Stackdriver error "Billing account not configured" when using Firebase cloud functions

Question

I'm trying to setup a cloud function on a Firebase project but when I try to check stack driver it's telling me: "Billing account not configured. External network is not accessible and quotas are severely limited. Configure billing account to remove these restrictions". I was pretty sure that using Firebase cloud functions and stackdriver didn't require a billing account, only non-Google web traffic required this. Am I missing something?

Answer 1

Okay so I figured it out.

Although cloud function use is free (since it's a Google service), I still had to set up a billing account. The billing account isn't being charged but it needs to be on file to make network requests.