generator-react-firebase

Install Yeoman and generator-react-firebase using npm (we assume you have pre-installed node.js):

npm install -g yo generator-react-firebase

1. Do the following in the Firebase Console:
   1. Create both a Firestore Database and Real Time Database within your project
   2. Enable Google and/or Email Sign In Methods in the Authentication tab (required to enable login/signup within your application)
   3. Confirm billing is enabled for your project
2. Make sure to have Node ^12 installed and selected - this is to match the engines setting in functions/package.json which defines the function runtime node version (more in the FAQ section)
3. Make sure you have firebase-tools installed an you are logged in (firebase login)
4. Confirm Firebase Hosting API is enabled for your project

1. Create a project folder and enter it: mkdir myProject && cd myProject
2. Generate project: yo react-firebase (project will be named after current folder)

3. Start application: npm start or yarn start

   Project will default to being named with the name of the folder that it is generated within (in this case myProject)

Note: To skip installing dependencies during generation pass the skip install flag (i.e. --skip-install)

Whats Next

1. Deploy your application either manually through firebase-tools or by setting up CI Deployment
2. Enable APIs for features which were opted into:
   • Firebase Cloud Messaging API
3. Checkout and understand .env.local. This was generated for you for your local development environment, but is is ignored from git tracking (within .gitignore). You can have different settings within this file based on environment or if multiple developers are running the same code.
4. Tryout the Sub Generators to add new features such as routes, components, and Cloud Functions to your project quickly

• React + React Dom ^17.0.0 (has hooks)
• Material-UI application styling including Navbar
• Full Authentication with validation (through Email, Google or Github)
• Async route loading (using React.lazy and React.Suspense)
• Route protection (only view certain pages when logged in)
• Firebase Functions Setup with function splitting for faster cold-starts (including support within function sub-generator)
• Automatic Build/Deploy config for multiple CI Providers including:
  • Github Actions
  • Gitlab (uses pipelines)
  • Travis
• Component Testing With Jest
• UI Testing with Cypress
• Dependabot settings for automatic PRs for dependency version updates
• Account Management Page

• react - Rendering + Components
• react-router - Routing (including async route loading)
• material-ui - Google Material Styling React Components
• eslint - Linting (also implements prettier)
• react-hook-form - Form input validation + state
• react-scripts - Build + Dev tooling from create-react-app

When opting out of redux (default)

• reactfire

When opting into redux

• redux - Client Side state
• react-redux-firebase - Easily Persist results of Firebase queries to redux state
• redux-auth-wrapper - Easily create HOCs for route/component protection based on auth state

Sub generators are included to help speed up the application building process. You can run a sub-generator by calling yo react-firebase:<name of sub-generator> <param1>.

Example: To call the component sub-generator with "SomeThing" as the first parameter write: yo react-firebase:component SomeThing

Path Argument

Another argument can be passed to sub generators (unless otherwise noted) to provide the base path in which you would like to run the generator (starts from src). For example: yo react-firebase:component Car routes/Project runs the component generator within the Project route folder meaning that the component will be added to routes/Project/components instead of the top level src/components folder.

Function

Generates a Cloud Function allowing the user to specify trigger type (from HTTPS, Firestore, RTDB, Auth, or Storage)

A component is best for things that will be reused in multiple places. Our example

command

yo react-firebase:function uppercaser

result

/functions
--/uppercaser
----uppercaser.spec.js
----index.js

/functions/uppercaser/index.js:

import * as functions from "firebase-functions";
import * as admin from "firebase-admin";
import { to } from "utils/async";

const eventName = "uppercaser";

/**
 * @param {functions.Change} change - Function change interface containing state objects
 * @param {functions.EventContext} context - Function event context
 * @return {Promise}
 */
async function uppercaserEvent(change, context) {
  const { params, auth, timestamp } = context;
  const { before, after } = change;

  console.log("<%= camelName %> <%= eventType %> event:", {
    before: before.val(),
    after: after.val(),
    uid: auth?.uid,
    params,
    timestamp,
  });

  // End function execution by returning
  return null;
}

/**
 * Event handler that fires every time data is updated in Firebase Realtime Database.
 *
 * Trigger: `RTDB - onUpdate - '/uppercaser/{pushId}'`
 * @name uppercaser
 * @type {functions.CloudFunction}
 * @public
 */
export default functions.database
  .ref(`/${eventName}/{pushId}`)
  .onUpdate(uppercaserEvent);

Note: This sub-generator does not support the Path Argument (functions are automatically placed within the folder indicated within functions.source of firebase.json, otherwise functions).

Component

Generates a React component along with an option matching style file (either Javascript or SCSS) and places it within /components.

