How to populate Firebase with data from a JSON file programmatically?

Question

I know that once in the Firebase console, one can use the "Import" function and upload a .json file with the required data.

In my case, I have a web page, which contains only the .json data. I want to download this web page and upload the data to Firebase. The upload process could be from a stand-alone computer application or from a JavaScript web page.

The idea is to let the owner of the data import the files into Firebase without any contact with Firebase's console.

Is such thing achievable? If yes, I would appreciate any pointers given.

Answer 1

The Firebase CLI can be used to manipulate data for a Firebase project.

Install it with Node/NPM:

npm install -g firebase-tools

Sign in with your Google account:

firebase login

Select your Firebase project for the CLI to use:

firebase use --add

Finally, import your JSON files:

firebase database:set /dataDestination ./data.json

database:set will replace all data at the specified location (/dataDestination above). If you would rather push data to a list instead, use database:push.

You should be able to implement this programmatically through Bash or whatever scripting language you prefer that can access shell commands.

A more comprehensive guide and reference for the CLI can be found here: https://firebase.google.com/docs/cli/