firebase-cpp-builder

name	firebase-cpp-builder
description	Instructions and workflows for building the Firebase C++ SDK natively. Use this skill when you need to compile the C++ SDK per-product (e.g., auth, database) across different platforms (Desktop, iOS, Android).

Building the Firebase C++ SDK

This skill provides instructions on how to build the Firebase C++ SDK directly from source, specifically tailored for building individual products (like firebase_auth, firebase_database, etc.).

Prerequisites

Before building, ensure that your Python environment is set up with all required dependencies, especially if you plan to use helper scripts:

• Python Dependencies: Run pip install -r scripts/gha/python_requirements.txt to install required libraries (such as attrs, absl-py, etc.).

1. Desktop Builds (Mac, Linux, Windows)

The easiest way to build for Desktop is to use the Python helper script from the repository root:

python3 scripts/gha/build_desktop.py -a <arch> --build_dir <dir>

(Plenty more options: run python3 scripts/gha/build_desktop.py --help for info.)

Alternatively, you can build manually with CMake. The build process will automatically download necessary dependencies.

mkdir desktop_build
cd desktop_build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --target firebase_<product> -j

Example: cmake --build . --target firebase_auth -j

2. iOS Builds

For iOS, you can use the convenience script from the repository root:

./build_scripts/ios/build.sh -b ios_build_dir -s .

(Run ./build_scripts/ios/build.sh -h for more options.)

Alternatively, you can use CMake's native Xcode generator manually. Ensure you have CocoaPods installed if building products that depend on iOS SDK Pods.

mkdir ios_build
cd ios_build
cmake .. -G Xcode -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS
cmake --build . --target firebase_<product> -j

Alternatively, you can build XCFrameworks using the helper script:

python3 scripts/gha/build_ios_tvos.py -s . -b ios_tvos_build

3. Android Builds

For Android, use the convenience script from the repository root:

./build_scripts/android/build.sh android_build_dir .

(You can also specify an STL variant with the 3rd parameter. Run the script without any parameters to see the usage.)

Alternatively, when building the Firebase C++ SDK manually for Android, the repository uses a Gradle wrapper where each product has its own subproject.

To build a specific product's AARs, run the gradle build task for that module:

./gradlew :<product>:build

Example: ./gradlew :auth:build or ./gradlew :database:build

Note that as part of the build process, each library generates a ProGuard file in its build directory (e.g., <product>/build/<product>.pro).

CMake Target Naming Convention

When using CMake directly (for Desktop or iOS/tvOS), the targets are consistently named firebase_<product>.

Common targets include:

• firebase_app
• firebase_analytics
• firebase_auth
• firebase_database
• firebase_firestore
• firebase_functions
• firebase_messaging
• firebase_remote_config
• firebase_storage

Product Naming Disambiguation (firebase_auth vs auth)

Different build tools use different naming conventions for products in this repository:

• CMake Targets (Desktop/iOS): Typically prefixed with firebase_ (e.g., firebase_auth).
• Gradle Subprojects (Android): Typically use the raw module name (e.g., :auth:build).
• Python Scripts (e.g., build_desktop.py, build_testapps.py): Typically use the raw module name (e.g., --t auth).

[!TIP] If you are unsure about the exact product name or supported flags, run Python scripts with --help (e.g., build_desktop.py --help). For shell scripts, run without parameters (Android) or with -h (iOS) to see usage.