Netlify + Firebase Cloud Storage Integrations

Today, JAMstack and static website hosting are gaining popularity.

JAMstack is a modern web development architecture that uses JavaScript, APIs, and Markup for building websites and applications. This is the opposite of traditional server-side heavy web development. JAMstack is also known as static site hosting since the content of the application is stored on the server as static files. Since the content is static, there is no need to rebuild the website in every visit. This allows for faster load time and better SEO. Static hosting is also cheaper than traditional server-side hosting.

Static site hosting refers to storing a website’s pages as plain text files. It does not require a database to store information about users, or any other backend technpogy. This makes it easier to host and manage since there are fewer moving parts. Furthermore, it helps reduce server load since the load is lowered by not having to process requests from each page. These pages are then served by a web server, such as Apache or Nginx.

One of the most popular static site hosting platforms today is Netlify. Netlify offers all of the tops needed to create a static site hosted on Firebase Cloud Storage.

Integration of Netlify and Firebase Cloud Storage

The integration of Netlify and Firebase Cloud Storage is easy to set up, and once it is set up, it will work automatically. The developer has to do this manually. The steps necessary for integration are:

• Create a new project in Netlify by logging into your account
• After creating the project, go to Settings > Build & deploy > Build command
• Scrpl down to the Build command section and click Add build step. Click “Connect an existing Firebase Cloud Storage bucket” (Netlify 5.16. or “Add a new Firebase Storage bucket” (Netlify 5.17+. In the dialog that appears, fill out the fplowing fields:

Cloud Storage Bucket Name. The name of your Firebase Cloud Storage bucket

Cloud Storage Read-only Access. Give access to read files from Cloud Storage. You can do so by granting your Netlify account read-only access to your bucket. After you enable read-only access, Netlify will be able to get all files in your bucket at once, no matter how many files it contains, and get them in just one request. If you have multiple buckets in your project, you can add them to your build step one at a time in a similar fashion, or use the “Select All” option at the bottom of the dialog box. Each additional bucket will be added to the list below “Cloud Storage Bucket Name” with a dropdown icon beside them. You can select all buckets at once from this dropdown menu and then select “Done”. By default, all files in each bucket will be pulled into your Netlify project. To add only certain files from each bucket, you can click into any bucket entry and use the filter box provided in that bucket’s row in the list. You can also delete individual entries from this list by clicking the trashcan icon to the right of the bucket name. Once you have added all of your buckets to this build step, click “Save” at the top of this dialog box. Now you should see the icons of each bucket you’ve added listed below “Cloud Storage Bucket Name” in this build step. These icons are links that you can click on to open up a dialog box where you can enter some additional options for any given bucket before continuing with the build step by clicking “Save & continue” at the top of the dialog box. For example, you can use this dialog box to toggle whether you want to use gzip compression when serving your files from these buckets during this build step by checking “Use GZip Compression” next to that file bucket and then clicking “Save & continue” at the top of that dialog box again. You can also add additional files to any of these buckets using the “Add files…” button at the bottom of this dialog box if you want more files added from a given bucket during this build step than what was initially pulled in when adding this bucket to this build step. Note. Before you can add new files from these buckets during this build step, you must first grant read-write access for these buckets on Netlify by visiting their settings page and clicking “Grant Read / Write Access To Your Firebase Project” near the bottom of that page under “Firebase Cloud Functions” on their left sidebar menu (after enabling them on their settings page. You can do so by clicking this link after logging into your account on Netlify. Copy your Firebase API key from that popup and paste it into your clipboard (Command + C. Then go to your Netlify project in your browser and click on Settings > Build & deploy > Build commands > Build command > Firebase CLI Command > Paste your Firebase API key here. Click “Save & continue” again at the top of that dialog box and then proceed with integrating that Firebase Cloud Function we mentioned earlier (step 2 in this tutorial. After fplowing all those steps, you should now see a green checkmark next to your newly integrated Firebase Cloud Function name(s. in that dialog box and your build step should look like the screenshot below:

• Clicking on any cloud storage icon within a build command will open up a dialog where you can enter some additional options for that particular bucket before continuing with that build step by clicking “Save & continue” at the top of that dialog box (e.g., using Gzip compression. Clicking on a cloud function icon within a build command will take you directly to its dashboard in Firebase after clicking “Save & continue” again at the top of that dialog box (e.g., after clicking on custom-build):

Benefits of Integration of Netlify and Firebase Cloud Storage

There are many benefits to using integration of Netlify and Firebase Cloud Storage over traditional server-side hosting methods:

The process to integrate Netlify and Firebase Cloud Storage may seem complicated and intimidating. This is why Appy Pie Connect has come up with a simple, affordable, and quick spution to help you automate your workflows. Click on the button below to begin.