This page offers brief overviews of several important concepts about Firebase
projects. When available, follow the links to find more detailed information
about features, services, tooling, and best practices.
Relationship between Firebase projects, apps, and products
A Firebase project is the top-level entity for Firebase. In a project, you can
register your Apple, Android, or web apps. After you register your apps with
Firebase, you can add the Firebase SDKs for any number of
Firebase products
, like Analytics,
Cloud Firestore, Performance Monitoring, or Remote Config.
Learn more detailed information about this process in the Getting Started
guide for your platform:
iOS+
|
Android
|
web
|
Unity
|
C++
|
Flutter
.
Understanding the hierarchy of Firebase projects
This diagram shows the basic hierarchy of a Firebase project. Here are the key
relationships:
A
Firebase project
is like a container for all your apps and any resources
and services provisioned for the project.
A Firebase project can have one or more
Firebase Apps
registered to it
(for example, both the iOS and Android versions of an app, or both the free
and paid versions of an app).
All Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project
share and have
access to all the same resources and services provisioned for the project
.
Here are some examples:
All the Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project share the same
backends, like Firebase Hosting, Authentication, Realtime Database, Cloud Firestore,
Cloud Storage, and Cloud Functions.
All Firebase Apps registered to the same Firebase project are associated
with the same Google Analytics property, where each Firebase App is a
separate data stream in that property.
Relationship between Firebase projects and Google Cloud
When you create a new Firebase project, you're actually creating a
Google Cloud project
behind the scenes. You can even create a Google Cloud project first,
then add Firebase to the project later. You can think of a Google Cloud project
as a virtual container for data, code, configuration, and services.
Note that for all Firebase projects, Firebase automatically adds a label of
firebase:enabled
within the
Labels
page
for your project in the Google Cloud console. Learn more about this label in
our
FAQ
.
Since a Firebase project
is
a Google Cloud project:
Setting up a Firebase project and registering apps
You can set up a Firebase project and register apps in the
Firebase console
(or, for advanced use cases, via the
Firebase Management REST API
or the
Firebase CLI
). When you set up a project
and register apps, you need to make some organizational decisions and add
Firebase-specific configuration information to your local projects.
For production apps, you need to set up a clear development workflow,
which usually involves using multiple environments. Review our documentation on
developer workflows
,
including
general best practices
and
general security guidelines
for setting up Firebase projects and registering apps to create your development
workflow.
Interacting with a Firebase project
Besides the product SDKs, you can directly interact with a Firebase project
using several different tools and interfaces.
Firebase console
The
Firebase console
offers the richest environment for managing Firebase
products, apps, and project-level settings.
The left-side panel of the console lists the Firebase products, organized by
top-level categories. At the top of the left-side panel, access a project's
settings by clicking
settings
. A project's
settings include
integrations
,
access permissions
,
and
billing
.
The middle of the console displays buttons that launch setup workflows to
register various types of apps. After you start using Firebase, the main area of
the console changes into a dashboard that displays stats on the products you
use.
Note that since a Firebase project is also a Google Cloud project, you might
find that various tasks or products require you to use the
Google Cloud console instead of the Firebase console.
Firebase CLI (a command line tool)
Firebase also offers the
Firebase CLI
for configuring and
managing specific Firebase products, like Firebase Hosting,
Cloud Functions for Firebase, and Firebase Extensions.
After installing the CLI, you have access to the
global
firebase
command
. Use the CLI to
link your local app directory to a
Firebase project
, then
deploy
new versions of Firebase-hosted content or
updates to functions.
Firebase Management REST API
Using the
Firebase Management REST API
, you can
programmatically manage a Firebase project. For example, you can
programmatically register an app with a project or list the apps that are
already registered
(
iOS+
|
Android
|
web
).
Firebase project identifiers
A Firebase project can be identified in the Firebase backend and in various
developer interfaces using different identifiers, including the
project name
,
the
project number
, and the
project ID
.
The project name
When you create a project, you provide a
project name
. This identifier is
the
internal-only name
for a project in the
Firebase console
, the
Google Cloud console
,
and the
Firebase CLI
. The project name is not exposed in any
publicly visible Firebase or Google Cloud product, service, or resource; it
simply serves to help you more easily distinguish among multiple projects.
You can edit a project name at any time in the
settings
Project
settings
of the
Firebase console. The project name is displayed in the top pane.
The project number
A Firebase project (and its
associated Google Cloud project
) has a
project number
. This is the Google-assigned globally unique canonical
identifier for the project. Use this identifier when configuring integrations
and/or making API calls to Firebase, Google, or third-party services.
You cannot edit a project number. If you delete a project, the project number is
also deleted and can never be used again by any other project.
Find the project number
Find your Firebase project's
project number
using one of these options:
Using the Firebase console
: Click
settings
Project
settings
. The
project number is displayed in the top pane.
Using the Firebase CLI
: Run
firebase projects:list
. The project
number is displayed along with all the Firebase projects associated with your
account.
Using the Firebase Management REST API
: Call
projects.list
.
The response body contains the project number in the
FirebaseProject
object.
API calls and the project number
For many API calls, you need to include a unique identifier for a project.
Although many APIs accept the
project ID
, it's recommended that
you use the
project number
for making API calls to Firebase, Google, or
third-party services.
Learn more about using project identifiers, especially the project number, in
Google's
AIP 2510 standard
.
