Glossary
This page defines key terms used throughout these instructions. Definitions are written for first-term BCIT CST students with no prior Firebase experience. Terms link back to the sections where they are first used.
API Key
A unique string of characters that identifies your Firebase project when making requests to Firebase services. Your API key is included in the Firebase configuration file (src/firebaseConfig.js). It is not a password, but should still be protected from public exposure when combined with open security rules.
Authentication
The process of verifying a user's identity — for example, confirming they are who they claim to be by signing in with an email and password or a Google account. In Firebase, the Authentication service handles this process so you do not need to build your own login system.
CDN (Content Delivery Network)
A network of servers distributed around the world that delivers web content quickly to users based on their geographic location. Firebase uses a CDN to serve your deployed website globally via Firebase Hosting.
Cloud Firestore
A flexible, scalable NoSQL cloud database provided by Firebase. It stores data in collections and documents rather than traditional tables and rows. Often referred to simply as "Firestore." See Setting Up Firestore Database for setup instructions.
Collection
A group of documents in Firestore. A collection acts as a container, similar to a folder on your computer. For example, a collection called users holds all user-related documents. Collection names are case-sensitive — users and Users are two different collections.
Console (Browser)
The developer tools panel in your web browser used to view JavaScript output, errors, and debug information. In Google Chrome, you can open it by pressing:
- F12 or Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows
- Cmd+Option+J on macOS
Document
A single record within a Firestore collection. Each document has a unique document ID and contains one or more fields with values. For example, a document in the users collection might contain name: "Alice" and email: "alice@bcit.ca".
Document ID
A unique identifier for a document within a collection. It can be auto-generated by Firebase (resulting in a random string like aB3dEf7gHi) or manually set by the developer when creating the document. No two documents in the same collection can share the same ID.
Field
A single piece of data within a Firestore document, consisting of a name and a value. For example, city: "Vancouver" is a field where city is the name and "Vancouver" is the value. Common field types include string, number, and boolean.
Firebase
A cloud platform by Google that provides tools for building and hosting web and mobile applications. Firebase includes services such as Cloud Firestore (database), Authentication (user login), and Firebase Hosting (deploying your site as a live URL). See Setting Up Firebase for initial setup instructions.
Firebase Console
The web-based dashboard at console.firebase.google.com where you manage your Firebase projects, databases, authentication settings, and hosting configuration. All Firebase administration tasks described in this guide take place in the Firebase Console.
Firebase CLI (Command Line Interface)
A terminal tool provided by Google that lets you manage and deploy Firebase projects from the command line. Installed globally via npm install -g firebase-tools. Used in this guide to log in to Firebase, initialize Firebase Hosting, and deploy your compiled project. See Deploying Your Project for usage instructions.
Firebase Hosting
A Firebase service that deploys and serves your web application on a global CDN with an automatically provisioned SSL certificate (HTTPS). This is the service that makes your COMP 1800 project accessible as a live website with a public URL.
Firebase SDK (Software Development Kit)
A set of JavaScript libraries provided by Google that allow your code to interact with Firebase services such as Cloud Firestore and Authentication. In COMP 1800, you install the SDK via npm install firebase and import functions using ES module import statements, bundled by Vite. This guide uses the v9 modular SDK.
Firestore Data Viewer
The visual interface within the Firebase Console that displays your Firestore collections, documents, and fields in a three-panel layout. You can use it to manually add, edit, or delete data without writing any code.
Security Rules
Conditions defined in the Firebase Console that control who can read from and write to your Firestore database. In test mode, security rules allow open access for 30 days. After expiry, all reads and writes are blocked until the rules are updated. See Troubleshooting if your rules have expired.
Test Mode
A Firestore security configuration that allows any user to read and write data for 30 days from the date the database was created. Intended for development and testing only — not for production use. After 30 days, the security rules expire and all database operations will fail with a PERMISSION_DENIED error until you update them.
Vite (Offical Documentation)
A fast build tool and development server for modern JavaScript projects. In COMP 1800, Vite bundles your JavaScript modules (including Firebase import statements) and serves your project locally via npm run dev. Before deploying to Firebase Hosting, you must run npm run build to compile everything into a dist/ folder. See Deploying Your Project for details.