MyBook Firebase Meeting — Wen Profiri (Feb 25, 2026)

Context

Pop-up meeting triggered by Wen’s email: “Help with Firebase!!!”

Where We Left Off

Jan 28-29: You built and deployed a guide/wrapper app at mybook-fyi.web.app on Firebase Hosting. It’s a single-page HTML app (944 lines, Tailwind + vanilla JS) that acts as a unified interface for Wen’s multi-platform workflow:

• 3 tabs: Workspace, My Roadmap, Project Library
• 2 roles: Storyteller (elder) and Caregiver (teen)
• 12-week module roadmap with step-by-step guidance per week
• Trilingual: English, Mandarin (简体), Cantonese (繁體)
• Links out to: Perplexity.ai (writing), NotebookLM (analysis), Notion (publishing), Google Learn About (training)
• Accessibility: Text size controls (sm/base/lg/xl), senior-friendly defaults

What it is NOT (yet): There’s no auth, no database reads/writes, no data collection. It’s purely a navigation/guide layer. Cloud Functions file is boilerplate (nothing deployed). Firestore is set up but unused.

Feb 9: Wen sent a database schema for dyad data capture and survey design (9 elder items + 7 teen items). You noted “review database schema” as next action but haven’t acted on it yet.

Funding: Wen requested a grant extension through Sept 2026 (pending Cathy’s approval). Two schools confirmed: Palo Alto High and Los Altos High.

Wen’s Ask (from today’s email)

1. Auto-collect study data — structured research data (session logs, survey scores)
2. Teen-only usage — only teens will interact with the app
3. Privacy settings — Firebase security rules need real configuration
4. Publication-ready data — clean exportable dataset for papers

She included a full ChatGPT-generated Firebase blueprint: 4 Firestore collections (dyads, participants, sessions, surveyResponses), wizard UX, auto-scoring.

Urgent: Firestore Rules Expire Feb 27

Current rules in firestore.rules:

allow read, write: if request.time < timestamp.date(2026, 2, 27);

This is the default test mode — completely open to the internet. Expires in 2 days. After that, the app will stop working. Need to either:

• Write real security rules (ideal)
• Extend the date (quick fix to buy time)

Questions to Discuss

Scope

• How much of this should you build vs. coach Wen to build?
• Is building a full data collection app within seed grant support scope? (Check with Joe/Josh if unclear)
• The ChatGPT blueprint is ambitious — auth, Cloud Functions, security rules, wizard UX. That’s a real app, not a prototype.

Architecture

• Current app is a static guide. Adding data collection is a significant expansion.
• Wen says “only teens will use it” — does this mean the guide app pivots to teen-only? Or is data collection a separate interface?
• Survey in-app vs. SurveyMonkey? (Wen asked about this Feb 9, still open)

IRB & Compliance

• Teen participants (minors) = extra data handling requirements
• Is this going through Stanford IRB? Data storage on Firebase (Google Cloud) needs to be documented
• PII considerations: participant IDs vs. real names, consent flow

Practical

• Fix Firestore rules ASAP (even a quick extension buys time)
• The ChatGPT blueprint is actually decent architecture — could be a useful starting point
• Consider: does Wen need a custom app, or would a simpler solution (Google Forms → Sheets, REDCap) get her the publication data faster?

Talking Points

1. “I can fix the Firebase rules today” — quick win, keeps the app alive
2. Clarify the ask: Is this about adding data collection to the existing guide app, or building a separate data capture tool?
3. Scope the work: What’s the minimum viable data collection for her paper? (Probably just session logs + pre/post surveys for 40 dyads)
4. Simpler alternatives: REDCap is Stanford’s standard for research data collection — already IRB-friendly, no custom code needed. Worth considering for surveys at least.
5. Timeline: If extension goes through Sept 2026, there’s time to do this right. Don’t rush a janky solution.