firebase_tools not found when trying to remove firestore collection from cloud functions

Question

I am trying to remove a collection using callable firebase function.

I took a sample code from here.

The sample code has a "firebase_tools" element.

        return firebase_tools.firestore
            .delete(path, {
                project: process.env.GCLOUD_PROJECT,
                recursive: true,
                yes: true,
                token: functions.config().fb.token
            })

Which apparently is not part of firebase-function I am getting following error in function logs:

Unhandled error ReferenceError: firebase_tools is not defined

The document also mentions that:

You can import any function of the Firebase CLI into your own Node.js application using the firebase-tools package.

But I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Edit: Learning nodejs basics will help you a lot when working with firebase functions.

Answer 1

If you look in the same document you refer to, you will find a link to the sample code: https://github.com/firebase/snippets-node/tree/master/firestore/solution-deletes

Then if you look at the Cloud Function code (index.js) you will see that this sample starts as follows:

const admin = require('firebase-admin');
const firebase_tools = require('firebase-tools');
const functions = require('firebase-functions');

admin.initializeApp();

So you need to:

• Firstly, check you have the firebase-tools package correctly installed. Normally this should be the case since you are most probably already using the Firebase CLI (see https://github.com/firebase/firebase-tools). In case not, install it with npm i firebase-tools.
• Secondly, import it in your Cloud Function with const firebase_tools = require('firebase-tools'); as shown in the sample.

You will then be able to call firebase_tools.firestore.delete().