Documentation

Express Setup

Configure Firebase Admin and Fireclass for an Express or Node.js application.

This guide uses @dharayush7/fireclass-js and a lazy Firebase Admin factory.

Prepare Firebase

Add service-account values to a gitignored .env:

.env

PROJECT_ID=your-project-id
CLIENT_EMAIL=firebase-adminsdk-xxxxx@your-project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com
PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n"

.gitignore

.env
serviceAccount*.json

Create the Firebase entry before running the CLI:

src/lib/firebase.ts

import "dotenv/config";
import { cert, getApps, initializeApp } from "firebase-admin/app";
import { getFirestore, type Firestore } from "firebase-admin/firestore";
 
export function getDb(): Firestore {
  if (getApps().length === 0) {
    initializeApp({
      credential: cert({
        projectId: process.env.PROJECT_ID,
        clientEmail: process.env.CLIENT_EMAIL,
        privateKey: process.env.PRIVATE_KEY?.replace(/\\n/g, "\n"),
      }),
    });
  }
 
  return getFirestore();
}

CLI path

Install dotenv if the application does not already load environment files, then run the initializer:

$ npm install dotenv

$ npx fireclass init

Choose Express / Node, keep src/lib/firebase.ts, and enter getDb() as the export. The parentheses tell Fireclass that the export is a factory.

Verify

npx fireclass doctor

Manual path

Install dependencies

$ npm install @dharayush7/fireclass-js firebase-admin class-validator class-transformer reflect-metadata dotenv

Create the Fireclass entry

For a Node ESM project, TypeScript source uses .js in relative imports:

src/lib/fireclass.ts

import "reflect-metadata";
import { createFireclass } from "@dharayush7/fireclass-js";
import { getDb } from "./firebase.js";
 
export const { BaseModel, adapter } = createFireclass(getDb());

Enable decorators and Node ESM

tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "NodeNext",
    "moduleResolution": "NodeNext",
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true
  }
}

Create the first model

src/models/todo.ts

import { Collection } from "@dharayush7/fireclass-js";
import { IsBoolean, IsString } from "class-validator";
import { BaseModel } from "../lib/fireclass.js";
 
@Collection("todos")
export class Todo extends BaseModel<Todo> {
  @IsString()
  title!: string;
 
  @IsBoolean()
  done!: boolean;
 
  constructor(data?: Partial<Todo>) {
    super(data);
    Object.assign(this, data);
  }
}

Import standalone middleware directly from the SDK:

src/server.ts

import express from "express";
import { fireclassErrorHandler } from "@dharayush7/fireclass-js";
 
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
 
// Register routes first.
app.use(fireclassErrorHandler());

Verify

npx fireclass doctor
npm run typecheck

PreviousReact setup Next fireclass.json

Documentation

Express Setup

Configure Firebase Admin and Fireclass for an Express or Node.js application.

This guide uses @dharayush7/fireclass-js and a lazy Firebase Admin factory.

Prepare Firebase

Add service-account values to a gitignored .env:

.env

PROJECT_ID=your-project-id
CLIENT_EMAIL=firebase-adminsdk-xxxxx@your-project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com
PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n"

.gitignore

.env
serviceAccount*.json

Create the Firebase entry before running the CLI:

src/lib/firebase.ts

import "dotenv/config";
import { cert, getApps, initializeApp } from "firebase-admin/app";
import { getFirestore, type Firestore } from "firebase-admin/firestore";
 
export function getDb(): Firestore {
  if (getApps().length === 0) {
    initializeApp({
      credential: cert({
        projectId: process.env.PROJECT_ID,
        clientEmail: process.env.CLIENT_EMAIL,
        privateKey: process.env.PRIVATE_KEY?.replace(/\\n/g, "\n"),
      }),
    });
  }
 
  return getFirestore();
}

CLI path

Install dotenv if the application does not already load environment files, then run the initializer:

$ npm install dotenv

$ npx fireclass init

Choose Express / Node, keep src/lib/firebase.ts, and enter getDb() as the export. The parentheses tell Fireclass that the export is a factory.

Verify

npx fireclass doctor

Manual path

Install dependencies

$ npm install @dharayush7/fireclass-js firebase-admin class-validator class-transformer reflect-metadata dotenv

Create the Fireclass entry

For a Node ESM project, TypeScript source uses .js in relative imports:

src/lib/fireclass.ts

import "reflect-metadata";
import { createFireclass } from "@dharayush7/fireclass-js";
import { getDb } from "./firebase.js";
 
export const { BaseModel, adapter } = createFireclass(getDb());

Enable decorators and Node ESM

tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "NodeNext",
    "moduleResolution": "NodeNext",
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true
  }
}

Create the first model

src/models/todo.ts

import { Collection } from "@dharayush7/fireclass-js";
import { IsBoolean, IsString } from "class-validator";
import { BaseModel } from "../lib/fireclass.js";
 
@Collection("todos")
export class Todo extends BaseModel<Todo> {
  @IsString()
  title!: string;
 
  @IsBoolean()
  done!: boolean;
 
  constructor(data?: Partial<Todo>) {
    super(data);
    Object.assign(this, data);
  }
}

Import standalone middleware directly from the SDK:

src/server.ts

import express from "express";
import { fireclassErrorHandler } from "@dharayush7/fireclass-js";
 
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
 
// Register routes first.
app.use(fireclassErrorHandler());

Verify

npx fireclass doctor
npm run typecheck

PreviousReact setup Next fireclass.json