diff --git a/docs/use.md b/docs/use.md
index d65b9613..5686a368 100644
--- a/docs/use.md
+++ b/docs/use.md
@@ -97,37 +97,41 @@ SDK not found. useSdk must be called from within a provider
 
 ### Connect to the Firebase Local Emulator Suite
 
-Connect a product SDK to the emulator before passing it to a provider. For example, to connect to the Auth and Realtime Database emulators:
+Connect emulators to the SDK instances **before** passing them to providers. The safest pattern is to initialize outside of React entirely, which guarantees `connect*Emulator()` only runs once, regardless of re-renders or remounts:
 
 ```jsx
-import { getAuth, connectAuthEmulator } from 'firebase/auth'; // Firebase v9+
-import { getDatabase, connectDatabaseEmulator } from 'firebase/database'; // Firebase v9+
+import { initializeApp } from 'firebase/app';
+import { getAuth, connectAuthEmulator } from 'firebase/auth';
+import { getFirestore, connectFirestoreEmulator } from 'firebase/firestore';
 
-import { FirebaseAppProvider, DatabaseProvider, AuthProvider, useFirebaseApp } from 'reactfire';
+import { FirebaseAppProvider, FirestoreProvider, AuthProvider } from 'reactfire';
 
-function FirebaseComponents({ children }) {
-  const app = useFirebaseApp();
-  const database = getDatabase(app);
-  const auth = getAuth(app);
+const app = initializeApp(firebaseConfig);
+const auth = getAuth(app);
+const firestore = getFirestore(app);
 
-  // Check for dev/test mode however your app tracks that.
-  // `process.env.NODE_ENV` is a common React pattern
-  if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
-    // Set up emulators
-    connectDatabaseEmulator(database, 'localhost', 9000);
-    connectAuthEmulator(auth, 'http://localhost:9099');
-  }
+// Check for dev/test mode however your app tracks that.
+// `process.env.NODE_ENV` is a common React pattern
+if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
+  connectAuthEmulator(auth, 'http://localhost:9099');
+  connectFirestoreEmulator(firestore, 'localhost', 8080);
+}
 
+function App() {
   return (
-    <AuthProvider sdk={auth}>
-      <DatabaseProvider sdk={database}>
-        <MyCoolAppThatUsesAuthAndRealtimeDatabase />
-      </DatabaseProvider>
-    </AuthProvider>
+    <FirebaseAppProvider firebaseApp={app}>
+      <AuthProvider sdk={auth}>
+        <FirestoreProvider sdk={firestore}>
+          <MyCoolApp />
+        </FirestoreProvider>
+      </AuthProvider>
+    </FirebaseAppProvider>
   );
 }
 ```
 
+This pattern requires passing `firebaseApp={app}` to `FirebaseAppProvider` so you own the app instance at module level. If you are currently using `firebaseConfig={...}` on `FirebaseAppProvider`, switch to initializing the app yourself with `initializeApp()` and passing it via `firebaseApp=`. The `firebaseConfig=` prop is a convenience shortcut, but it gives reactfire ownership of the app instance, which makes emulator setup (and anything else that needs the app before React renders) unnecessarily difficult.
+
 Learn more about the Local Emulator Suite in the [Firebase docs](https://firebase.google.com/docs/emulator-suite/connect_and_prototype).
 
 ### Set up App Check