My existing project hung up and doesn't start

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My existing project hung up and doesn’t start. When I clicked my project its vm keeps being stopped showing Setting up workspace and doesn’t proceed next step of Initializing environment or keeps loading page eternal time. I restarted vm many times but it doesn’t start. At worst it’s ok not to start but I want to retrive source code the project have.

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Hi there,

I understand how alarming it is when a project “hangs” before even getting to initialization. You’re right to want access to your source — that’s your primary asset.

Here are structured steps I’d try (this is in line with the CIM Doctrine mindset — isolate, test, recover). Let’s see if one of these unlocks your workspace.

:magnifying_glass_tilted_left: Possible Causes & Diagnostic Steps

  1. VM / Container environment stuck
    The workspace VM might be failing to boot, or the container is stuck in a crash loop before “initialize environment.”

  2. Corrupted config / startup script
    The project’s startup scripts (e.g. in package.json, .firebaserc, .runtimeconfig) may have errors that prevent service boot. Start here and also look at your package-lock.json

  3. Disk / quota or resource limits
    Perhaps the environment has run out of disk space or hit a memory / CPU limit, so the VM refuses to startup.

  4. Platform-side issue / service outage
    It’s possible Firebase Studio’s internal orchestration is failing (e.g. their VM scheduler, orchestration layer, or a cache server is down).

:hammer_and_wrench: Suggested Recovery Steps & Safeguards

Step by step, try to recover:

A. Force export / retrieve source

  • If you have any CLI interface or a “download project” function in Firebase Studio, attempt to export the source before deeper changes.

  • If the VM is accessible via terminal / SSH in “stopped” state, see if files can be mounted or copied.

If you succeed in exporting, then work locally — that gives more control.

B. Restart & recreate environment

  • Try to delete and re-create the workspace / VM (if platform allows) while preserving the code directory.

  • In many systems, there’s a “reset environment” or “rebuild workspace” button — use that.

C. Minimal startup sanity

  • Once workspace launches (even minimally), comment out or disable any custom startup scripts, prebuild scripts, or heavy imports.

  • Instead, run a minimal process like npm start or node index.js to verify the project is generally healthy.

D. Inspect startup logs & errors

  • If there is a logging console or “build logs / startup logs” interface, check which file or line is causing crash or hang.

  • Watch for syntax errors, missing modules, or timeouts.

E. Local replication fallback

  • If all else fails, replicate the environment locally (clone the project code if retrievable) with the same Node / runtime versions, dependencies, etc.

  • Confirm locally that the project can start. Once it starts, compare startup scripts and configurations to what exists in the broken environment.

:puzzle_piece: Example “Minimal Startup” in Node / React (Hypothetical Skeleton)

Here’s a minimal “boot” approach you could temporarily adopt to unblock the VM:

// index.js (temporary startup file)
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello from minimal server');
});

const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Server listening on ${port}`);
});

Then in package.json, set:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start-minimal": "node index.js",
    "start": "react-scripts start" // or your real startup
  }
}

Once the VM is running with “start-minimal”, you can progressively re-enable the real startup path to see where it fails.

If you like, I can prepare a diagnostic checklist + a minimal recovery toolkit you can drop into any hung Firebase Studio project (a .sh script, backup strategy, etc.). Would you like me to send that over next?