VueJS + VUEX + Firebase: Where To Hook Up Firebase

Question

I would like to integrate Firebase in my Vue.JS app.

I wonder WHERE to put the references to Firebase.

Answer 1

To install firebase as a dependency in your project cd into your project directory and run the following command in the command line

npm install --save firebase

Now in your main.js file add this

import Vue from 'vue'
import App from './App.vue'
import * as firebase from 'firebase'
import { store } from './store/store'


const config = {
    apiKey: "xxxxxxx",
    authDomain: "xxxxxxx",
    databaseURL: "xxxxxxx",
    storageBucket: "xxxxxxxx",
    messagingSenderId: "xxxxxxx"
  };

firebase.initializeApp(config);
Vue.prototype.$firebase = firebase;

new Vue({
  el: '#app',
  store,
  render: h => h(App)
}) 

• you can also add your firebase credentials in an external js file and import it in the main.js file as follows:

firebase-config.js

export const config = {
    apiKey: "xxxxxxx",
    authDomain: "xxxxxxx",
    databaseURL: "xxxxxxx",
    storageBucket: "xxxxxxxx",
    messagingSenderId: "xxxxxxx"
  }; 

Now in your main.js do as follows

import Vue from 'vue'
import App from './App.vue'
import * as firebase from 'firebase'
import { store } from './store/store'
import { config } from './firebase-config'

firebase.initializeApp(config);
Vue.prototype.$firebase = firebase;

new Vue({
  el: '#app',
  store,
  render: h => h(App)
}) 

• adding firebase to the Vue.prototype allows usage of firebase in your vue components by using this.$firebase

• if you don't want this behavior you can just initialize firebase using firebase.initializeApp(config);

• now coming to your vuex store you can just import the firebase module as below

  import Vue from 'vue'
  import Vuex from 'vuex'
  import * as firebase from 'firebase'
  
  Vue.use(Vuex);
  
  export const store = new Vuex.Store({
      state:{},
      mutations:{},
      actions:{
          myFirebaseAction: ({commit}) => {
              //you can use firebase like this
              var ref = firebase.database().ref()
          }
      }
  });  
  

Credits to @umang for suggesting to add the firebase global namespace to the Vue.prototype instead of the firebase app instance.