Pipedream Firebase steps in n8n

Firebase steps in Pipedream write app events and form data into Firestore, read user documents, and watch collections for new entries. Pipedream uses one app, Firebase Admin SDK; n8n splits it into Google Cloud Firestore and Google Cloud Realtime Database.

The n8n side

Google Cloud Firestore (n8n-nodes-base.googleFirebaseCloudFirestore):

Resource	Operations
Document	Create, Create or Update (upsert), Delete, Get, Get Many (from a collection), Query
Collection	Get Many (root collections)

Google Cloud Realtime Database (n8n-nodes-base.googleFirebaseRealtimeDatabase): Create (write), Delete, Get, Push (append to a list), Update.

Neither has a trigger node.

What maps where

Pipedream (app firebase_admin_sdk)	In n8n	Status
Create Document	Firestore → Document → Create	manual
Get Document	Firestore → Document → Get	manual
List Documents	Firestore → Document → Get Many	manual
Update Document	Firestore → Document → Create or Update	manual
Save Event to Firestore	Firestore → Document → Create	manual
Create Firebase Realtime Database Record	Realtime Database → Push or Create	manual
New Document in Firestore Collection (polling)	Schedule Trigger + Document → Query / Get Many + Remove Duplicates	manual
New Child Object in a Realtime Database (polling)	Schedule Trigger + Realtime Database → Get + Remove Duplicates	manual

The converter has no Firebase mapping yet. Each step arrives as a placeholder with its props (project, collection, document ID, data) in a comment. Code steps that use firebase-admin with a service account JSON become Code nodes; check them in the code step checker.

Firebase credentials in n8n

• Firestore, Service Account: in Google Cloud, create a service account with a Datastore/Firestore role, create a JSON key, paste email and private key into n8n. Same approach as Pipedream's Admin SDK key.
• Firestore, OAuth2: the n8n docs mark it as recommended; it acts as a user.
• Realtime Database: OAuth2 only (the node's own Google OAuth2 credential with the Firebase scopes).

Typical migration: Stripe customer to Firestore

Pipedream: Stripe New Customer → Firebase Create Document (customers/{id}). n8n: Stripe Trigger → Edit Fields (id = Stripe customer ID, email, name, created) → Google Cloud Firestore → Document → Create or Update (Project, Collection customers, Update Key id, Columns / Attributes email,name,created). Using the Stripe ID as document key makes reruns idempotent; check the first run in the Firestore console.

Firebase migration pitfalls

• Columns / Attributes. Create and Create or Update write only the fields listed there; nested maps need a prepared item. Create or Update has no Document ID field: the Update Key names the item field that holds the ID.
• Document size. Firestore documents are limited to 1 MiB.
• Hot spots. A collection indexed on a sequential field such as a timestamp is limited to about 500 writes per second.
• Polling cost. Every poll reads documents and is billed; query with a timestamp filter and a limit instead of Get Many.
• Security rules do not apply: the node calls the REST API with a Google access token (service account or OAuth2), which is authorised by IAM. Rules apply only to Firebase Auth ID tokens.

How to move your Firebase workflows

1. Export from Pipedream.
2. Upload on /convert; the free report lists every Firebase step and its props.
3. Get the n8n JSON: 1 workflow is free; full export: $3 per workflow, $19 minimum — coming soon.

See the code step checker for firebase-admin code. Related: MongoDB, Supabase, Google BigQuery.