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Version: v1

Firebase

This document explains how to create and deploy an application with Firebase. It assumes that you do not use TypeORM since Firebase does not provide SQL databases.

Set Up the Firebase CLI​

npm install -g firebase-tools
firebase login

Create the Firebase Project​

First create an empty project on the Firebase platform.

Then create your project locally.

mkdir my-app
cd my-app
firebase init

The CLI displays some prompts:

  • Select the Hosting option. You may select other options as well but do not select Functions (otherwise you will have to delete the functions/ directory just after).

  • The default static path must be changed to functions/public.

Create the Foal Application​

Create the Foal application.

foal createapp functions
cd functions

You can run locally your application using npm run develop.

Using npm run develop over firebase serve has the advantage to restart the development server when a file is changed.

Configure the Project to Make it Work with Firebase​

Install the dependencies.

npm install firebase-functions firebase-admin

Update the file package.json in functions/.

{
  ...
  "main": "build/index.firebase.js",
  "engines": {
    "node": "8"
  }
  ...
}

Create a file named index.firebase.ts in functions/src/ and export the express application.

import 'source-map-support/register';

// 3p
import { createApp } from '@foal/core';
import * as functions from 'firebase-functions';

// App
import { AppController } from './app/app.controller';

export const app = functions.https.onRequest(createApp(AppController));

Add the file to tsconfig.app.json.

{
  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
  "include": [
    "src/app/**/*.ts",
    "src/index.firebase.ts",
    "src/index.ts"
  ],
  "exclude": [
    "src/app/**/*.spec.ts"
  ]
}

Update the firebase.json file to specify that the server should use the previously exported application.

{
  "hosting": {
    "public": "functions/public",
    "ignore": [
      "firebase.json",
      "**/.*",
      "**/node_modules/**"
    ],
    "rewrites": [ {
      "source": "**",
      "function": "app"
    } ]
  }
}

Deploy the Application​

npm run build:app
firebase deploy