Alternative ways to deploy to App Hosting

Most of the time, we recommend using automatic rollouts or manually-triggered rollouts from the Firebase console. However, you may have a use for a more customized deployment flow. App Hosting has multiple options for custom deployment.

Deploy from source

Deploying from source lets you push your application's source code and configuration directly to App Hosting without requiring a persistent GitHub connection.

When deploying from source, App Hosting uploads your source code to a Google Cloud Storage bucket, runs your framework's build command in Cloud Build, and deploys the compiled artifacts to Cloud Run and Cloud CDN. The same build process is used for local source deployments as GitHub deployments. If a .gitignore file is present in your project, the files and folders listed inside it are excluded from your deployment.

You can deploy from a local source using either the Firebase CLI or the Firebase console.

Required IAM Permissions and Infrastructure Setup

Because both the Firebase CLI and the Firebase console use the same backend infrastructure to store and build your source archives, the same IAM permission requirements apply to both deployment methods.

The exact requirements depend on whether or not you are deploying to a specific location (region) for the first time. For more information on permissions, see the overview of Firebase IAM and specific Firebase App Hosting permissions.

Permissions for Initial Onboarding (First deployment to a location)

When local source deployment is initiated in a project location for the first time, Hosting must provision a GCS bucket to store your archives and grant the Hosting Service Agent access to reach them. Because these are project-level administrative tasks, they require Project Owner or IAM Admin permissions. A user with a basic Editor or Viewer role cannot perform this initial setup and will be blocked.

Prerequisite setup permissions include:

  • Enable Storage API: serviceusage.services.enable
  • Create source bucket: storage.buckets.create and storage.buckets.list
  • Configure Service Agent: resourcemanager.projects.setIamPolicy to grant Hosting read access (roles/storage.objectViewer) so it can fetch the uploaded code during builds.

For initial deployment, the GCS bucket is created with a 30-day lifecycle, after which the bucket is deleted. However, you can manage this timeframe in the Cloud console in Cloud Storage -> Buckets -> Lifecycle -> Rules. See manage object lifecycles.

Permissions for Subsequent Deployments (After location is initialized)

Once the source bucket and role bindings have been initialized for a location (by either an initial CLI deployment or console setup), regular Developers, Editors, or App Hosting Admins can deploy updates. Project-level administration permissions are not required for routine deployments.

Active deployment permissions include:

  • Verify bucket: storage.buckets.list
  • Upload source archive: storage.objects.create
  • Trigger build & rollout: Standard Hosting permissions (apphosting.builds.create and apphosting.rollouts.create)

Deploy from source with the Firebase CLI

Firebase CLI v14.4.0 and higher lets you push your app's source code and configurations directly from your local machine to Firebase. This is convenient if you already manage other Firebase deployments (such as security rules or functions) and want to deploy your web app and backend services together with a single CLI command.

Prerequisites

  • Your projects must be on the Blaze plan.
  • You must be running firebase-tools version 14.4.0 or higher.

Deployment Steps

  1. Run firebase init apphosting in your local project directory.
  2. When prompted, select Use an existing project and choose your target Firebase project.
  3. Select either a new or existing backend to deploy to; this step sets up Hosting deployments for your local directory and prompts you for configuration details:
    • The ID of the backend to deploy to
    • The region to deploy to, if creating a new backend
    • The path to the root directory of your application code
    • Your preferred Node.js runtime. Selecting a versioned runtime enables Automatic Base Image Updates (ABIU) to automatically apply security patches to your underlying environment.
  4. App Hosting saves your deployment preferences in firebase.json, creating the file in your local project if it doesn't already exist. Once initialization completes successfully, run firebase deploy to deploy your source code.

Example firebase.json

{
  "apphosting": [
    {
      "backendId": "my-backend",
      // rootDir specifies the directory containing the app to deploy, but the entire
      // parent directory of firebase.json will be zipped and uploaded to ensure that
      // dependencies outside of the app directory will be available at build time.
      "rootDir": "./my-app",
      "ignore": [
        "node_modules",
        ".git",
        "firebase-debug.log",
        "firebase-debug.*.log",
        "functions"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Deploy with the Firebase Console (Zip Upload)

The Firebase console provides a graphical interface to deploy applications by uploading a compressed source archive directly. This serves as an alternative to the GitHub connection flow, for cases where you prefer not to use GitHub or prefer a different CI/CD setup.

Archive uploads can be performed during initial backend creation or when creating a manual rollout on an existing backend, including backends originally deployed using the Firebase CLI.

Supported Formats

The console uploader natively validates and accepts two compressed archive formats:

  • .zip
  • .tgz

These formats are explicitly displayed in the file uploader's description text.

Deployment Steps

Option A: During Initial Backend Onboarding
  1. Select Source: In the backend creation wizard, select Upload a zip during the "How do you want to import your app?" step.
  2. Onboarding Preparation: Clicking "Next" triggers the background preparation flow, which sequentially enables the Storage API, ensures the correct roles are set up, and upserts the bucket. The UI displays a loading spinner with dynamic status messages: "Enabling API...", "Checking permissions...", and "Preparing bucket...".
    • Error Handling & Guardrails: If any preparation step fails (such as a non-Owner receiving a 403 PERMISSION_DENIED due to insufficient IAM permissions), the UI displays a dedicated warning instructing you to contact a Project Owner. Stepper navigation is strictly locked, and the "Next" button and final "Finish and Deploy" remain disabled until the issue is resolved.
  3. Upload Files: Once preparation completes successfully, select or drag your archive file into the file uploader component.

  4. Configure Settings: Specify your App root directory (defaults to /).

  5. Click Finish and Deploy: The standalone "Finish" button is disabled for zip uploads because uploading an archive is a one-time action and must be immediately followed by a deployment to ensure a functional backend.

Option B: Creating a Manual rollout
  1. Open Dialog: In the Hosting dashboard, click Create rollout.
  2. Select Source: Select Upload a zip in the dialog's stepper. If the backend doesn't have an existing GitHub connection, the "GitHub" option is disabled.
  3. Preparation & Upload: The selection triggers the same background preparation flow ("Enabling API...", "Checking permissions...", and "Preparing bucket..."). Once successful, drag or select your archive file using the uploader, specify the App root directory, and click Deploy to trigger the build and rollout.

Deploy using Terraform

If you need greater control over the build process and deployed environment, you can deploy using Terraform. Terraform lets you define and manage your App Hosting resources using declarative configuration files, and provides the ability to deploy your own prebuilt container image directly to App Hosting instead of relying on App Hosting to build from your source code.

If you're new to Terraform, see Get started with Terraform and Firebase. If you're already familiar with Terraform, you can get started with sample configuration files and other App Hosting resources.

Set up a GitHub connection for CI/CD

You have the option to connect a GitHub repository at any time in the Deployment tab of a backend's settings in the Firebase console. This lets you deploy an app prototype from a local environment and then transition to an automated CI/CD pipeline when you're ready.

Deploy using AI tools

We're sunsetting Firebase Studio on March 22, 2027. While your App Hosting backends are not affected, the Publish button in Firebase Studio will be retired. To continue publishing updates without changing your URL, migrate your project. Learn how to migrate.