Firebase App Distribution

How to deploy an app to Firebase App Distribution using codemagic.yaml

Codemagic enables you to automatically publish your iOS or Android app to Firebase Console.

If you use Firebase services, load the Firebase configuration files to Codemagic by saving them to environment variables. Copy/paste the contents of google-services.json and GoogleService-Info.plist and save them to the environment variables named ANDROID_FIREBASE_SECRET and IOS_FIREBASE_SECRET respectively. Click Secure to encrypt the values.

Requirements

For distributing an iOS application to Firebase App Distribution, your application must use a development, Ad Hoc or Enterprise distribution profile.

To authenticate with Firebase, Codemagic requires either a Firebase token or a service account with Firebase App Distribution Admin role.

To retrieve your Firebase token, follow the instructions in Firebase documentation.

Note that using a service account is a more secure option due to granular permission settings. Follow this guide to set up service account for Firebase distribution.

Save the Firebase token or the contents of the service account JSON file to your environment variables in the application or team settings. Click Secure to encrypt the value. Then, reference it in codemagic.yaml as $FIREBASE_TOKEN or $FIREBASE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT respectively.

Distribution to Firebase

Example configuration for publishing Android and iOS artifacts to Firebase:

publishing:
  firebase:
    firebase_token: $FIREBASE_TOKEN
    # OR: firebase_service_account: $FIREBASE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT
    android:
      app_id: x:xxxxxxxxxxxx:android:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # Add your Android app id retrieved from Firebase console
      groups: # Add one or more groups that you wish to distribute your Android application to, you can create groups in the Firebase console
        - androidTesters
        - ...
    ios:
      app_id: x:xxxxxxxxxxxx:ios:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # Add your iOS app id retrieved from Firebase console
      groups: # Add one or more groups that you wish to distribute your iOS application to, you can create groups in the Firebase console
        - iosTesters
        - ...

If you wish to pass release notes with your build, create a release_notes.txt file and add it to the project working directory, which is either the repository root directory or the Project path specified in the Build section in your workflow settings. Codemagic will fetch the content of that file and publish it with the build.

In order to distribute an .aab to testers via Firebase App Distribution, your Firebase project must be linked to your Google Play account. More information is available here

Publishing only the Android app bundle or APK artifact to Firebase App Distribution

If you are building both an Android app bundle and an APK in your workflow, Codemagic will, by default, try to publish the bundle to Firebase App Distribution. If you wish to publish the APK, specify the artifact type as apk using the artifact_type field. For more clarity, this can also be set to aab for the bundle:

publishing:
  firebase:
    firebase_token: $FIREBASE_TOKEN
    android:
      app_id: x:xxxxxxxxxxxx:android:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
      groups:
        - androidTesters
        - ...
      artifact_type: 'apk' # Replace with 'aab' to only publish the Android app bundle

Publishing to Firebase App Distribution with Fastlane

Make sure to encrypt FIREBASE_TOKEN as an environment variable. Check documentation for details.

Before running a lane, you should install Fastlane Firebase app distribution plugin.

- name: Install fastlane-plugin-firebase_app_distribution
  script: |
    gem install bundler
    sudo gem install fastlane-plugin-firebase_app_distribution --user-install    

Then you need to call a lane. This code is similar for Android and iOS.

Android

- name: Execute fastlane android publishing task
  script: |
    cd android
    bundle install
    bundle exec fastlane <your_android_lane>    

iOS

- name: Execute fastlane ios publishing task
  script: |
    cd ios
    bundle install
    bundle exec fastlane <your_ios_lane>    

Publishing an Android app to Firebase App Distribution with Gradle

To authorize an application for Firebase App Distribution, use Google service account. Encrypt and add to environment variables these credentials (the file is named something like yourappname-6e632def9ad4.json) as GOOGLE_APP_CREDENTIALS. Specify the filepath in your build.gradle in firebaseAppDistribution as serviceCredentialsFile="your/file/path.json".

buildTypes {
    ...
    release {
        ...
        firebaseAppDistribution {
            ...
            serviceCredentialsFile="<your/file/path.json>"
        }
    }

Note that in case the credentials file is not specified in firebaseAppDistribution build type, it will search the filepath in GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable.

Decode application credentials for Firebase authorization:

echo $GOOGLE_APP_CREDENTIALS | base64 --decode > $CM_BUILD_DIR/your/file/path.json

Build the application:

- echo "flutter.sdk=$HOME/programs/flutter" > "$CM_BUILD_DIR/android/local.properties"
- flutter packages pub get
- flutter build apk --release

Call the gradlew task for distribution

- name: Distribute app to firebase with gradle plugin
  script: cd android && ./gradlew appDistributionUploadRelease

echo $GOOGLE_APP_CREDENTIALS | base64 --decode > /tmp/google-application-credentials.json

- name: Distribute app to firebase with gradle plugin
  script: |
    export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/tmp/google-application-credentials.json
    cd android && ./gradlew appDistributionUploadRelease