Firebase Database REST API

GET - Reading Data

Data from your Realtime Database can be read by issuing an HTTP GET request to an endpoint. The following example demonstrates how you might retrieve a user's name that you had previously stored in Realtime Database.

curl 'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name.json'

A successful request is indicated by a 200 OK HTTP status code. The response contains the data associated with the path in the GET request.

{ "first": "Jack", "last": "Sparrow" }

PUT - Writing Data

You can write data with a PUT request.

curl -X PUT -d '{ "first": "Jack", "last": "Sparrow" }' \
  'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name.json'

A successful request is indicated by a 200 OK HTTP status code. The response contains the data specified in the PUT request.

{ "first": "Jack", "last": "Sparrow" }

POST - Pushing Data

To accomplish the equivalent of the JavaScript push() method (see Lists of Data), you can issue a POST request.

curl -X POST -d '{"user_id" : "jack", "text" : "Ahoy!"}' \
  'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/message_list.json'

A successful request is indicated by a 200 OK HTTP status code. The response contains the child name of the new data specified in the POST request.

{ "name": "-INOQPH-aV_psbk3ZXEX" }

PATCH - Updating Data

You can update specific children at a location without overwriting existing data using a PATCH request. Named children in the data being written with PATCH are overwritten, but omitted children are not deleted. This is equivalent to the JavaScript update() function.

curl -X PATCH -d '{"last":"Jones"}' \
 'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name/.json'

A successful request is indicated by a 200 OK HTTP status code. The response contains the data specified in the PATCH request.

{ "last": "Jones" }

DELETE - Removing Data

You can delete data with a DELETE request:

curl -X DELETE \
  'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name/last.json'

A successful DELETE request is indicated by a 200 OK HTTP status code with a response containing JSON null.

Method Override

If you make REST calls from a browser that does not support the preceding methods, you can override the request method by making a POST request and setting your method by using the X-HTTP-Method-Override request header.

curl -X POST -H "X-HTTP-Method-Override: DELETE" \
  'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name/last.json'

You can also use the x-http-method-override query parameter.

curl -X POST \
  'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name/last.json?x-http-method-override=DELETE'

access_token

Supported by all request types. Authenticates this request to allow access to data protected by Firebase Realtime Database Rules. See the REST authentication documentation for details.

curl 'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name.json?access_token=CREDENTIAL'

shallow

This is an advanced feature, designed to help you work with large datasets without needing to download everything. Set this to true to limit the depth of the data returned at a location. If the data at the location is a JSON primitive (string, number or boolean), its value will simply be returned. If the data snapshot at the location is a JSON object, the values for each key will be truncated to true.

curl 'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/.json?shallow=true'

Note that shallow cannot be mixed with any other query parameters.

print

Formats the data returned in the response from the server.

curl 'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name.json?print=pretty'

curl -X PUT -d '{ "first": "Jack", "last": "Sparrow" }' \
  'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/users/jack/name.json?print=silent'

callback

Supported by GET only. To make REST calls from a web browser across domains, you can use JSONP to wrap the response in a JavaScript callback function. Add callback= to have the REST API wrap the returned data in the callback function you specify.

<script>
  function gotData(data) {
    console.log(data);
  }
</script>
<script src="https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/.json?callback=gotData"></script>

format

If set to export, the server will encode priorities in the response.

curl 'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/.json?format=export'

download

Supported by GET only. If you would like to trigger a file download of your data from a web browser, add download=. This causes the REST service to add the appropriate headers so that browsers know to save the data to a file.

curl 'https://[PROJECT_ID].firebaseio-demo.com/.json?download=myfilename.txt'

orderBy

See the section in the guide on ordered data for more information.

limitToFirst, limitToLast, startAt, endAt, equalTo

See the section in the guide on querying data for more information.

put

The JSON-encoded data is an object with two keys: path and data. The path key points to a location relative to the request URL. The client should replace all of the data at that location in its cache with data.

patch

The JSON-encoded data is an object with two keys: path and data. The path key points to a location relative to the request URL. For each key in data, the client should replace the corresponding key in its cache with the data for that key in the message.

keep-alive

The data for this event is null. No action is required.

cancel

The data for this event is null. This event will be sent if the Firebase Realtime Database Rules cause a read at the requested location to no longer be allowed.

auth_revoked

The data for this event is a string indicating that a the credential has expired. This event is sent when the supplied auth parameter is no longer valid.