How to fix storage/bucket-not-found: No bucket configured for Cloud Storage in Firebase

Navigate to the [Firebase Console](https://console.firebase.google.com/), select your project, and click on Storage in the left navigation menu. If you see a "Get Started" button, this means Cloud Storage has not been enabled yet.

Click Get Started, choose your security rules option:
- Test mode: Allows all reads and writes (only for development)
- Production mode: Denies all reads and writes until you configure rules

Select your preferred storage location (this cannot be changed later). Common choices:
- us-central1 (Iowa) - Default for most US projects
- europe-west1 (Belgium) - For EU data residency
- asia-northeast1 (Tokyo) - For Asian traffic

Click Done and wait for Firebase to provision your default bucket. This usually takes 10-30 seconds.

Once Storage is enabled, you should see your bucket name displayed at the top of the Storage page in the Firebase Console.

The bucket name format depends on when your project was created:
- New projects (Oct 2024+): your-project-id.firebasestorage.app
- Older projects: your-project-id.appspot.com

Click on the bucket name to copy it to your clipboard. Make sure to copy the exact name without the gs:// prefix.

Update your Firebase initialization code to use the exact bucket name from the console:

// Web SDK (modular v9+)
import { initializeApp } from "firebase/app";
import { getStorage } from "firebase/storage";

const firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY",
  authDomain: "your-project.firebaseapp.com",
  projectId: "your-project",
  storageBucket: "your-project.firebasestorage.app", // Use exact bucket name
  messagingSenderId: "123456789",
  appId: "YOUR_APP_ID"
};

const app = initializeApp(firebaseConfig);
const storage = getStorage(app);

// Admin SDK (Node.js)
import * as admin from 'firebase-admin';

admin.initializeApp({
  credential: admin.credential.applicationDefault(),
  storageBucket: 'your-project.firebasestorage.app' // No gs:// prefix
});

const bucket = admin.storage().bucket();

Important: Ensure there are no extra spaces, quotes, or the gs:// protocol prefix in your bucket name.

If your project is older or if you're uncertain about the correct configuration, download a fresh config from Firebase Console:

1. Go to Project Settings (gear icon) → General
2. Scroll to "Your apps" section
3. Select your web app or click "Add app" if none exists
4. Copy the firebaseConfig object from the code snippet
5. Update your .env file or configuration:

# .env.local
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=your-project.firebasestorage.app

// config.js
const firebaseConfig = {
  // ... other config
  storageBucket: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET
};

Restart your development server or redeploy after updating environment variables.

Verify the bucket is accessible with a simple test:

import { getStorage, ref, listAll } from "firebase/storage";

async function testStorage() {
  try {
    const storage = getStorage();
    const listRef = ref(storage, '/');
    const result = await listAll(listRef);
    console.log('✓ Storage bucket found and accessible');
    console.log('Bucket:', storage.app.options.storageBucket);
  } catch (error) {
    if (error.code === 'storage/bucket-not-found') {
      console.error('✗ Bucket still not found. Check configuration.');
    } else {
      console.error('Error:', error.code, error.message);
    }
  }
}

testStorage();

If successful, you should see confirmation that the bucket is accessible.