Authentication - Set up ID token permissions with Firebase

Follow the following steps to start configure your authentication endpoint and start building your own security logic.

Quickstart

  1. Install the liveblocks/node package

    Let’s first install the @liveblocks/node package in your Firebase functions project.

    $npm install @liveblocks/node
  2. Set up authentication endpoint

    Create a new Firebase callable function as shown below. This is where you will implement your security and define if the current user has access to a specific room.

    const functions = require("firebase-functions");const { Liveblocks } = require("@liveblocks/node");
    const liveblocks = new Liveblocks({ secret: "",});
    exports.auth = functions.https.onCall(async (data, context) => { // Get the current user from your database const user = (data);
    // Identify the user and return the result const { status, body } = await liveblocks.identifyUser( { userId: user.id, groupIds, // Optional }, { userInfo: user.metadata }, );
    return JSON.parse(body);});
  3. Set up the client

    On the front end, you can now replace the publicApiKey option with authEndpoint pointing to the endpoint you just created.

    import { createClient } from "@liveblocks/client";import firebase from "firebase";import "firebase/functions";
    firebase.initializeApp({ /* Firebase config */});
    const auth = firebase.functions().httpsCallable("liveblocks-auth");
    // Create a Liveblocks clientconst client = createClient({ authEndpoint: async (room) => (await auth({ room })).data,});
  4. Set permission accesses to a room

    A room can have defaultAccesses, usersAccesses, and groupsAccesses defined. Permissions are then checked when users try to connect to a room. For security purposes, room permissions can only be set on the back-end through @liveblocks/node or our REST API. For instance, you can use liveblocks.createRoom to create a new room with read-only public access levels while giving write access to specific groups and users.

    import { Liveblocks } from "@liveblocks/node";
    const liveblocks = new Liveblocks({ secret: "",});
    const room = await liveblocks.createRoom("my-room-id", { defaultAccesses: ["room:read", "room:presence:write"], groupsAccesses: { "my-group-id": ["room:write"], }, usersAccesses: { "my-user-id": ["room:write"], },});

    For more information, make sure to read the section on room permissions.

More information

Both userId and userInfo can then be used in your JavaScript application as such:

const self = room.getSelf(); // or useSelf() in Reactconsole.log(self.id);console.log(self.info);
Auth diagram