The Firebase CLI Tools can be used to test, manage, and deploy your Firebase project from the command line.
Firebase CLI Tools is a command-line interface designed to streamline the testing, management, and deployment of Firebase projects. This tool enables developers to efficiently initialize projects, run emulators, deploy functions, and interact with Firebase services such as Realtime Database, Firestore, Cloud Messaging, and Storage.
Key Features:
Project Initialization: Quickly set up new Firebase projects with predefined configurations.
Emulator Suite: Test your application locally using Firebase emulators for real-time database, Firestore, Functions, and more.
Function Deployment: Deploy serverless functions to Firebase's backend infrastructure with ease.
Service Interaction: Manage resources across Firebase services directly from the command line.
Version Management: Keep CLI tools updated to access the latest features and security improvements.
Ideal for developers, DevOps engineers, and project managers, Firebase CLI Tools enhances productivity by automating repetitive tasks and reducing manual errors. It supports a seamless workflow, enabling faster iteration and deployment cycles while maintaining reliability and consistency across environments. The tool can be installed via winget, making it easy to integrate into your development process.
README
Firebase CLI
The Firebase Command Line Interface (CLI) Tools can be used to test, manage, and deploy your Firebase project from the command line.
Deploy code and assets to your Firebase projects
Run a local web server for your Firebase Hosting site
Interact with data in your Firebase database
Import/Export users into/from Firebase Auth
To get started with the Firebase CLI, read the full list of commands below or check out the documentation.
Installation
Node Package
You can install the Firebase CLI using npm (the Node Package Manager). Note that you will need to install
Node.js and npm. Installing Node.js should install npm as well.
To download and install the Firebase CLI run the following command:
npm install -g firebase-tools
This will provide you with the globally accessible firebase command.
Standalone Binary
The standalone binary distribution of the Firebase CLI allows you to download a firebase executable
without any dependencies.
To download and install the CLI run the following command:
curl -sL firebase.tools | bash
Commands
The command firebase --help lists the available commands and firebase --help shows more details for an individual command.
If a command is project-specific, you must either be inside a project directory with an
active project alias or specify the Firebase project id with the -P flag.
Below is a brief list of the available commands and their function:
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Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront.
Steam offers features such as game server matchmaking with Valve Anti-Cheat measures, social networking, and game streaming services.
Steam automates game updates, provides cloud storage for game progress, and includes community features like direct messaging, in-game overlay functions, and a virtual collectible marketplace.
Notepad++ is a free (as in “free speech” and also as in “free beer”) source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.
Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GNU General Public License.
Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity.
Inspired by the Windows 95 era PowerToys project, this reboot provides power users with ways to squeeze more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and customize it for individual workflows.
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is a code editor redefined and optimized for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications. Microsoft Visual Studio Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
Git for Windows focuses on offering a lightweight, native set of tools that bring the full feature set of the Git SCM to Windows while providing appropriate user interfaces for experienced Git users and novices alike.
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Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront.
Steam offers features such as game server matchmaking with Valve Anti-Cheat measures, social networking, and game streaming services.
Steam automates game updates, provides cloud storage for game progress, and includes community features like direct messaging, in-game overlay functions, and a virtual collectible marketplace.
Notepad++ is a free (as in “free speech” and also as in “free beer”) source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.
Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GNU General Public License.
Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity.
Inspired by the Windows 95 era PowerToys project, this reboot provides power users with ways to squeeze more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and customize it for individual workflows.
Authenticate to your Firebase account. Requires access to a web browser.
logout
Sign out of the Firebase CLI.
login:ci
Generate an authentication token for use in non-interactive environments.
login:add
Authorize the CLI for an additional account.
login:list
List authorized CLI accounts.
login:use
Set the default account to use for this project
use
Set active Firebase project, manage project aliases.
open
Quickly open a browser to relevant project resources.
init
Setup a new Firebase project in the current directory. This command will create a firebase.json configuration file in your current directory.
help
Display help information about the CLI or specific commands.