A component is best for things that will be reused in multiple places. Our example

command

yo react-firebase:component Car

result

/app
--/components
----/Car
------index.js
------Car.enhancer.js // optional
------Car.styles.js // optional (Localized MUI Styling)
------Car.js
------Car.scss // option (SCSS File)

/app/components/Car.js:

import React from "react";
import PropTypes from "prop-types";
import { makeStyles } from "@material-ui/core/styles";
import styles from "./Car.styles";

const useStyles = makeStyles(styles);

function Car({ car }) {
  const classes = useStyles();

  return (
    <div className={classes.container}>
      <span>Car Component</span>
      <pre>{JSON.stringify(car, null, 2)}</pre>
    </div>
  );
}

export default Car;

NOTE: Option to use Javascript file for styles is only offered if @material-ui/core is included in package.json

Form

Generates a Redux Form wrapped React component along with a matching scss file and places it within /components.

command

yo react-firebase:form Car

_or_

yo react-firebase:form CarForm

result

/app
--/components
----/CarForm
------index.js
------CarForm.enhancer.js
------CarForm.js
------CarForm.styles.js

/app/components/CarForm.js:

import React from "react";
import PropTypes from "prop-types";
import { makeStyles } from "@material-ui/core/styles";
import styles from "./CarForm.styles";

const useStyles = makeStyles(styles);

function CarForm({ onSubmit }) {
  const classes = useStyles();
  const {
    register,
    handleSubmit,
    errors,
    formState: { isSubmitting, isValid },
  } = useForm({
    mode: "onChange",
    nativeValidation: false,
  });

  return (
    <form className={classes.root} onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSubmit)}>
      <TextField
        error={!!errors.name}
        helperText={errors.name && "Name is required"}
        name="name"
        label="Name"
        inputRef={register({
          required: true,
        })}
        margin="normal"
        fullWidth
      />
      <Button
        type="submit"
        color="primary"
        className={classes.submit}
        disabled={isSubmitting || !isValid}
      >
        {isSubmitting ? "Saving..." : "Save"}
      </Button>
    </form>
  );
}

CarForm.propTypes = {
  onSubmit: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
};

export default CarForm;

Hook

Generates a custom react hook for a react component. The hook is in it's own file

command

yo react-firebase:hook ProjectTile

result

/app
--/components
----/Project
------index.js
------Project.hook.js

With a file that looks like:

export default function useProjectTile() {
  // Hook logic
}

Route

Generates a React component along with a matching component (which has an scss file, an enhancer, and its own index file).

command

yo react-firebase:route Project

result

/app
--/routes
----/Project
------index.js
------components
--------ProjectPage
----------index.js
----------Project.js
----------Project.styles.js

Module

Generates a React component along with a matching component (which has an scss file, an enhancer, and its own index file).

command

yo react-firebase:module notification

result

/app
--/modules
----/notification
------components
------actions.js
------actionTypes.js
------index.js
------reducer.js

Note: This sub-generator does not support the Path Argument (functions are already placed within a folder matching their name).

Enhancer

Generates an enhancer for a react component. Also includes an index file that wraps the component in the enhancer.

command

yo react-firebase:enhancer Project

result

/app
--/components
----/Project
------index.js

Project outputted from generator has a README explaining the full structure and details specific to settings you choose. This includes everything from running your code to deploying it. Some of the key pieces of that information are included below:

Testing

Component Tests

To add a unit test, create a .spec.js or .test.js file anywhere inside of src. Jest will automatically find these files and generate snapshots to the __snapshots folder.

UI Tests

Cypress is used to write and run UI tests which live in the cypress folder. The following npm scripts can be used to run tests:

* Run using Cypress run: `npm run test:ui`
* Open Test Runner UI (`cypress open`): `npm run test:ui:open`

Deployment

Build code before deployment by running npm run build. There are multiple options below for types of deployment, if you are unsure, checkout the Firebase section.

1. Install Firebase Command Line Tool: npm i -g firebase-tools

CI Deploy

Note: Config for this is located within firebase-ci has been added to simplify the CI deployment process. All that is required is providing authentication with Firebase:

1. Login: firebase login:ci to generate an authentication token (will be used to give Travis-CI rights to deploy on your behalf)
2. Set FIREBASE_TOKEN environment variable within Travis-CI environment
3. Run a build on CI

If you would like to deploy to different Firebase instances for different branches (i.e. prod), change ci settings within .firebaserc.

For more options on CI settings checkout the firebase-ci docs

Manual Deploy

1. Run firebase login
2. Initialize project with firebase init then answer:
   • What file should be used for Database Rules? -> database.rules.json
   • What do you want to use as your public directory? -> build
   • Configure as a single-page app (rewrite all urls to /index.html)? -> Yes
   • What Firebase project do you want to associate as default? -> your Firebase project name
3. Build Project: npm run build
4. Confirm Firebase config by running locally: firebase serve
5. Deploy to Firebase (everything including Hosting and Functions): firebase deploy

NOTE: You can use firebase serve to test how your application will work when deployed to Firebase, but make sure you run npm run build first.

Complete examples of generator output available in Examples

• react-firebase-redux example - redux and Firebase Real Time Database
• redux-firestore - redux and Firestore
• react-firebase example - Firebase Real Time Database

For full projects built out using this as a starting place, check the next section.

