Firebase and Firebase-admin Modules won't let me access the .auth() object on them to use the accompanying methods

[LanceSamaria]

Describe your environment:
-2011 Macbook Pro
-OS High Sierra v10.13.3
-Sublime Version 3.0, Build 3143
-Node 7.8.0
-Firebase package v4.6.0
-Firebase-admin package v5.4.3
-Firebase Database, Firebase Storage

First let me say that I contacted the Firebase Technical Support team https://firebase.google.com/support/contact/troubleshooting/ about this issue and I also posted a question on Stackoverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47081163/firebase-node-js-auto-complete-doesnt-show-auth-or-its-accompanying-method about it but no one answered it. I'm not sure why when pressing the ink it won't take you to the page but if you copy and paste it into the browser it will work.

The Firebase tech team member said they couldn't resolve it and told me to file a bug report at this repo.

Describe your problem:
I have installed the Firebase and Firebase-admin modules into the app.js file. I want to use these 2 methods:

.createCustomToken()
.authenticateWithCustomToken()

The problem is they both get called on a .auth() object and I cannot access the .auth() object to access them:

var myCustomToken = '12345'

myCustomToken = firebaseAdmin.auth().createCustomToken(myCustomToken) //firebaseAdmin.auth()

firebase.auth().authenticateWithCustomToken(myCustomToken) // firebase.auth()

The reason I want to use these is because I want to create a custom token so I can login into firebase with safe security rules. Without creating the token firebase won't let my app.js file read any data. I'm using a service named Algolia to run searches on my Firebase database and their tech team suggested I login that way:

https://discourse.algolia.com/t/firebase-rules-doesnt-let-algolia-run-node-js-searches-unless-rules-are-set-to-true/3516

Can you please get the .auth() object to appear on Both the firebase and firebase-admin modules so I can access the 2 methods I need? Look at the autocomplete results on line 14 and line 25 in the pictures below and you can see that .auth() doesn't appear in the list.

Steps to reproduce:

1. created a folder, ran npm init, downloaded the firebase service account json file, added the info from there that is needed to the app.js file, ran these below commands, and finally hooked everything up to a heroku instance

$ npm install —-save
$ npm install dotenv --save
$ npm install firebase-admin --save
$ npm install algoliasearch --save
$ npm install firebase --save
$ npm install -g firebase-tools
$ npm install -g npm-install-missing

[google-oss-bot]

Hey there! I couldn't figure out what this issue is about, so I've labeled it for a human to triage. Hang tight.

[google-oss-bot]

Hmmm this issue does not seem to follow the issue template. Make sure you provide all the required information.

[avishalom]

Have a look at https://firebase.google.com/docs/admin/setup
and https://firebase.google.com/docs/auth/admin/create-custom-tokens#create_custom_tokens_using_the_firebase_admin_sdk

for createCustomToken()

As for the client part, did you try signInWithCustomToken() ?

(You can also have a look at how this is used in the integration tests).

[hiranya911]

firebase-admin exports the auth() function as you would expect: https://github.com/firebase/firebase-admin-node/blob/master/src/index.d.ts#L57

See how it's been used in our integration tests to create custom tokens: https://github.com/firebase/firebase-admin-node/blob/master/test/integration/auth.spec.ts#L281

It also shows up in IDE suggestions as far as I can tell (tested with latest VS Code). I've noticed that some IDE environments/versions do not handle this properly, but the auth() function is definitely available in the firebase-admin namespace, and can be used without issues.

[LanceSamaria]

@hiranya911 someone else on SO suggested VSCode. I haven't used that before but I'm watching some tutorials now. If I understand you correctly even though .auth() doesn't appear on the auto complete when using Sublime 3, I can still go ahead and use .auth() with the methods I need by manually typing it and them and they will still work?

[hiranya911]

@LanceSamaria yes, it will work. You can also check the installed JS files to verify this. For example I see the following in my node_modules/firebase-admin/lib/firebase-namespace.js file:

Object.defineProperty(FirebaseNamespace.prototype, "auth", {
        /**
         * Gets the `Auth` service namespace. The returned namespace can be used to get the
         * `Auth` service for the default app or an explicitly specified app.
         */
        get: function () {
            var _this = this;
            var fn = function (app) {
                return _this.ensureApp(app).auth();
            };
            return Object.assign(fn, { Auth: auth_1.Auth });
        },
        enumerable: true,
        configurable: true
    });

This means the auth() function exists in the installed Admin SDK library. If you get any runtime errors, report them back here and we can take a look.

[LanceSamaria]

@hiranya911 Thank you very much. Everything is working fine now. Enjoy your day! :)