Append --no-localhost to login (i.e., firebase login --no-localhost) to copy and paste code instead of starting a local server for authentication. A use case might be if you SSH into an instance somewhere and you need to authenticate to Firebase on that machine.
Project Management Commands
Command
Description
apps:create
Create a new Firebase app in a project.
apps:list
List the registered apps of a Firebase project.
apps:sdkconfig
Print the configuration of a Firebase app.
projects:addfirebase
Add Firebase resources to a Google Cloud Platform project.
projects:create
Create a new Firebase project.
projects:list
Print a list of all of your Firebase projects.
Deployment and Local Emulation
These commands let you deploy and interact with your Firebase services.
Command
Description
emulators:exec
Start the local Firebase emulators, run a test script, then shut down the emulators.
emulators:start
Start the local Firebase emulators.
deploy
Deploys your Firebase project. Relies on firebase.json configuration and your local project folder.
serve
Start a local server with your Firebase Hosting configuration and HTTPS-triggered Cloud Functions. Relies on firebase.json.
setup:emulators:database
Downloads the database emulator.
setup:emulators:firestore
Downloads the firestore emulator.
App Distribution Commands
Command
Description
appdistribution:distribute
Upload a distribution.
Auth Commands
Command
Description
auth:import
Batch importing accounts into Firebase from data file.
auth:export
Batch exporting accounts from Firebase into data file.
Fetch data from the current project's database and display it as JSON. Supports querying on indexed data.
database:set
Replace all data at a specified location in the current project's database. Takes input from file, STDIN, or command-line argument.
database:push
Push new data to a list at a specified location in the current project's database. Takes input from file, STDIN, or command-line argument.
database:remove
Delete all data at a specified location in the current project's database.
database:update
Perform a partial update at a specified location in the current project's database. Takes input from file, STDIN, or command-line argument.
database:profile
Profile database usage and generate a report.
database:instances:create
Create a realtime database instance.
database:instances:list
List realtime database instances.
database:settings:get
Read the realtime database setting at path
database:settings:set
Set the realtime database setting at path.
Extensions Commands
Command
Description
ext
Display information on how to use ext commands and extensions installed to your project.
ext:configure
Configure an existing extension instance.
ext:info
Display information about an extension by name (extensionName@x.y.z for a specific version)
ext:install
Install an extension.
ext:sdk:install
Install and SDK for an extension so you can define the extension in a functions codebase.
ext:list
List all the extensions that are installed in your Firebase project.
ext:uninstall
Uninstall an extension that is installed in your Firebase project by Instance ID.
ext:update
Update an existing extension instance to the latest version.
Cloud Firestore Commands
Command
Description
firestore:delete
Delete documents or collections from the current project's database. Supports recursive deletion of subcollections.
firestore:indexes
List all deployed indexes from the current project.
Cloud Functions Commands
Command
Description
functions:log
Read logs from deployed Cloud Functions.
functions:list
List all deployed functions in your Firebase project.
functions:config:set
Store runtime configuration values for the current project's Cloud Functions.
functions:config:get
Retrieve existing configuration values for the current project's Cloud Functions.
functions:config:unset
Remove values from the current project's runtime configuration.
functions:config:clone
Copy runtime configuration from one project environment to another.
functions:secrets:set
Create or update a secret for use in Cloud Functions for Firebase.
functions:secrets:get
Get metadata for secret and its versions.
functions:secrets:access
Access secret value given secret and its version. Defaults to accessing the latest version.
functions:secrets:prune
Destroys unused secrets.
functions:secrets:destroy
Destroy a secret. Defaults to destroying the latest version.
functions:delete
Delete one or more Cloud Functions by name or group name.
functions:shell
Locally emulate functions and start Node.js shell where these local functions can be invoked with test data.
Hosting Commands
Command
Description
hosting:disable
Stop serving Firebase Hosting traffic for the active project. A "Site Not Found" message will be displayed at your project's Hosting URL after running this command.
