Support firebase.js along with firebase.json

[jeremytenjo]

Supporting firebase.js would allow us to use global variables to set port numbers, output build directories, etc.

For example firebase.js

const { outputDir } = require('./constants')

...
hosting: {
    public: outputDir,
}
...

could share outputDir with webpack.config.js

const { outputDir } = require('./constants')

...
{
path: outputDir
}
...

[shivamCode0]

Isn't this a part of firebase-tools?

[Feiyang1]

@jeremytenjo Can you provide more detail to help me understand your use case? Setting output directory sounds like the job of the build tools, not the JS SDK. Do you mean something else?

[jeremytenjo]

You are right, i'll take this idea to firebase-tools

[akauppi]

As Feiyang wrote, this is in the wrong section - but it's easy to be confused with the JS SDK vs. CLI differences, at first.

A brief reply to your question, though. What you're suggesting is good, but it's not hard even now to read in firebase.json to one's build scripts. I do it all the time - either with import (ESM) or with two lines of Node code:

const raw = readFileSync(firebaseJson);
const conf = JSON.parse(raw);

You need to be careful whether expected fields really are there - but that would be the same with firebase.js just as well.

As a fellow user of Firebase, I would not advocate a change, since it adds complexity to the Firebase (CLI) code base.

[shivamCode0]

Yes, I also agree that it should not change. This sounds similar to this next.js issue where someone wanted to use a TypeScript config. In both cases, the best option is to not introduce complexity.