Deploy targets

Deploy targets are short-name identifiers (that you define yourself) for Firebase resources in your Firebase project, like a Hosting site with unique static assets or a group of Realtime Database instances that share the same security rules.

Deploy targets are useful when you have multiple Hosting sites, multiple Cloud Storage buckets, or multiple Realtime Database instances. With deploy targets, the Firebase CLI can deploy settings to a specific Firebase resource or group of resources in your project, such as:

• The hosting configuration for each of your Hosting sites
• Static assets from your project directory for each of your Hosting sites
• Security rules shared by multiple Realtime Database instances or multiple Cloud Storage buckets

To set up a deploy target:

1. Apply a TARGET_NAME to the targeted Firebase resource or group of Firebase resources.
2. In your firebase.json file, reference the associated TARGET_NAME when you're configuring the settings for each resource or group of resources.

When you run Firebase CLI commands (like firebase deploy), the Firebase CLI pairs each TARGET_NAME with its associated Firebase resources. The CLI then communicates to your Firebase project the settings for each resource.

Set up deploy targets for your Firebase resources

Using the Firebase CLI, apply a TARGET_NAME (short-name identifier that you define yourself) to a Firebase resource or group of Firebase resources. Firebase supports deploy targets for:

• Firebase Hosting sites
• Cloud Storage for Firebase storage buckets
• Firebase Realtime Database instances

The settings for deploy targets are stored in the .firebaserc file in your project directory, so you only need to set up deploy targets one time per project.

Set up deploy targets for Hosting

To create a deploy target and apply a TARGET_NAME to a Hosting site, run the following CLI command:

firebase target:apply TYPE TARGET_NAME RESOURCE_IDENTIFIER

Where the parameters are:

• TYPE — the relevant Firebase resource type

  • For Firebase Hosting sites, use hosting.

• TARGET_NAME — a unique name for the Hosting site that you're deploying to

• RESOURCE_IDENTIFIER — the SITE_ID for the Hosting site as listed in your Firebase project

For example, if you've created two sites (myapp-blog and myapp-app) in your Firebase project, you could apply a unique TARGET_NAME (blog and app, respectively) to each site by running the following commands:

firebase target:apply hosting blog myapp-blog

firebase target:apply hosting app myapp-app

Set up deploy targets for Cloud Storage or Realtime Database

To create a deploy target and apply a TARGET_NAME to a set of Cloud Storage or Realtime Database resources, run the following CLI command:

firebase target:apply TYPE TARGET_NAME RESOURCE-1_IDENTIFIER RESOURCE-2_IDENTIFIER ...

Where the parameters are:

• TYPE — the relevant Firebase resource type

  • For Cloud Storage buckets, use storage.
  • For Realtime Database instances, use database.

• TARGET_NAME — a unique name for the resource or group of resources that share security rules

• RESOURCE_IDENTIFIER — the identifiers for the resources as listed in your Firebase project (like storage bucket names or database instance IDs) that all share the same security rules

For example, you could apply the TARGET_NAME of main to a group of three regional Cloud Storage buckets (that all share the same security rules) by running the following command:

firebase target:apply storage main myproject.appspot.com myproject-eu myproject-ja

Note that myproject.appspot.com is the identifier for the default bucket, while myproject-eu and myproject-ja are two additional buckets created in the Firebase project.

Configure your firebase.json file to use deploy targets

After you've set up deploy targets for your Firebase resources, reference each applied TARGET_NAME in your firebase.json configuration file:

1. Create an array of configuration objects for each Firebase resource TYPE (hosting, storage, or database).
2. In the arrays, specify the target (using the TARGET_NAME) and define your settings for the associated Firebase resource or group of resources.

Continuing the examples from above, where your Firebase project has two Hosting sites and three Cloud Storage buckets (that share the same security rules), your firebase.json file would look like this:

{
  "hosting": [ {
      "target": "blog",  // "blog" is the applied TARGET_NAME for the Hosting site "myapp-blog"
      "public": "blog/dist",  // contents of this folder are deployed to the site "myapp-blog"

      // ...
    },
    {
      "target": "app",  // "app" is the applied TARGET_NAME for the Hosting site "myapp-app"
      "public": "app/dist",  // contents of this folder are deployed to the site "myapp-app"

      // ...

      "rewrites": [...]  // You can define specific Hosting configurations for each site
    }
  ]
}

{
  "storage": [ {
      "target": "main",  // "main" is the applied TARGET_NAME for the group of Cloud Storage buckets
      "rules": "storage.main.rules"  // the file that contains the shared security rules
    }
  ]
}

If you have multiple configurations for your resources, you can create multiple deploy targets and specify each one in the firebase.json file. All associated resources will be deployed together when you run firebase deploy.

Manage deploy targets

The settings for deploy targets are stored in the .firebaserc file in your project directory. You can manage your project's deploy targets by running any of the following commands from the root of your project directory.

Command	Description
firebase target	Lists the deploy targets for your current project directory
firebase target:remove \ TYPE RESOURCE_IDENTIFIER	Removes a resource from the target to which it's been assigned
firebase target:clear \ TYPE TARGET_NAME	Removes all the resources or Hosting site from the specified target

The target:remove and target:clear commands automatically update the deploy target settings in the .firebaserc file in your project directory.

Test locally before deploying

Run any of the following commands from the root of your project directory.

Command	Description
firebase emulators:start	Emulates all the configured resources in your project directory
firebase emulators:start \ --only hosting:TARGET_NAME	Emulates only the Hosting content and configuration of the specified Hosting site
firebase emulators:start \ --only storage:TARGET_NAME	Emulates only the rules file for the specified Cloud Storage target
firebase emulators:start \ --only database:TARGET_NAME	Emulates only the rules file for the specified Realtime Database target

Learn more about configuring and using the Firebase Local Emulator Suite.

Deploy specific Firebase resources

Run any of the following commands from the root of your project directory.

Command	Description
firebase deploy	Creates a release of all deployable resources in your project directory
firebase deploy \ --only hosting:TARGET_NAME	Deploys only the Hosting content and configuration of the specified Hosting site to the live channel for the site
firebase hosting:channel:deploy CHANNEL_ID \ --only TARGET_NAME	Deploys only the Hosting content and configuration of the specified Hosting site to a preview channel for the site
firebase deploy \ --only storage:TARGET_NAME	Deploys only the rules file for the specified Cloud Storage target
firebase deploy \ --only database:TARGET_NAME	Deploys only the rules file for the specified Realtime Database target