Remote Config Commands
Command
Description
remoteconfig:get
Get a Firebase project's Remote Config template.
remoteconfig:versions:list
Get a list of the most recent Firebase Remote Config template versions that have been published.
remoteconfig:rollback
Roll back a project's published Remote Config template to the version provided by --version_number flag.
Use firebase:deploy --only remoteconfig to update and publish a project's Firebase Remote Config template.
Authentication
General
The Firebase CLI can use one of four authentication methods listed in descending priority:
User Token - DEPRECATED: this authentication method will be removed in a future major version of firebase-tools; use a service account to authenticate instead - provide an explicit long-lived Firebase user token generated from firebase login:ci. Note that these tokens are extremely sensitive long-lived credentials and are not the right option for most cases. Consider using service account authorization instead. The token can be set in one of two ways:
Set the --token flag on any command, for example firebase --token="" projects:list.
Set the FIREBASE_TOKEN environment variable.
Local Login - run firebase login to log in to the CLI directly as yourself. The CLI will cache an authorized user credential on your machine.
Service Account - set the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable to point to the path of a JSON service account key file. For more details, see Google Cloud's Getting started with authentication guide.
Application Default Credentials - if you use the gcloud CLI and log in with gcloud auth application-default login, the Firebase CLI will use them if none of the above credentials are present.
Multiple Accounts
By default firebase login sets a single global account for use on all projects.
If you have multiple Google accounts which you use for Firebase projects you can
authorize multiple accounts and use them on a per-project or per-command basis.
To authorize an additonal account for use with the CLI, run firebase login:add.
You can view the list of authorized accounts with firebase login:list.
To set the default account for a specific Firebase project directory, run
firebase login:use from within the directory and select the desired account.
To check the default account for a directory, run firebase login:list and the
default account for the current context will be listed first.
To set the account for a specific command invocation, use the --account flag
with any command. For example firebase --account=user@domain.com deploy. The
specified account must have already been added to the Firebase CLI using
firebase login:add.
Cloud Functions Emulator
The Cloud Functions emulator is exposed through commands like emulators:start,
serve and functions:shell. Emulated Cloud Functions run as independent node processes
on your development machine which means they have their own credential discovery mechanism.
By default these node processes are not able to discover credentials from firebase login.
In order to provide a better development experience, when you are logged in to the CLI
through firebase login we take the user credentials and construct a temporary credential
that we pass into the emulator through GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS. We only do this
if you have not already set the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable
yourself.
Using behind a proxy
The CLI supports HTTP(S) proxies via environment variables. To use a proxy, set the HTTPS_PROXY
or HTTP_PROXY value in your environment to the URL of your proxy (e.g.
HTTP_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:12345).
Using with CI Systems
The Firebase CLI requires a browser to complete authentication, but is fully
compatible with CI and other headless environments.
Complete the following steps to run Firebase commands in a CI environment. Find detailed instructions for each step in Google Cloud's Getting started with authentication guide.
Create a service account and grant it the appropriate level of access to your project.
Create a service account key (JSON file) for that service account.
Store the key file in a secure, accessible way in your CI system.
Set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/key.json in your CI system when running Firebase commands.
To disable access for the service account, find the service account for your project in the Google Cloud Console, and then either remove the key, or disable or delete the service account.
Using as a Module
The Firebase CLI can also be used programmatically as a standard Node module.
Each command is exposed as a function that takes positional arguments followed
by an options object and returns a Promise.
The options object must be the very last argument and any unspecified
positional argument will get the default value of "". The following
two invocations are equivalent:
const client = require("firebase-tools");
// #1 - No arguments or options, defaults will be inferred
client.apps.list();
// #2 - Explicitly provide "" for all arguments and {} for options
client.apps.list("", {});
Note: when used in a limited environment like Cloud Functions, not all firebase-tools commands will work programatically
because they require access to a local filesystem.
