 days and deny everything

TL;DR

Replace them with real rules before launch and set a calendar reminder ahead of the 30-day mark if you started in test mode.

Steps

1. Never ship test-mode rules. Replace them with real rules before launch and set a calendar reminder ahead of the 30-day mark if you started in test mode. When an app that worked yesterday suddenly gets permission-denied on all storage calls, check the rules file for an expired timestamp condition first.

When to use

You are seeing this: Never ship test-mode rules. Use this skill when you run into "Firebase Storage test-mode rules expire after 30 days and deny everything".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Source: Web (security-rules auditor listing): Firebase's test-mode template is written to expire 30 days after creation. Before that date the ruleset is fully open; after it, the same timestamp line denies every client read and write, and the failure shows up as a broken app rather than a warning in your terminal. The classic symptom is storage/unauthorized or permission-denied appearing out of nowhere about a month after launch.

Verified resolution: Never ship test-mode rules. Replace them with real rules before launch and set a calendar reminder ahead of the 30-day mark if you started in test mode. When an app that worked yesterday suddenly gets permission-denied on all storage calls, check the rules file for an expired timestamp condition first.

Source URL: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ReadyStack.firestore-rules-guard