Pyrebase

A simple python wrapper for the Firebase API.

Installation

pip install pyrebase

Initialising your Firebase

ref = pyrebase.Firebase('https://yourfirebaseurl.firebaseio.com', 'yourfirebasesecret')

Authentication

Pyrebase will authenticate as an admin by default, disregarding security rules.

User authentication

The auth_with_password() method will return user data including a token you can use to adhere to security rules.

Each of the following methods accepts an optional user token: get(), push(), set(), update(), remove() and stream().

user = ref.auth_with_password("email", "password")
data = {
    "date": "26-10-1985"
}
results = ref.child("users").child("Marty").update(data, user["token"])

Building Paths

You can build paths to your data by using the child() method.

ref.child("users").child("Marty")

Saving Data

push

To save data with a unique, auto-generated, timestamp-based key, use the push() method.

data = {"name": "Marty Mcfly", "date": "05-11-1955"}
ref.child("users").push(data)

set

To create your own keys use the set() method. The key in the example below is "Marty".

data = {"Marty": {"name": "Marty Mcfly", "date":"05-11-1955"}}
ref.child("users").set(data)

update

To update data for an existing entry use the update() method.

ref.child("users").child("Marty").update({"date": "26-10-1985"})

remove

To delete data for an existing entry use the remove() method.

ref.child("users").child("Marty").remove()

MULTI-LOCATION UPDATES

You can also perform multi-location updates with the update() method.

data = {
    "users/Marty/": {
        "date": "26-10-1985"
    },
    "users/Doc/": {
        "date": "26-10-1985",
    }
}

ref.update(data)

To perform multi-location writes to new locations we can use the generate_key() method.

data = {
    "users/"+ref.generate_key(): {
        "date": "26-10-1985"
    },
    "users/"+ref.generate_key(): {
        "date": "26-10-1985"
    }
}

ref.update(data)

Queries

val

Queries return a PyreResponse object. Calling val() on these objects returns the query data.

users = ref.child("users").get()
print(users.val()) # {"Marty": {"name": "Marty", "date": "26-10-1985"}, "Doc": {"name": "Doc", "date": "01-01-1885"}}

key

Calling key() returns the key for the query data.

user = ref.child("users").get()
print(user.key()) # users

each

Returns a list of objects on each of which you can call val() and key().

all_users = ref.child("users").get()
for user in all_users.each():
    print(user.key()) # Marty
    print(user.val()) # {name": "Marty", "date": "26-10-1985"}

get

To return data from a path simply call the get() method.

all_users = ref.child("users").get()

shallow

To return just the keys at a particular path use the shallow() method.

all_user_ids = ref.child("users").shallow().get()

Note: shallow() can not be used in conjunction with any complex queries.

Streaming

You can listen to live changes to your data with the stream() method.

def stream_handler(posts):
    for post in posts:
        print(post["event"]) # put
        print(post["path"]) # /-K7yGTTEp7O549EzTYtI
        print(post["data"]) # {'title': 'Pyrebase', "body": "etc..."}

my_stream = ref.child("posts").stream(stream_handler)

close the stream

my_stream.close()

Complex Queries

Queries can be built by chaining multiple query parameters together.

users_by_name = ref.child("users").order_by_child("name").limit_to_first(3).get()

This query will return the first three users ordered by name.

order_by_child

We begin any complex query with order_by_child().

users_by_name = ref.child("users").order_by_child("name").get()

This query will return users ordered by name.

equal_to

Return data with a specific value.

users_by_score = ref.child("users").order_by_child("score").equal_to(10).get()

This query will return users with a score of 10.

start_at and end_at

Specify a range in your data.

users_by_score = ref.child("users").order_by_child("score").start_at(3).end_at(10).get()

This query returns users ordered by score and with a score between 3 and 10.

limit_to_first and limit_to_last

Limits data returned.

users_by_score = ref.child("users").order_by_child("score").limit_to_first(5).get()

This query returns the first five users ordered by score.

User Management

Creating users

ref.create_user("email", "password")

Note: Make sure you have Email & Password Authentication enabled on your firebase dashboard under Login & Auth.

Removing users

ref.remove_user("email", "password")

Changing user passwords

ref.change_password("email", "old_password", "new_password")

Sending password reset emails

ref.send_password_reset_email("email")

Helper Methods

generate_key

generate_key() is an implementation of Firebase's key generation algorithm.

See multi-location updates for a potential use case.

sort

Sometimes we might want to sort our data multiple times. For example, we might want to retrieve all articles written between a certain date then sort those articles based on the number of likes.

Currently the REST API only allows us to sort our data once, so the sort() method bridges this gap.

articles = ref.child("articles").order_by_child("date").start_at(startDate).end_at(endDate).get()
articles_by_likes = ref.sort(articles, "likes")

Common Errors

Index not defined

Indexing is not enabled for the database reference.