• fireadmin.io - Application for Managing Firebase Applications. Includes support for multiple environments and data migrations.
• devshare.io - Codesharing site based on Firebase's Firepad and Realtime Database
• A number of projects at Reside
• react-redux-firebase material example - Shows usage of react-redux-firebase with material-ui
• react-redux-firebase firestore example - Shows usage of react-redux-firebase with firestore

open an issue or reach out over gitter if you would like your project to be included

1. Why use .jsx extension for React component files? What if I want to use .js instead?

.jsx is used to clearly identify files which are using React JSX, which is non-standard javascript functionality. Some eslint configurations, such as Airbnb, have this as a rule (here is an issue that discusses why).

If you would still like to use .js instead, you can switch the extension of all .jsx files to .js using the following command:

for f in src/**/*.jsx; do
  mv -- "$f" "${f%.jsx}.js"
done

1. Why node 12 instead of a newer version?

It is the newest node supported by the Cloud Functions runtime, which is why that is what is used for the suggested build version as well as the version used when building within CI.

1. Why camel-cased environment variables instead of full capital letters (i.e. process.env.REACT_APP_FIREBASE_projectId instead of process.env.REACT_APP_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID)

In CI the settings for you app are loaded dynamically through firebase-tools when using the apps:sdkconfig command, the values that are returned use camel-casing. Instead of making things more unclear by changing the case of these variables, they are left matching what the Firebase JS SDK is expecting. This pattern is also used in the .env.local file.

1. How do I deploy my application? The README of your generated project specifies deployment instructions based on your choices while generating. For an example, checkout any of the README.md files at the root of projects in the examples folder including this one.

2. How do I add a route?

   1. Use the route sub-generator to add the route: yo react-firebase:route MyRoute
   2. Add a path of the new route to constants/paths (i.e. MYROUTE_PATH)
   3. Add the route to the list of routes in src/routes/index.js

3. Where are the settings for changing how my project deploys through Continuous integration?

   Within .firebaserc under the ci section. These settings are loaded by firebase-ci

4. Why are there __snapshots__ folders everywhere when opting into Jest?

   Jest just recently added support for adding your own snapshot resolver that allows you to place the __snapshots__ folder at the top level (logic included in scripts/snapshotResolver.js). Since feature is still in alpha, it is not yet included with this generator. While testing supporting a top level __snapshots__ folder, there were a number of issues, but the provided resolver did work as expected in some cases.

   I got it working by:

   1. Ejecting result of generator (yarn eject)
   2. Installing beta version of Jest that is at least 24.0.0-alpha.6 - yarn add jest@beta --dev
   3. Adding a snapshot resolver to place snapshots where you want as scripts/snapshotResolver.js
   4. Referencing the snapshot resolver reference within package.json (which should contain jest config after ejecting): "snapshotResolver": "<rootDir>/scripts/snapshotResolver.js"

5. How do I move/rename the cypress folder to something more general? If you wanted to move the cypress folder into test/ui for instance, you could modify your cypress.json file to match the following:

   cypress.json

   {
     "chromeWebSecurity": false,
     "fixturesFolder": "test/ui/fixtures",
     "integrationFolder": "test/ui/integration",
     "pluginsFile": "test/ui/plugins/index.js",
     "screenshotsFolder": "test/ui/screenshots",
     "videosFolder": "test/ui/videos",
     "supportFile": "test/ui/support/index.js"
   }
   

6. Some of my answers were saved, how did that happen? Why?

   Yeoman has the store option, which uses the Yeoman Storage API to store answers to questions within within a .yo-rc.json. This allows you to rerun the generator in the future to recieve updates without having to remember the answers you used or re-lookup them up.

   This also shows you how examples were done by answering the generator questions.

7. How can I extend the build settings of my app after generating?

   There are two options:

   • Use npm run eject or yarn eject to eject from react-scripts (this cannot be undone)
   • Use customize-cra and react-app-rewired to modify settings without ejecting (for more see the question about not ejecting)

8. How do I extend the webpack/babel config without ejecting?

   1. Install customize-cra and react-app-rewired:

      npm i --save-dev customize-cra react-app-rewired
      

   2. Add the following to the scripts section of your package.json file:

      "start": "react-app-rewired start",
      "build": "react-app-rewired build",
      "eject": "react-app-rewired eject",
      "test": "react-app-rewired test"
      

   3. Add config-overrides.js that looks like so (any utils can be used in override):

      const utils = require("customize-cra");
      
      module.exports = utils.override(
        utils.disableEsLint(),
        utils.useBabelRc()
      );
      

9. What happened to the scss from before? What if I want to do the same setup?

   It was removed in favor of Javascript styling through *.styles.js files. It is common to use Javascript styles with material-ui, so following this pattern allows mirrors their examples/docs.

   If you want to do the same setup as before, make sure you reference the scss files correctly (now that the build config is through react-scripts). For example if you want to import styles/_base.scss make sure you switch your imports like the following:

   - @import 'base';
   + @import 'styles/_base.scss';
   

• Airbnb linting option (currently only standard)
• Option to use simple file structure instead of fractal pattern
• Open to ideas