Firebase Auth Request Trigger

The Firebase Authenticated Request Trigger facilitates seamless API Calls to BuildShip from a Web Client. Leveraging the user's ID token as the authentication key, it automatically rejects unauthenticated requests, ensuring robust security measures.

This mechanism ensures that only authenticated users of your application can send requests to your API endpoint.

Prerequisites ✅

• A Frontend Application / Web Client integrated with Firebase Authentication. Users must pass the end-user's ID token in the headers to authenticate the request.

Understanding the Mechanism

This trigger functions similar to the REST API Call Trigger. It allows you to specify the Path of the API Endpoint and the HTTP Method for the incoming request. The Request Structure is outlined below:

Request Method

The HTTP Method for the incoming request can be specified in the Firebase Authenticated Request Trigger configuration. The supported methods are GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

Request Headers

The request headers must include the Authorization Header, where the value should be the user’s ID Token received post successful user authentication within your Web Client. Additionally, the Content-Type should be set to application/json.

For more details about Firebase ID Tokens, refer to the documentation here (opens in a new tab).

💡

For testing purposes, users can conveniently copy and paste their token from the network tab.

SAMPLE INPUT:

Authorization: 'Bearer eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZC...',
'Content-Type': 'application/json'

Request Body

For HTTP Methods like POST, and PUT, users have the option to pass any desired data to be accessed within the Workflow associated with the Firebase Auth Trigger. This data format must adhere to a JSON Object.

SAMPLE INPUT:

{
	"key1": "value1",
	"key2": "value2"
}

Here's an example demonstrating a similar request using the API Call Node in BuildShip. However, for actual implementation, this request must be made through the client application.

Configuring the Trigger

• Go to the connect tab, and search for the “Firebase Auth Trigger”. Pick the trigger to configure.

• To set up the Firebase Auth trigger, we need to add an Endpoint Path. The output path is pre-filled by default. We can modify this to be anything we prefer.

• We can also set up the Request Method for the Firebase Auth Endpoint. The trigger is set to accept a POST request by default.

• Specify the Firebase Project ID utilized by their client application. This trigger initializes authentication and validates the token passed in the request.

Connection and Testing

Once the basic configuration is done, click on the “Connect” button. If connected successfully, the button shows success.

This will generate an Endpoint URL that you can use to make API calls to trigger the workflow.

Now, we'll be able to access additional settings to configure our workflow inputs and outputs. Since the workflow logic is independent of the connected triggers, we would have to map the incoming request data to the workflow inputs, and the workflow outputs to the response.

Input / Output Mapping and Get Data

You can map your Firebase Auth Trigger request body to the inputs of your workflow.

We can map the Workflow Outputs to be returned as a response to the incoming request. The Outputs for your workflow have already been defined in the Output Node in your workflow.

Learn more about how to map the workflow inputs and use the Get Data feature.

Trigger Outputs

Once the trigger is correctly configured, users will be able to access the Request Body passed via the POST Request made to the endpoint, along with the Firebase User details.

The Firebase User Details include the Display Name, Photo URL, Email, and UID.

Use the Get Data feature to fetch the latest request to the set up endpoint and define your Workflow Input Schema based on the request.

Example Workflow (v1 canvas)

Consider a scenario where we aim to generate custom tokens for users whose emails end with a specific domain, such as @buildship.com. Let's outline the steps for achieving this:

Firebase Authenticated Request Trigger

Add the Project ID associated with the client that authenticates the user and generates the ID Token.

Branch Node

Set up a Branch node in the workflow to evaluate whether the Firestore User Email includes @buildship.com. Paste the following condtion in the Editor:

ctx["root"]["firebase-trigger"]["user"]["email"].includes("@buildship.com")

Conditional Workflow Execution

If the user's email matches the condition (@buildship.com), proceed with generating a custom Firebase Token for the user's UID.

If the condition is not met, return a response with a status code of 401 - Unauthorized Request.

This workflow ensures that only users with email addresses ending in @buildship.com receive custom Firebase Tokens, allowing controlled access to specific functionalities or resources within the application.