Firebase - App success made simple

Overview

Firebase provides the tools and infrastructure you need to develop, grow, and earn money from your app. This package supports web (browser), mobile-web, and server (Node.js) clients.

For more information, visit:

• Firebase Realtime Database - The Firebase Realtime Database lets you store and query user data, and makes it available between users in realtime.
• Cloud Firestore - Cloud Firestore is a flexible, scalable database for mobile, web, and server development from Firebase and Google Cloud Platform.
• Firebase Storage - Firebase Storage lets you upload and store user generated content, such as files, and images.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging - Firebase Cloud Messaging is a cross-platform messaging solution that lets you reliably deliver messages at no cost.
• Firebase Authentication - Firebase helps you authenticate and manage users who access your application.
• Create and setup your account - Get started using Firebase for free.

This SDK is intended for end-user client access from environments such as the Web, mobile Web (e.g. React Native, Ionic), Node.js desktop (e.g. Electron), or IoT devices running Node.js. If you are instead interested in using a Node.js SDK which grants you admin access from a privileged environment (like a server), you should use the Firebase Admin Node.js SDK.

Get the code (browser)

Script include

Include Firebase in your web application via a <script> tag:

<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${JSCORE_VERSION}/firebase.js"></script>

<script>
  var app = firebase.initializeApp({
    apiKey: '<your-api-key>',
    authDomain: '<your-auth-domain>',
    databaseURL: '<your-database-url>',
    projectId: '<your-cloud-firestore-project>',
    storageBucket: '<your-storage-bucket>',
    messagingSenderId: '<your-sender-id>'
  });
  // ...
</script>

Note: To get a filled in version of the above code snippet, go to the Firebase console for your app and click on "Add Firebase to your web app".

npm bundler (Browserify, Webpack, etc.)

The Firebase JavaScript npm package contains code that can be run in the browser after combining the modules you use with a package bundler (e.g., Browserify, Webpack).

Install the Firebase npm module:

$ npm init
$ npm install --save firebase

In your code, you can access Firebase using:

var firebase = require('firebase');
var app = firebase.initializeApp({ ... });

If you are using ES6 imports or TypeScript:

import * as firebase from 'firebase';
var app = firebase.initializeApp({ ... });

Include only the features you need

The full Firebase JavaScript client includes support for Firebase Authentication, the Firebase Realtime Database, Firebase Storage, and Firebase Cloud Messaging. Including code via the above snippets will pull in all of these features.

You can reduce the amount of code your app uses by just including the features you need. The individually installable services are:

• firebase-app - The core firebase client (required).
• firebase-auth - Firebase Authentication (optional).
• firebase-database - The Firebase Realtime Database (optional).
• firebase-firestore - Cloud Firestore (optional).
• firebase-storage - Firebase Storage (optional).
• firebase-messaging - Firebase Cloud Messaging (optional).
• firebase-functions - Firebase Cloud Functions (optional).

From the CDN, include the individual services you use (include firebase-app first):

<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${FIREBASE_VERSION}/firebase-app.js"></script>
<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${FIREBASE_VERSION}/firebase-auth.js"></script>
<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${FIREBASE_VERSION}/firebase-database.js"></script>
<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${FIREBASE_VERSION}/firebase-firestore.js"></script>
<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${FIREBASE_VERSION}/firebase-storage.js"></script>
<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${FIREBASE_VERSION}/firebase-messaging.js"></script>
<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/${FIREBASE_VERSION}/firebase-functions.js"></script>

<script>
  var app = firebase.initializeApp({ ... });
  // ...
</script>

When using the firebase npm package, you can require() just the services that you use:

var firebase = require('firebase/app');
require('firebase/auth');
require('firebase/database');

var app = firebase.initializeApp({ ... });

If you are using TypeScript with the npm package, you can import just the services you use:

// This import loads the firebase namespace along with all its type information.
import * as firebase from 'firebase/app';

// These imports load individual services into the firebase namespace.
import 'firebase/auth';
import 'firebase/database';

The type information from the import statement will include all of the SDKs, not just the ones you have required, so you could get a runtime error if you reference a non-required service.

Get the code (Node.js - server and command line)

NPM

While you can write entire Firebase applications without any backend code, many developers want to write server applications or command-line utilities using the Node.js JavaScript runtime.

You can use the same npm module to use Firebase in the Node.js runtime (on a server or running from the command line):

$ npm init
$ npm install --save firebase

In your code, you can access Firebase using:

var firebase = require('firebase');
var app = firebase.initializeApp({ ... });
// ...

If you are using native ES6 module with --experimental-modules flag, you should do:

// This import loads the firebase namespace.
import firebase from 'firebase/app';

// These imports load individual services into the firebase namespace.
import 'firebase/auth';
import 'firebase/database';

Known issue for typescript users with --experimental-modules: you have to set allowSyntheticDefaultImports to true in tsconfig.json to pass the type check. Use it with caution since it makes the assumption that all modules have a default export, which might not be the case for the other dependencies you have. And Your code will break if you try to import the default export from a module that doesn't have default export.

Firebase Storage is not included in the server side Firebase npm module. Instead, you can use the google-cloud Node.js client.

$ npm install --save google-cloud

In your code, you can access your Storage bucket using:

var gcloud = require('google-cloud')({ ... });
var gcs = gcloud.storage();
var bucket = gcs.bucket('<your-firebase-storage-bucket>');
...

Firebase Cloud Messaging is not included in the server side Firebase npm module. Instead, you can use the Firebase Cloud Messaging Rest API.

API definition

If you use the Closure Compiler or compatible IDE, you can find API definitions for all the Firebase JavaScript API in the included /externs directory in this package:

externs/
  firebase-app-externs.js
  firebase-auth-externs.js
  firebase-database-externs.js
  firebase-firestore-externs.js
  firebase-storage-externs.js
  firebase-messaging-externs.js

Changelog

The Firebase changelog can be found at firebase.google.com.

Browser/environment compatibility

See ENVIRONMENTS.md to see which browsers/environments are supported for each feature.