How to get my Firebase Service Account Key file

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What is and where to get the serviceAccount.json file

Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash

In a nutshell, the Firebase Service Account Key is a way for you to authenticate your app on the Google servers. This file contains multiple information about your account and your project.

HOW TO GET THE FILE

In order to get this file, let’s go to your Firebase projects page, then select your project and as shown below, go to your Project Settings.

Project settings on Firebase console

Click on the Service accounts tab, then Generate new private key.

Service accounts on Firebase console

A file named <your-project>-firebase-adminsdk-<first-numbers-of your-key>.json get generated, and it is your ServiceAccount.json file! Rename it (or change the path) and you’re ready to go.

⚠️ Your file can be generated only 1 time, if you create a new key, it will be a different one. Although, your previous key/file will still working until you decide to delete it (click on Manage service account permissions).

I hope this quick tutorial helped you!

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Clement Fournier

Developer in San Francisco — Passionate about new technologies and ways of living in food and energy independence