Firebase Cloud Function Tutorial

When I first started using firebase, all was well. I could easily upload my data to the realtime database, and login users using FirebaseAuth no problem. However, as development went on, the application required more complex features such as push notifications, realtime database triggers, scheduling etc. All of which can be solved in the cloud.

Cloud functions are intimidating at first, there is a good amount of setup you have to go through to code and deploy a function. But, once you get through that, you will learn how to do incredible things with cloud functions at a rapid pace.

Where to begin…

In order to start developing cloud functions via firebase, you must first install the necessary requirements (Assuming that you already have a firebase project).

• Step 1: You are going to need to make sure you have node and npm installed, for that click here.
• Step 2: For interacting with your firebase functions and deploying them, you have to use the Firebase CLI tool, CLI stands for command line interface. To download this open your terminal and type in:

npm install -g firebase-tools

• Step 3: Once downloaded, you have to login to your firebase account via the CLI tool we just installed, entering the following command will open your browser where you will grant access to Firebase CLI:

firebase login

• Step 4: Now we need to initialize a project, this is…