# Firebase Basics > Bootstrap and product reference for any Firebase project — CLI login, project selection, MCP wiring, and authoritative Firebase product docs (core concepts, CLI, client/admin SDKs, IaC, IAM/security). Use at the start of work on a Firebase repo, when you need to look up a Firebase product concept, or when setting up the Firebase MCP server. For deploy/rules/secrets discipline see `firebase-stack`. For emulator-backed testing see `firebase-emulator-e2e-harness`. - Skill: `jordanchoo/firebase-basics` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 7 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add jordanchoo/firebase-basics` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/jordanchoo/firebase-basics/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: DevOps & Infra - Author: JordanChoo (https://skillmd.com/u/jordanchoo) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/jordanchoo/firebase-basics --- # firebase-basics Bootstrap and product-reference layer for Firebase work. This skill is the entry point: it covers logging into the Firebase CLI, picking an active project, wiring the Firebase MCP server, and points to authoritative product docs under `references/`. This skill is intentionally **generic and non-opinionated**. For environment-specific discipline (deploy gates, rules tests, index hygiene, secret rotation), load `firebase-stack`. For emulator-backed E2E harness work, load `firebase-emulator-e2e-harness`. ## Triggers Load this skill when: - Starting work on a repo with `firebase.json` / `.firebaserc` and no Firebase context yet - User asks a Firebase product question (what is X, how is it priced, what regions, what SDK) - Setting up or repairing the Firebase MCP server - A teammate-handoff repo has no `scripts/` wrapper and you need the bare-CLI baseline If the repo already has project-specific scripts and `firebase-stack` triggers fire, prefer `firebase-stack`. ## Bootstrap ### 1. Verify the CLI is reachable ```bash npx -y firebase-tools@latest --version ``` Always invoke as `npx -y firebase-tools@latest ` rather than bare `firebase` — this pins to the latest published CLI and avoids "works on my machine" version drift. (Yes, even in Bun-default repos; `firebase-tools` is npm-distributed.) ### 2. Log in (interactive) ```bash npx -y firebase-tools@latest login ``` The login flow opens a browser. If you're an agent in a non-interactive shell, **stop and ask the user to run this themselves** — do not attempt to script around the browser flow. ### 3. Pick an active project ```bash npx -y firebase-tools@latest use ``` - If output is `Active Project: `, proceed. - If no active project, ask the user for an existing project ID and run: ```bash npx -y firebase-tools@latest use --add ``` - If the user has no project yet, create one (only with explicit user approval — project creation is billable scope): ```bash npx -y firebase-tools@latest projects:create --display-name ``` ### 4. Wire the Firebase MCP server (optional) The Firebase CLI ships a local MCP server. To make it available to this agent, see [references/mcp-usage.md](references/mcp-usage.md). Detect first — many setups already have a `firebase` entry in their MCP config and re-adding it would overwrite siblings. ## Reference docs Authoritative Firebase product references, mirrored from [google/skills firebase-basics](https://github.com/google/skills/tree/main/skills/cloud/firebase-basics). Read on demand: - [Firebase core concepts](references/core-concepts.md) — product list, regional availability, Spark vs Blaze - [Firebase CLI usage](references/cli-usage.md) — `npx firebase-tools` invocation pattern, self-documenting help - [Firebase client library usage](references/client-library-usage.md) — web/iOS/Android/Flutter SDKs and Admin SDK pointers - [Firebase CLI and MCP server](references/mcp-usage.md) — MCP config detection and merge protocol - [Firebase IaC usage](references/iac-usage.md) — Terraform resources for Firebase - [Firebase security-related features](references/iam-security.md) — IAM roles, Security Rules basics, App Check ## Extension: Google's full skill bundle google/skills firebase-basics also instructs the agent to install Google's broader Firebase skill set: ```bash npx -y skills add firebase/agent-skills -y ``` That bundle adds skills for `firebase-firestore`, `firebase-hosting-basics`, `firebase-auth-basics`, `firebase-app-hosting-basics`, `firebase-data-connect-basics`, `firebase-ai-logic-basics`, `firebase-security-rules-auditor`, and Genkit (`developing-genkit-{js,go,dart}`). **This is opt-in here, not mandatory.** Reasons to skip it: those skills are generic and don't know about this user's environment conventions (emulator-first testing in `firebase-emulator-e2e-harness`, project-script discipline in `firebase-stack`, beads single-writer policy, Bun defaults). Reasons to run it: you're starting a brand-new Firebase project that needs Firestore data-modeling or Genkit guidance and the existing skills don't cover it. Ask the user before installing. ## See also - [`firebase-stack`](../firebase-stack/SKILL.md) — environment-specific discipline: deploy targets, rules-test gates, index/query consistency, secret rotation, infra provisioning scripts - [`firebase-emulator-e2e-harness`](../firebase-emulator-e2e-harness/SKILL.md) — deterministic emulator harnesses for Playwright/Vitest E2E ## Attribution `references/*.md` are mirrored from [google/skills](https://github.com/google/skills) (Apache 2.0 / per repo LICENSE) and may diverge from upstream over time. Re-fetch from `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/skills/main/skills/cloud/firebase-basics/references/` to refresh.