The Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-hosted database. Data is stored as
JSON and synchronized in realtime to every connected client. When you build
cross-platform apps with our Android, Apple platforms, and JavaScript SDKs,
all of your clients share one Realtime Database instance and automatically receive
updates with the newest data.
We can use any Firebase Realtime Database URL as a REST endpoint. All we need
to do is append
.json
to the end of the URL and send a request from
our favorite HTTPS client.
Create an Account
First sign up for an account at no cost in the
Firebase console
. A new
Firebase app will be created for you with a unique URL ending in
firebaseio.com
. You'll use this URL to authenticate your users and
to store and sync data to the app's database.
Within the
Firebase console
you can create, manage and delete Firebase
apps. Clicking on a specific Firebase app lets you view and modify your app's
database in real time. In your app dashboard, you can also set
Firebase Realtime Database Security Rules, manage your
app's authentication, deploys, and view analytics.
Create a Database
Navigate to the
Realtime Database
section of the
Firebase console
.
You'll be prompted to select an existing Firebase project.
Follow the database creation workflow.
Select a starting mode for your Firebase Security Rules:
- Test mode
Good for getting started with the mobile and web client libraries,
but allows anyone to read and overwrite your data. After testing,
make
sure to review the
Understand Firebase Realtime Database Rules
section.
To get started with the web, Apple, or Android SDK, select testmode.
- Locked mode
Denies all reads and writes from mobile and web clients.
Your authenticated application servers can still access your database.
Choose a location for the database.
Depending on the
location of the database
, the
URL for the new database will be in one of the following forms:
Click
Done
.
When you enable Realtime Database, it also enables the API in the
Cloud API Manager
.
Choose a Helper Library
You can read and write data through the REST API directly from the command line.
In this guide we'll use
cURL
for all of our examples. We also have several third-party helper libraries for
interacting with the REST API from your favorite language. You can use one of
the following helper libraries or create your own:
Next Steps