The project ID
A Firebase project (and its
associated Google Cloud project
) has a
project ID
. This is a user-defined unique identifier for the project across
all of Firebase and Google Cloud. When you create a Firebase project, Firebase
automatically assigns a unique ID to the project, but you can edit it during
project setup. This identifier should generally be treated as a convenience
alias to reference the project.
Find the project ID
Find your Firebase project's
project ID
using one of these options:
Using the Firebase console
: Click
settings
Project
settings
. The
project ID is displayed in the top pane.
Using the Firebase CLI
: Run
firebase projects:list
. The project ID
is displayed along with all the Firebase projects associated with your
account.
Using the Firebase Management REST API
: Call
projects.list
.
The response body contains the project ID in the
FirebaseProject
object.
Firebase resources and the project ID
The project ID displays in publicly visible Firebase resources, for example:
- Default Hosting subdomain ?
PROJECT_ID
.web.app
and
PROJECT_ID
.firebaseapp.com
- Default Realtime Database URL ?
PROJECT_ID
-default-rtdb.firebaseio.com
or
PROJECT_ID
-default-rtdb.
REGION_CODE
.firebasedatabase.app
- Default Cloud Storage bucket name ?
PROJECT_ID
.appspot.com
For all of the aforementioned resources, you can create non-default instances.
The publicly visible names of non-defaults are fully-customizable. You can
connect custom domains
to a Firebase-hosted site,
shard the Realtime Database
, and
create multiple Cloud Storage buckets
(visit the
platform-specific Get Started page).
The Firebase CLI and the project ID
For some use cases, you might have multiple Firebase projects associated with
the same local app directory. In these situations, when you use the
Firebase CLI
, you need to pass the
--project
flag with the
firebase
commands to communicate which Firebase project you want to interact
with.
You can also set up a
project alias
for each
Firebase project so that you don't have to remember project IDs.
API calls and the project ID
For many API calls, you need to include a unique identifier for a project.
Although many APIs accept the project ID, it's recommended that you use the
project number
for making API calls to Firebase, Google,
or third-party services.
Learn more about using project identifiers, especially the project number, in
Google's
AIP 2510 standard
.
Firebase config files and objects
When you register an app with a Firebase project, the Firebase console
provides a Firebase configuration file (Apple/Android apps) or a configuration
object (web apps) that you add directly to your local app directory.
- For Apple apps, you add a
GoogleService-Info.plist
configuration file.
- For Android apps, you add a
google-services.json
configuration file.
- For web apps, you add a Firebase configuration object.
At any time, you can
obtain an app's Firebase config file or object
.
A Firebase config file or object associates an app with a specific Firebase
project and its resources (databases, storage buckets, etc.). The configuration
includes "Firebase options", which are parameters required by Firebase and
Google services to communicate with Firebase server APIs and to associate client
data with the Firebase project and Firebase app. Here are the required, minimum
"Firebase options":
API key
: a simple
encrypted string used when calling certain APIs that don't need to access
private user data (example value:
AIzaSyDOCAbC123dEf456GhI789jKl012-MnO
)
Project ID
: a user-defined
unique identifier for the project across all of Firebase and Google Cloud.
This identifier may appear in URLs or names for some Firebase resources, but
it should generally be treated as a convenience alias to reference the
project. (example value:
myapp-project-123
)
Application ID ("AppID")
: the unique identifier for the Firebase app
across all of Firebase with a platform-specific format:
- Firebase Apple apps:
GOOGLE_APP_ID
(example value:
1:1234567890:ios:321abc456def7890
)
This is
not
an Apple bundle ID.
- Firebase Android apps:
mobilesdk_app_id
(example value:
1:1234567890:android:321abc456def7890
)
This is
not
an Android package name or Android application ID.
- Firebase Web apps:
appId
(example value:
1:65211879909:web:3ae38ef1cdcb2e01fe5f0c
)
The content of the Firebase config file or object is considered public,
including the app's platform-specific ID (Apple bundle ID or Android package name)
and the Firebase project-specific values, like the API Key, project ID,
Realtime Database URL, and Cloud Storage bucket name. Given this,
use Firebase Security Rules
to protect your data and files in
Realtime Database
,
Cloud Firestore
,
and
Cloud Storage
.
For open source projects, we generally do not recommend including the app's
Firebase config file or object in source control because, in most cases, your
users should create their own Firebase projects and point their apps to their
own Firebase resources (via their own Firebase config file or object).
General limits for Firebase projects, apps, and sites
Here are some general limits for Firebase projects, apps, and sites:
Number of projects per account
- Spark pricing plan ? Project-creation quota is limited to a lower count
of projects (usually around 5-10).
- Blaze pricing plan ? Project-creation quota per account increases
substantially as long as the associated Cloud Billing account is in
good standing.
The limit on project-creation quota is rarely a concern for most developers,
but if needed, you can
request an increase in
project quota
.
Be aware that the complete deletion of a project requires 30 days and counts
toward project quota until the project is fully deleted.
Number of apps per project
Firebase restricts the total number of Firebase Apps within a Firebase project
to 30.
You should ensure that all Firebase Apps within a single Firebase project are
platform variants of the same application from an end-user perspective. Read
more about
multi-tenancy
in our best practices docs.
Learn more about the
limit on apps per project
in the FAQ.
Number of Hosting sites per project
The
Firebase Hosting multisite feature
supports a maximum of 36 sites per project.
Launching your app